It's no secret that I haven't been doing all that well lately. I still don't know for sure why, but I have some ideas.
One idea was that I was severely dehydrated. Before moving to this city, I used to actually have a standing order to get fluids in the Emergency Room. The triage nurse would see me, I wouldn't have to see a doctor, they would hook me up to an IV and let it run until I had one or two litres of fluids.
The reason we do this is because I have no large intestine and I have chronic diarrhea. This means that when I get dehydrated, no matter how much water I drink, I cannot actually rehydrate myself. I have to go into a hospital to get fluids. It also, unfortunately, has to be through the ER or urgent care since there are no known facilities that can just provide free fluids for dehydration.
So six hours of my Friday night was spent in Urgent Care getting a litre of fluids. I have to say that, although one nurse was miserable from having a bad night, each staff member was really good to deal with. I managed to get what I needed without a fight about the reasons, about the IV, about my symptoms, or anything. They took one look at my chart and understood that fluids is what I needed and I had no choice but to go in. They even gave me THREE warm blankets for when the fluids were being administered. That bag of fluids is always so cold that it chills the entire body going in. Then they shut off the lights and let me sleep for the 2 hours of IV fluids.
This kind of appointment is vital to maintaining my health. I hate going, so I had not gone and done this for over a year, but I should be doing it more often. It was just so much easier and faster with a standing order. Who wants to spend 6 hours in a waiting room full of coughers and sneezers just to get rehydrated? It sure isn't fun for me. Now if only I could learn how to do my own IVs and administer it myself at home. That would be a nice perk, although I am not sure that starting my own iv is something I truly want to try. I get nervous for the pros to start IVs. :S.
Did it fix the problem?
Unfortunately not. It seems to have improved my energy, but the weird restless and aching feeling is still lingering. It makes me think I may just have a touch of the flu. Who knows? All I know is that I am now properly hydrated, and I hope it will stay that way for a while so I don't have to go back.