Before last month, I never knew how harmful stress was to the body. I was everywhere working, blogging, cooking, running errands, being a mom and engaging in other frivolities. I did not remember that I am a human being, and it's blood flowing through my veins. The rush of energy was exciting that I wanted to utilize it all.
The first sign I got of being stressed out was that my monthly cycle changed. My flow was literally coming every two weeks and lasted more than a week, it was also heavier than usual.
When I complained to a gynecologist, he ran several medical tests to rule out infection and then asked several questions to rule out the effect of contraceptive. He asked me so many questions but never about my work routine or life schedule.
At a point, the gynecologist had frustrations written all over his face as he could not seem to find a solution to my flow problem. He concluded with, well, you are healthy and there are no traces of infection in your reproductive system and body in general. I will suggest you eat more fruits and vegetables. I went on a fruit diet, but the effect wasn't much.
Next I noticed that I was emaciating and everyone felt I was not feeding well. Whenever people body-shame me or advise me to be feeding well, I literally block my ear because if we start showing what we eat, most of these people do not measure up.
My mother was the only one who knew sleep was my issue. “You need to get enough rest and sleep too so that my sisters will not start questioning me if all is well with you.” My mother will always ring to my hearing.
I knew I wasn't getting enough sleep and that's the reason for my drying out. I get at least 8 hours of sleep to function properly, but I started doing minimum of 4 hours and maximum of 6 hours.
Not only that, but I was actually working 14 hours daily and during weekends when I am supposed to rest, I am running errands, going to the market and doing bulk cooking. Nighttime I am supposed to be sleeping, I am blogging or going through documents with my friends to guide them in their financial decision.
Then I started having severe migraines. I was skipping mentally, started forgetting things and being absent-minded. One minute we are talking about something and the next minute I am lost and unresponsive.
Not only that, but I started hallucinating and seeing things. A door would be closed, but I will see it open, the lights will be turned off, but I'll see it on.
Occasionally, I'll see a snake, but when I look again, there's nothing there. Other times I am seeing the image of a man but if I look closely, it's just my mind playing tricks on me.
I complained to my best girl, and she's exclaimed, then questioned, “is this not madness you are exhibiting?”
I thought it was coffee and when I complained to another of my friend, he took it seriously and went sourcing for a good coffee brand for me at the mall but couldn't get any. So he asked I just stop the brand I'm taking, likewise my best girl.
I stopped taking coffee, but I got worse. Next, I started having body ache, my joints hurt and I felt really fatigued. I was drowning in painkillers but it did not give me any lasting effect until I broke down and my body finally crashed.
At first, we thought it was just fever, I was taking medications for malaria and typhoid and I kept getting worse. I had a swell in waist God knows where that came from, and my whole body was burning. My head felt like the entire world was on top of it and everything I was feeling, just felt like death.
In the end, my mother sent an SOS to my dad, who called his doctor friend, and I was rushed to the hospital immediately for admission. I was fighting for my life, I kept vomiting even when treatment was administered. Everyone was scared, I was also scared, but I knew I am not dying because I kept telling God, “I will not die”.
In the end, I got better and was discharged from the hospital. When I got home, as I recovered, all I did was eat and sleep. The few days I got from work, I was sleeping like there was no tomorrow. I felt better, better than I had been in a long while.
Only me advised myself by myself and started cutting down on my extra activities, my working time already reduced to 8 hours as I stopped working at the hotel the previous month.
I started sleeping well like a normal human being and noticed my flow normalizing, I was no longer hallucinating nor was I mentally unavailable.
I am fine and I feel fine. After all that I have been through, I started the #donotstressbabygirl movement and I'm glad that it's sinking 😌.