my life, in italics

On a very basic level, my body confuses me sometimes. I mean, not in a way that makes sense, like blood cells and mutation. I have some insane, endless block on two regular features that in fact are in the Care and Feeding of the Human Body Manual.

The first is my period, always. I can write it down, I can track it on a calendar, but it is always an eternal surprise. What madness is this? I feel homicidal against air! Why God, why do you send me this crazy? And you know, then all comes clear, and I'm yet again marveling at the weird way my memory just shuts down despite almost twenty years of this. I mean, there are people on my flist who can predict me by my entries--you think I'm kidding, a couple OF them proved it once in comments and dear God, my shame--but I never seen it unless it happens to occur to me that suddenly my reading for three days slides from ooh plot to so my reading log has a lot of porn suddenly, but even then, it doesn't sink in.

The second is dehydration. I know I'm dehydrated, and I mean this literally, when svmadelyn, over chat ffs, tells me I am. I have a headache, I say, grumpy. Coffee isn't helping. I feel sick. I think I'm dying. Do you want my laptop?

[To be fair, coffee actually does wipe out allergy headaches sometimes. I mean, I'm a caffeine addict, but it's for a lot of reasons. Or so I claim.]

Mmm hmm she says, and I almost say cherry coke, because I am spiteful, but that's a story for another day. Hey, you had any water today?

And like that, I remember, get up, and drink two glasses of water and bring a third back to the laptop. In thirty minutes, I'm fine.

I hate you, I tell her moodily. Hey, what are you reading?

This passes for normal conversation for us in the last half-decade that we've avoided killing each other.

Anyway, I realized that this works without her being here, as I was in the kitchen, with a headache, making a cup of coffee this morning after a long day of headache and not sure what the hell is up with that (I went to bed at nine okay? I didn't go to bed that early when I was hospitalized. It was that icky.), and suddenly, there's this voice--You have a headache?

Me: This is like, proof I'm on the internet too much, isn't it?

Hey, you had any water today?

Two glasses now, thanks. I'll finish the third before I go to work.

Comments

[transtempts.livejournal.com]

Awwww...

And regarding your predictability.... *grins and says nothing*

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*bites lip* I have never claimed I am deep, man.

[transtempts.livejournal.com]

*Always* entertaining. :)

[beachlass.livejournal.com]

Would it help at all to hear that I frequently have those conversations with a couple of my friends? Along with: Beachlass, when was the last time you ate? Hm? Today? Did you forget to eat today?

Thank God for friends.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Trufax.

[beachlass.livejournal.com]

And thanks to your post I'm drinking water right now.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I have a cup ready for more, just in case.

I can feel her long distance mockage. *grins*

[toujours-nigel.livejournal.com]

My mother does that to me, interrupts me in the middle of an argument to do it, too.

[niqaeli]

I don't so much have that problem with either of those, just food. I can forget to eat for most of a day. And then wonder why I'm feeling weak and shaky, because it's not like I don't know I'm hypoglycemic or anything. Or, hey, when my sleep schedule is really wonky and I sleep 19 hours, I go "But why am I feeling shaky?" when I wake up and forget that, hey, due to sleep it's been over a day since I last ate.

Water, though, I'm good at. Mostly because I live in Arizona and, seriously, I almost always have a glass of water and am drinking it. Like, intermittently, but: always, always have water. Because otherwise I just feel like ass. And I'd rather pee every fucking hour than have a constant headache and feel like a limp rag, you know?

[lexstar29.livejournal.com]

I once passed out at work and when I came round there was water beside me, and one of my colleagues was saying, 'It'll be because she won't have drunk anything since yesterday' Shamefully she was correct. I used to just forget to drink. My boss installed a water cooler by the door and they trained me to take a cup every time I passed, just like training a dog! At least now I'm never dehydrated!

[shinetheway.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Water does sound good, actually. Except for the crap falling from the sky. Sometimes I drink something that isn't diet coke (I know, shocking, right?) and I can FEEL my body just soak it all up like a thirsty sponge.

[smushes you and your headache] Sorry you were feeling icky last night, hon.

[fyrdrakken]

Lucky you, being able to directly trace headache --> dehydration like that. I get a headache, I don't know if it's eyestrain, caffeine withdrawal, caffeine excess, allergies, air pressure, or what. I get dehydrated, I find out when my kidneys start bitching at me. (Which has done a lot to get me into the water bottle habit. Though not enough. But the real trick is finding the balance between caffeinated beverages and plain water and drinking enough of both.)

[seadreamer.livejournal.com]

Oh, I can so sympathize on the water issue. I have all /kinds/ of headaches, but the one I get the most is the dehydration one. I just detest water, though, so it's a real challenge to drink. I can always taste the minerals in it, especially the copper, and well... *shudders* Pretty cool that you have friends (who apparently also live in your head ^_~) to look after you, though.

[quietus-x.livejournal.com]

...

I'm going to drink some water now.

[tacittype.livejournal.com]

I just read that with a squint, wondering why it was so bright and why the words were so hard to read.

svmadelyn's prescience is transatlantic.

[cpt-untouchable.livejournal.com]

Ahahahahahayes. I'm bewildered every month when I segue from ew, porn to pooooorn, we wants it *grabby hands* to being annoyed by the feeling of my own fingers brushing against each other to crying over dog food commercials. It's a mystery right up until I'm actively viewing my uterus.

Oh.

[loriel-eris.livejournal.com]

I never seen it unless it happens to occur to me that suddenly my reading for three days slides from ooh plot to so my reading log has a lot of porn suddenly, but even then, it doesn't sink in.

This. OMG this. Except this method failed spectacularly for me when the desire for porn stopped appearing once a month. Now I just bumble along from month to month, eternally surprised...

[lanning.livejournal.com]

Oh, God, yes, this. So much of my *cough* LJ drama can be chalked up to this phenomenon, other factors notwithstanding. Also, you and svmadelyn are married. ;)

[deadlychameleon.livejournal.com]

I used to get addicted to coffee and then forget to drink it. And get horrible withdrawl headaches. And then be all like, man, why do I feel crappy? Start drinking coffee regularly again. Repeat.

We are too disorganized to be addicted to things.

[joesther.livejournal.com]

*goes to water bottle.*

Thanks. *meep*

[auroramama]

On the PMS blind spot, yup, I've got that one too. Sometimes I consider the possibility that my whiplash flaming rage is hormonal, but it doesn't feel like it; it feels like a rational response to something that's Just That Infuriating. Blind spot is probably the right word: no matter how sharp your vision, your eyes can't see themselves, and you can't peer around the boundary of your mood to see what things really look like.