Journal of a Sick Medical Student, Part I

*this entry contains more information than you care to know about a suffering med student*

This morning I woke up at 4:00 a.m. with stomach cramps and ran to the bathroom hoping the symptoms would go away. They didn't, and I found myself getting out of bed every 10-20 minutes until about 5:30. I vaguely remembered having some stomach cramps last night that I'd ignored as something harmless, and I wondered if I'd gotten food poisoning from eating undercooked food (I made chicken and red bell peppers last night). At any rate I knew that there was no way I could go to work, so I called Dr. O at 7:00 a.m. and explained the situation. She was understanding and told me to stay home and get some rest.

There's no rest for the sick. By mid-morning my cramps had gone, but those were now replaced by headache and a bad case of nausea. I was also sweating, and though I didn't have a thermometer I was sure I had a low grade fever. This was starting to look more like a viral gastroenteritis than a simple case of food poisoning. My appetite sucked because of the nausea, but I forced myself to eat some dry cereal and water before driving to the nearest HEB for bread, applesauce, Pepto-Bismol, and most importantly, Pedialyte, since I was losing fluid from both ends. The problem: treating nausea and vomiting on paper is easier than doing it in real life. All I had for lunch was applesauce and a banana, and I made sure to drink lots of water and Pedialyte to stay hydrated. It didn't work; I threw up half of all the fluids I drank.

At dinnertime I cooked a bowl of oatmeal and could only take a few bites before I threw the rest of it away. The nausea was killing me. My stomach didn't hurt at all, but if anyone went down my stomach, I felt the urge to hurl (and my gag reflex was sensitive to begin with). I was on the phone complaining to my mom when I suddenly had to run to the bathroom and empty my stomach contents into the sink. The situation looked bad. I knew I was dehydrated. I've barely been able to keep anything down. I felt weak and shaky. My head hurt like hell. I was incredibly thirsty. I became winded just from walking around and was taking very deep breaths. And being the nerd I was, I couldn't help but wonder if I was currently in metabolic acidosis or alkalosis, and whether taking deep breaths was compensating for something (but I forgot what). I even went so far as to check the color of my urine, and let me tell you, I never really knew what "amber-colored" looked like until today. Damn.

I was desperate, and the Pepto was doing nothing for my nausea so I began googling "dehydration" online to see what I could do. First off, they said to take liquid in small amounts, not a glass at a time (which was what I had done previously), so I took a 2 tbsp cup and started sipping Pedialyte every few minutes. I then cut up an apple and a nectarine into small pieces and ate those; fortunately I was able to hold those down. I checked my urine every time I went to the restroom to make the sure the color got lighter (it did). Dr. O sent me a text around 11 pm inviting me to call her, so I did. She said that if things got really bad, she could take me to the local ER or else I could get a fluid infusion if I really couldn't keep anything down. She also said I was not to push myself and to stay home again tomorrow so that I can focus on getting better. Honestly, I could not have asked for a better attending this month.