When A Virus Hits

On By WendyIn Chronic Illness, Meniere's Disease

sick-cartoon

*this post mentions poop.  if you are uncomfortable reading about poop or the smell of poop well, you probably shouldn’t have read this sentence….oops.  Really this is as bad as it gets so if you’ve gotten this far, you’ll be okay.

The past few days I’ve been a big poopy pants.  No really.  I’ve had some kind of bug that had me running to the bathroom constantly.  I’ve been trying to loose weight but this was not the way I planned.  I’m sure most of you can relate.

What most of you can’t relate to is how this virus affected the rest of me, namely my vestibular system. When something like this hits me my vestibular system seems to think it needs to attack me too.  I was suddenly having vertigo while fighting a vicious virus, well poop.  Running to the bathroom with the room spinning can be a challenge.  (thanks hubby for all the help, sorry about the smell.)

Any kind of stress can cause a person with Meniere’s to have more vertigo.  When my stress levels rise there is a strong likelihood I will have vertigo.  When my body is under stress there is even a greater likelihood that I will have vertigo.  A virus will often have my head spinning.  If I don’t have vertigo when I am stressed at the very least my balance will be more compromised than usual…yes even more than usual, it really is possible!

What can I do?  When I have a virus there isn’t much I can do about reducing my stress levels, but I can try.  I practice deep breathing exercises, not only does this reduce stress, it helps reduce nausea.  I sleep as much as possible.  When your sick sleep is a good thing. Really there isn’t a lot I can do, so when the vertigo comes I ride it out the way I do every vertigo attack and hope it isn’t going to be a bad one.  Luckily, the attacks I had during this virus were not very bad.  As long as I stayed calm, practiced mindfulness, and relaxed as much as possible I was able to get through it with as little extra stress to my body as possible.  This was very important, as I was really sick.

I’m pretty darn lucky  that I have a great hubby to help take care of me when things like this happen.  REALLY LUCKY!

Now it’s time to catch up on life.  What’s up with you?

 

15 thoughts on “When A Virus Hits”

  1. After reading about poop issues and relating somewhat to poop issues I feel at peace with poopiness. Thank you, my friend, for sharing. It’s a fact of life BUT you had other facts that make it not so pleasant. Here’s to relief, but in a kinder, gentler way. HUGS

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  2. Oh, so sorry to hear you have been sick. Since I got IBS with the fibro, poop has been a big part of my life for the last dozen years, so poop talk doesn’t drive me away by any means–LOL! Hope you’re much better now. 🙂

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  3. Feel better soon, my friend. Meanwhile, buy some heavy-duty incontinence pads to tide you over until everything settles down. The last thing you need is an increase in laundry!
    xx,
    mgh
    (Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMore dot com)
    – ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder –
    “It takes a village to educate a world!”

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    1. It’s okay, hubby does the laundry and, he says it all just washes away. LOL.
      But in reality all is well now. and even then the bathroom is literally just a few steps from the bed so there wasn’t much to worry about. I didn’t leave the room for days. One day I was so proud when I made it to the living room. Then I sat down and immediately asked for help back to the bedroom. It was a tiring week.
      Now the weather is making my ears and head go crazy. Stupid hurricane. I sure am glad it down graded before it hit. Here in NC we did get some rain and winds, just enough to make my head feel like it’s stuffed with cotton. Luckily I had DHE shots last week so my head isn’t killing me.
      Thanks for caring.

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      1. I always care what’s going on with you – I just sometimes can’t make it over to remind you of that as often as I’d like. I’m glad to know that you are feeling a bit better, hurricane weather notwithstanding.

        Haven’t had to deal with Hurricanes in so long that I’ve almost forgotten about how much they once affected life (Florida & New Orleans years) until I hear about some disaster.

        I guess I need to be a bit more positive about Cincinnati weather – and focus on gratitude that most of the big disaster weather passes us by.
        xx,
        mgh

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        1. I need to be more grateful to the weather here, it really is pretty mild compared to many places. But it can vary a lot. Where we live has a lot going for it, I just don’t really like the city itself. I like Raleigh so much more. as you said though, I need to be grateful about where I am.

          I care about you too, even if it doesn’t seem that way since I don’t get to your blog as often as I’d like. I’ll get over there right now!!
          xoxo
          w

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  5. HI Just over a cold, the cat bit my foot, really hard made waking hard and now my back is acting up 🙂 this getting older thing is not fun sometimes. I hope you are feeling better. I have never experienced that with my vertigo thankfully, Have a good weekend.

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  6. I hate it when my “poop monsters” come to visit. I have to go down a flight of stairs to get to the bathroom, and have had some accidents. (we are remodeling our master bath) Hope you are better!
    mo

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    1. Oh no Mo! I can relate. No matter how close you are to the bathroom if it comes it comes!! Poop monsters be damned.
      Yep, I’m all better. I do have the poop monster rear it’s ugly head no matter what sometimes, but the virus is gone. 🙂

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