'Twas beat ... without knowing it!

The first week of June, at least for my part, started a bit dramatic.

1 June, Midnight
I was back to see the doctors as I had an attack of abnormal abdominal pain in the middle of the night. I couldn't sleep, I felt suffocated and couldn't breathe as I lay down 'coz my stomach and bladder felt bloated and heavy - for me, that was scary. I was hardly sick back in the Philippines but in the "sterilised" environment of Europe, I would say have experience a great deal of illnesses so alien to me like developing pollen allergy, influenza and all that. Tests were made. I rejected the prescription of penicillin (I hate it when it's always the first option as medication). I was told I'd get a call when the results are ready.

2 June, Morning after
I was sleepy and couldn't bring myself to be alert nor have the drive to go to work. I called the office and told everyone I'd come to work after lunch instead - I needed to sleep off the pain. When I got to work that afternoon, my colleagues swarmed like flies in my room asking me what has happened. They missed me! And perhaps care that much and wanted to make sure I'm OK. After work, my abdominal pain persisted. I stopped by the pharmacy and asked for advise from the resident nurse for a second opinion. After describing my pain, she asked me one simple question: "Have you been very busy the past weeks at work and at home?" It turned out that I have been stressed without me knowing it. The pain I described has crept slowly in and has disturbed my body system's balance - I've been suffering bacterial imbalance! The kind nurse gave me a list of dairy products to buy and was told to start having sourmilk everyday. That same night, I slept like a baby. I awoke the following day without any pain. It was great relief!

Todate, I'm still waiting for that call to tell me the result of my tests. But I'm not worried now, I've sort of "self-medicated" myself already - thanks to the kind nurse at the pharmacy.

Would you believe that? I was beat - without me knowing it!

LESSON LEARNED:
Slow down ... breathe ... take stock of things to do all in good stride.