The fortnight I could not keep water down

What I found is that describing it precisely to myself was half the battle. Vague discomfort is frightening; a specific sensation at a specific time is a question with an answer.

There is a list in the guides of the things that need somebody today rather than a thread, and I have sent it to about six people. It is worth reading before you need it.

I have read this twice now. Thank you for writing it.

The hardest part for me was not the symptom, it was not knowing which category it belonged in. Ordinary tax, or something to raise this week. That distinction is most of what this circle does.

Coming back a fortnight later to say mine settled, because I hate threads that stop halfway through somebody's difficult month.

The thing I underestimated was tiredness as a symptom in its own right. I kept looking for a dramatic cause and it was simply that I was very tired.

The bit in the middle is the bit I needed to read.

Gently disagreeing with Lark, or rather adding the other half of it.

What helped me was writing down the time of day it happened. The pattern was completely invisible to me until it was on paper, and then it was obvious.

Two things that helped, neither of them clever: smaller amounts more often, and drinking considerably more than felt necessary.

Mine got worse before it got better, which I wish somebody had told me. About ten days of worse, then a fortnight of gradually less, then nothing.

I want to offer the boring outcome for balance: mine was mild, it lasted a month, and it went. Not every account here needs to be dramatic.

Bay said something I want to sit with for a second.

Something I only worked out late: two mild things at once felt much worse than either would have on its own, and I kept trying to find a single cause.

My prescriber slowed my schedule down and most of it resolved within a month. I am not suggesting that for you. I am saying the conversation exists.

Whatever it is, you are not being dramatic. Half the reason people end up frightened at midnight is that they talked themselves out of asking at four in the afternoon.

I keep a two-line note every day and it is the only reason I can answer questions about my own symptoms. Worth starting even now, mid-way through.

I would take that to a clinician rather than to us, and I would do it this week — not because it is definitely something, but because it is much easier to rule out than to sit with.