Signs of dehydration I did not recognise as dehydration

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

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.

Reading Nan, I recognised more of that than I expected to.

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.

The phrase that unlocked my appointment was asking what specifically she wanted me to watch for. It moved us from reassurance to a plan in about thirty seconds.

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.

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 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.

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

Persis has already said most of this and I want to add the one part that was different for me.

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.

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.

Thank you for the update. Threads that stop are the worst kind.

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.

The thing that made mine manageable was accepting that a bad three days did not mean a bad month. I was extrapolating from every rough patch.

Somebody here told me early on that the aim is to stay on treatment comfortably rather than to endure it, and that changed how quickly I raised things.

Mine did not settle and in the end I stopped, and that was the right decision for me. Both outcomes exist in this circle and neither is a failure.

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.