Salmoppendicitis, And A Pulled Muscle

I think that about covers my self-diagnosis for whatever it is that has been bothering me these last few days.

It started on Wednesday morning, when I threw up during my attempt at the New York City Ballet Workout DVD. I chalked it up at that time to working out too soon after having a smoothie that contained orange juice. I figured on Thursday, I'd wait longer.

Thursday morning found me feeling a bit rough still, though I thought saying I felt ill or sick would be overly dramatic. I figured one more day of non-strenuous activity and careful eating would do the trick. Indeed, I started to feel better.

On Friday morning I woke up quite late--I've been sleeping more than usual, too--and had my regular smoothie. Bad idea. Convinced that my body is rebelling against citric acid, I skipped lunch, had a Slurpee from 7-11 instead, and drove up to Mom and Dad's house, experiencing intermittent cramping in my upper abs--around my diaphragm.

(At one point in the afternoon, Mom and I mulled over the possibility that I pulled a muscle doing the NYC Ballet Workout...but I've since decided that's not the case. It's not that kind of pain.)

The cramps have continued since then with no rhyme or reason. I'll feel motly well and then BOOM! Owwwww. Last night I made the collossal error of looking up my symptoms on Web MD and walked away nearly hyperventilating about appendicitis and stomach cancer. Even worse than the thought of actually having an illness that might require surgery or even just a quick hospital visit was the knowledge that such a visit would put me into debt quite quickly because I no longer have health insurance.

Yay.

This, in turn, put me in a bad enough mood that I actually shouted, "FUCK [insert former evaluating administrator's name here]!!" I'm not one that likes to shout that stuff, for fear of inviting bad karma, but damn, I was in pain, and I was getting a little frightened, too.

Mom and Dad had a dinner they had to attend, so I stayed home with my research. My friend Meghan (an RN) finally calmed me down on Facebook by telling me that if I did need to go to the hospital, the ER staff would help me find out if I'm eligible for MediCal, or other options for funding any care I might need.

I started taking deep breaths and whaddayaknow? I started noticing a dramatic decrease in the amount of pain I was feeling.

The cramping hasn't gone away entirely, and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with what I eat, because it happens when I eat and when I don't. It's now accompanied by frequent restroom stops. Mom looked at me tonight and said, "You've been eating a lot of eggs lately, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Salmonella."

I've been hard-boiling the eggs, but I suppose it's possible. I looked up the symptoms and they are basically abdominal cramping (check), diarhea (check) and fever (uncertain). Symptoms usually start 3 to 72 hours after being exposed (so it's possible, as I'd been eating the eggs earlier this week) and can last 4-7 days. Most people shake it without treatment.

I honestly don't know, but I'm calm enough at this point that I'm not freaking out about it. I figure if the cramping doesn't stop, I will find a way to visit a doctor. Mom and Dad won't let me suffer. In the meantime, my working out is suffering. Goodie.

So here's hoping it's just something that will go away with plenty of sleep. I've got a couple of Harry Potter books on hand to keep me entertained, and if anything does go wrong, I've got Mom and Dad to help me, which is comforting.