Have you ever been hungry and nauseous at the same time?

I'm sitting here wrapped in a quilt, feeling hot and cold by turns. I've been in bed almost all morning, and I'm tired of laying there when it doesn't make me feel any better. I have decided to push aside polite rules and my own embarrassment to share with you something that I think everyone should know about. I won't make it as much of a TMI post as it could be, but it will definitely be more TMI than I usually am. So there's your warning.

Some girls need to know that all girls don't have their "time" as easily as they do, so that they can sympathize. Other girls need to know that they are not alone in their suffering. I used to try to suffer through, and push myself to live a normal day. I feel horribly lazy to have a "sick" day for something that healthy women are SUPPOSED to have for around 30 years of their life, but the truth is that this pain is real and it shouldn't be ignored. (Although it is also not natural, and it should be treated.)

Guys should know what this feminine "sickness" is like for girls... your mom, sister or wife will appreciate your sympathy even if she has it "easy." And if you're grossed out or don't want to hear about it, I recommend that you either never get married, or just get over it.

The medical term for it is Dysmenorrhea. Their description, however, comes nowhere near close to the excruciating pain I feel. It feels like there is a monster hand twisting and knotting my insides, and slowing pulling my insides inside-out. The slightest movement of something as remote as my toes gives causes a deepening in the pain. Breathing hurts. Lying down doesn't help much. There aren't words to describe this unique torture, so I won't try.

My whole body aches, and even without the horrific cramps, the ache would keep me from resting comfortably. My muscles feel heavy and slack. I'm shaking, and if I try to stand up, or move my head to fast, I'll get dizzy.

I'm nauseous, and I have stabbing hunger pains. From previous experience, I know that it's better to be nauseous and hungry than to eat something and then fight throwing it up. Eventually the hunger pains fade anyway... if you're hungry long enough, the hunger goes away.

If I stay active, I will eventually get a hot flash immediately followed by a cold sweat. Then the blood will drain from my face, and if I don't sit down, I will faint. I've only fainted once, fortunately.

From that point, my symptoms usually start fading. It usually only lasts a day for me, but for some it can last as long as a week.

Doctors will usually prescribe the Pill. The pill actually causes normal female fertility to temporarily cease, including menstruation. The placebo week is fake, to make users feel comfortable that they aren't completely interfering with their body's natural processes. When in actuality, they are. (Bad idea.)

Red Raspberry leaf is a natural hormone balancing herb. I've been taking it religiously for about 2 months, and it has helped a lot. It hasn't helped as much this time, but I still feel better than I usually feel. I hope that Red Raspberry is the answer, and eventually this pain will be a vague memory for me, which is why I decided to write this post while I still know what it feels like.

I hope I didn't disturb you too much, and that this was helpful for someone.

~Lizzie

Healthy??

Manfred Muller, a homeopathic nutritionalist, visited our Radical Wednesday group tonight. This is the second time he's visited, and it's always very interesting. This time, he mentioned quite a bit about how cell phone, microwaves, nuclear plants and mercury are so hard to avoid and so harmful. I always thought we were pretty healthy. As I was sitting here eating my extra-large helping of dessert (that didn't get served at the meeting because it went too late) I was thinking how it's entirely organic. It has lots of sugar, but it's organic, evaporated cane juice. We use healthy toothpaste, shampoo, lotion and gum. But we can't avoid the mercury and all the other toxins in the air. And, on top of that, Mr. Muller reminded us that even organic foods can get pesticides and other harmful things from run-off, and mercury in the rain.

It seems that it's completely impossible to avoid harmful things. Sometimes it makes me want to give up entirely and just eat whatever I want. I like soft drinks (with carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup and "natural flavoring" -- which is supposedly MSG), and tons of other things that are so laden with toxic substance that you just kinda want to NEVER eat any food again. But if I'm constantly breathing mercury and many other horrible things, why shouldn't I just go into denial, eat what I want and have a pleasant short life, instead of a long, paranoid and yucky-tasting one?

What really bothers me is that if I really want to be healthy, the first thing I should probably do is stop saturating myself with chlorine for 2 - 2 1/2 hours 3 times a week. That can't be good. But I love swimming, and it's such a nice way to keep in shape.

*sigh* I was happy eating organic foods... wasn't it good enough that we hardly ever went out to eat? Now we'll probably never eat out again. I don't know if I'd even want to. The thought makes me sick. But I recovered quickly enough from the last health-oriented Wednesday meeting. Much more quickly than I should have...

~Lizzie