Nausea
I feel really nauseated right now. My whole life, until a couple of months ago, this was an extremely rare occurence. I mean, I still haven't thrown up since I was about 10... the last time I can remember it happening, I had a babysitter. I don't know if it's stress, or what, but recently my stomach has been reacting to things a lot more strongly; if I don't eat well or sleep enough --or both-- I feel sick. The worst part, though, is that unlike other people, I can't just throw up and then feel better... I just have to wait it out.
It makes me think about a really good book I read a couple of years ago. It's called Complications, and it's all about how doctors aren't infallible, but we have to deal with that fact, because they're our best bet. It's written by a resident, with a lot of really good anecdotes. One of the chapters is about nausea, and how it's been used as a behavior training tool because to almost everyone it is infinitely worse than any pain. I somewhat agree: it's possible to ignore or forget about pain for at least short intervals of time, but nausea is almost impossible to ignore... hence the subject of this entry.
It makes me think about a really good book I read a couple of years ago. It's called Complications, and it's all about how doctors aren't infallible, but we have to deal with that fact, because they're our best bet. It's written by a resident, with a lot of really good anecdotes. One of the chapters is about nausea, and how it's been used as a behavior training tool because to almost everyone it is infinitely worse than any pain. I somewhat agree: it's possible to ignore or forget about pain for at least short intervals of time, but nausea is almost impossible to ignore... hence the subject of this entry.