Dear Body — just be cool okay?

Some days I feel like Superwoman…today was NOT one of those days. I can hear my alarm going off, I went to bed resonably early the night before so there is no way I should feel this exhausted, I hit snooze, one, two, three..shit, I’m late for work. I move through my morning routine quickly but still wrapped in a thick fog. It’s fine, today will be easy, then I can hit the gym after work and hopefully feel human.

The morning is fine and I am finally waking up, unfortunately not fast enough for my liking so I grab a coffee before heading to the new office to help with the construction clean up; the pain starts after the first sip.

My entire lower abdominals contract shooting down into my tail-bone, I actually clench my jaw and break into a sweat almost immediately. I should mention that I am on the 4th day of my cycle which has never been pleasant but today takes the cake.

By the time I arrive at the office I am in white hot pain and can barely hold it together however one perk about my boss is that she is my mother and recognizes immediately that I am not well.

“Get in the car, we’re going to the clinic” , she says. Now I hate going to the doctor (long story, childhood trauma…no biggie) but I am not about to argue since I am actually a little scared.

The wait at the clinic is minimal and the walk in doctor is friendly and understanding. He wants to run blood tests; thyroid, iron and vitamin B levels. I tell him I have been losing a lot of hair lately (no joke — “tumbleweaves” are rolling through my apartment) and tells me that he is going to recommend me to a specialist.

I have no idea what the tests will say but I know I will be relieved when I get them, I consistently miss work, school, anything and everything once a month and I don’t want to do it anymore.

I am a pretty damn healthy person, eating mainly a plant based diet (NOT vegan…I will eat meat once and awhile but prefer fruit,veggies and legumes), I work out consistently with strength training,yoga and reluctant cardio and don’t have too much stress in my personal life.

I leave the clinic with a prescription for a jacked up anti-inflammatory, take one, three times a day as necessary — the pharmacist doing the “consult” takes one look at my hand clutching my abdomen and suggests sympathetically to take two…so I do.

The pain eventually subsides and I stress clean my apartment, make some dinner, talk to my boyfriend over the phone and snuggle into bed where I am laying with my laptop and cat, my search history is loaded with “hashimoto’s disease” , “endometriosis”, and other self diagosees. (Is that even a word?)

I‘m going to give my body a little pep talk — everything will be better tomorrow.

Sidebar: My cat is snoring, that is adorable.