This is no joke. It’s true! I did pass out on our bathroom floor. It happened a little past 5:00 a.m. last Wednesday. Ziggy woke me up asking for a bottle of milk. The second I woke up I already felt dizzy. It felt like my stomach was churning and that I wanted to throw up. I immediately knew I was in danger of passing out because it has happened to me twice before already. But this time, I was really scared because only Ziggy and I were at home. I didn’t want to pass out and leave my toddler unattended.
Well, I tried to stabilize myself before I got up. Then I got Ziggy his bottle and I proceeded to go to the bathroom. I left the bathroom door open because I didn’t want to leave Ziggy alone outside. I tried to stabilize myself by sitting on the toilet. Ziggy kept going in and out of the bathroom asking me what’s wrong. I kept asking him to go back outside because I didn’t want him to see me pass out. During one of those times he went out, that’s when it happened. I blacked out and fell on the floor.
I didn’t know how long I passed out. It might have been only seconds. The next thing I knew, I was on the floor hearing Ziggy calling my name and asking me what happened. I opened my eyes and saw him standing in front of me. I forced myself to go back to bed with the electric fan focused on me. I started to break out in cold sweat and immediately felt better. So I sent my hubby a text message asking him to hurry home. I knew that by that time he had already left work to go home, which was really good. In a matter of minutes, he was home. I felt weak the next few days after that and it forced me to go to the doctor last Friday.
I consulted a family doctor, who of course questioned me about a lot of things and did the usual check up. She asked me to get a CBC and referred me to an ENT. She said that if the ENT check up and the blood tests don’t show anything then she’ll have to refer me to a neurologist. That got me really scared.
The thing is, it’s only now that I took this passing out thing seriously. The first time it happened was way back in college. I had a very high fever, woke up in the middle of the night, went to the bathroom and passed out there. Right, it also happened in the bathroom. I didn’t think much of it and thought that it was just due to the fever. The second time it happened was after work almost 10 years ago. After a long day at work, I went with my office mates to prepare our Christmas party venue for the party scheduled the next day. We didn’t have dinner until that time I passed out at 11 pm. I thought it was just because I was tired and hungry. Since it’s the third time now, I decided to take it more seriously, especially since it now happened while I was alone with my kid.
Well, the blood test showed that I am slightly anemic. So, now I have to take iron supplements. I have to refrain from staying up too late or becoming too tired. The test done by the ENT revealed that I also apparently have vertigo, which explains why I get dizzy. According to the doctor, my vertigo was caused by exhaustion and dehydration. Apparently, there’s an imbalance in the fluid ruining through my body, which sends conflicting messages to my brain and causes dizziness. What’s bad about it is that there is no permanent cure for vertigo and it can also recur any time. The only thing I can do is control the dizziness with anti-vertigo medicines, which I had to take for three days. If it happens again, the I’d have to take those medicines again too. But the most important thing is to drink lots, and I mean LOTS, of water. Ugh!
I’m not a big water drinker. But from now on I have to force water to be my new best friend for my sake and for the sake of my family. This incident has also forced me to rethink my WAHM schedule. Admittedly, I’ve been trying to schedule a lot of things to make the most out of my day. I feel so exhausted all the time, especially in this heat! But I guess God wanted to give me a wake up call. I am not superwoman. I have to take better care of myself because if not, I won’t be able to take care of my family as well.
So, for the past several days, I’ve been trying to take it easy. Hubby has been more helpful around the house. He has already been great around the house prior to this incident but now he’s decided to take on more of my chores. Bless him! I just have to remember that he has to rest too. I’ve decided too to put a stricter limit to my work hours. Before, the earliest time I go to bed is 1 am because I only get to work a lot at night. But now, I’ve decided to stop working already by 11 am. Let’s see how that goes and how these changes will affect my WAHM life. Hopefully, it will be for the better.
