Huh. I am (girl stuff here) actually tracking how much blood loss I'm going through and it's kinda...actually worse than I thought. This is a pretty average period for me. I started at 2 am last night, and I have gone through 6 SuperPlus tampons, 3 of those in the last 4 hours. That's 12-15 grams/milliliters of blood a tampon, so about 40-45 milliliters in the last 4 hours? And mennoraghia is classified as 80+ milliliters in the entire period?

Maybe I've should have been keeping better track of my hoo-ha rather than just saying "it's bad." Hrm.

EDIT: Hmm. But looking at the blood donation site (and yo, that made me woozy) the average blood donation amount is 450 milliliters, so that's a perspective, right.

In summary, if I could just go to sleep, I wouldn't be overanalyzing this. Le sigh.

Maybe I will skip the gyno and just spend a lot of money on shoes.

God, I wish I could sleep too. Although I am in time-sync with the bitches, my period is relatively low key. It's my head that's keeping me from sleeping. So I just sent off an email to my GP telling him that if he can't find me prescription painkillers that work he might as well give me Ambien so I don't have to be awake for the pain.

I hope your issues turn out to be non-issues, Erin.

Dude. Your doctor should be giving you FREE ambien, if he can't actually find a painkiller that works. I mean, Dilaudid? Damn.

I'm kinda curious to see how long it is before I fall down from not sleeping. I had 4 assy hours yesterday late morning, and between my crappy cold cough, insomnia and the period that ate new york, I am entirely amused with how decrepit I am.

I AM glad you're up tho. I rarely get a chance to talk with you and I don't feel quite so desert-desolate.

Although I just heard a couple break up in my alley. Dude, you're supposed to do that at 2 am, not 5:45. Who breaks up in the early morning?

Hmm. I want some tea.

I had oral dilaudid, but 8mg didn't do anything, and there was a limit to the # of times I was willing to multiply the prescribed dose.

Only Stadol, which one sniffs, works, and I can't have much of it--and it makes me peppy and aggressive.

I do hope you're sleeping. It's about east coast wakeup time.

I want to bake things, but I don't have any softened butter. And I know better. That's commitment to awake.

It turns out when I don't sleep, I think everyone in the entire world should die.

Ditto. Luckily, I don't have huge insomnia problems, just generally stress related ones or creativity-related insomnia. Whenever I'm either in a really juicy part of a manuscript or nearing the end, I cannot sleep. No matter what I take. The voices in my head just will not shut up.

Once I'm done, however, it's the sleep of the dead for the next few days. Until I start worrying about revisions.

I agree with the weirdness that is American attitudes to drugs/medication. That was one of those things that was such a culture shock for me when I left Miami. Cubans are notorious for self-diagnosing and everyone of my mother's generation knew or was related to a doctor, so all you'd have to say is "Ay, tú sabes, I'm not sleeping, ni un poquito," and next thing you knew, you'd have a prescription in hand. (Common at cocktail parties.)

Lewis was appalled the first time I said, "Yeah, I've got a upper respiratory, I need to get some sulfa-- I'll call Mom and have Dr. P. phone in a prescription."

"Isn't he a dentist?"

"Yeah, but he can prescribe it."

"But—how do you know it's the right thing?"

"Dude, it's an upper respiratory, I know it is. I know what I need, I just need it to go away."

"I really think you need to go to the doctor. It might be strep."

"Don't get strep."

"How do you know?"

"Because I don't. But if it'll make you feel better, fine."

Took seventeen negative strep tests when I got upper respiratory infections before he finally believed me. Now, he doesn't bat an eyelash.

It used to be like that when I lived near doctor relatives, but then the authorities started clamping down on who could prescribe what, and I could no longer get neurontin from my dermatologist cousin--I had to go to an actual pain guy. In person.

Now I don't know anyone medical, and I wouldn't want to confuse my GP (pain meds) or migraine specialist (migraine prophylactics) with interactions.

I am awake and actually, oddly enough, have softened butter, If that helps. I am thinking about taking a shower and making a pot pie.

Barb, I remember being so ASTOUNDED when I went to London and you were allowed get an antibio from the chemist. I've had tonsillitis about 30 times in my life. I KNOW it's tonsilitis. Can you just call it in to my pharmacy for I'll only have to drag my 104 degree fever out into the street for 25 minutes instead of 3 hours? Please?

I wish I had doctor relatives. Someone who knew I wasn't an idiot child and would actually believe I knew something about my own body.

ok, off I go to the lady-doctor. And, thx to the conversation here, I'll put in an ask about the squish. Wish me luck.

Barb, I remember being so ASTOUNDED when I went to London and you were allowed get an antibio from the chemist.

Yeah, I've never been to Europe, but Lewis has and he said it was amazing what was considered OTC there vs. here.

And all the doctor relatives are starting to retire or die off-- luckily, however, my sister works at a predominantly Latin-staffed hospital where most of the doctors did their training in Europe or South America. Listening to conversations with them about American drug regulations is... enlightening, to say the least.