The Girls Guide to Being Sick at Home
Hello everyone!
As I write this, I'm not feeling my best. After what was a really lovely lunch date with one of my good friends on Saturday, I began to feel slightly queasy as the day went by. Things took a turn for the worse at 6pm when I really felt sick, and by 9pm... well... I'll spare you the gory details. Let's just say I didn't get a very good nights sleep.
Getting sick sucks. No one likes it (obviously), but when disaster strikes, there's only one thing for it... or a few things actually.
Stay In Bed If You Need To: I didn't get much sleep on Saturday night. I would dose off, and about an hour later wake up due to the nausea taking over. This happened all night long, and when it came to 6am, I gave up and got out of bed to watch TV. Anything to take my mind off how I was feeling. But by 8am, I was exhausted again, so back to bed I went, and I slept for another two hours. I got up, mooched around for an hour, and went back to bed again. Honestly, it was the only thing I could do! When you're really that sick, just listen to your body. Your body will repair itself while you sleep, so it's extremely likely that your bed will beckon to you, so get back in!
Watch Something Funny: The last thing I wanted to do while the nausea was at its worst was watch anything that related to food. I just couldn't even look at anything food related. My film choice? The Little Mermaid. It was midnight, and it was the only thing that sounded like it wouldn't make me squeem. I didn't watch it all, but it was a good distraction until I attempted more sleep. When I woke up, the worst of the nausea had subsided, so I watched something a bit funnier. My mum had been telling me about a Channel 4 show called "Catastrophe" which aired a few years ago, and how funny it was. I'd already started watching it a few weeks ago, but I have more to watch still, and it's been perfect!
Drink All The Tea: This works whether you're sick with a stomach bug like me, or if you've got a cold, or anything really... Warm drinks just seem to sooth everything and make your insides feel so much happier. I've had no appetite at all for 48h now, and when nausea seems to hit me, I've been making myself big cups of warm peppermint or ginger tea. I'm peeing loads, but my tummy feels better for it!
Take A Bath: Going back to warmth, there's nothing that seems to sooth everything more than a hot bath. You can really go to town as well, throw in a bath bomb or a lovely smelling bath liquid. Get those bubbles going, put on some quiet music and just lie there for a little while. I've had three baths in two days, because they really seem to calm my nausea (no idea why) and they help make me feel so much better.
Read: Headaches suck, and screens seem to make them so much worse for me. I've definitely not read a huge amount this weekend, mainly because reading has been putting me to sleep, but in those times where I don't want to do anything involving a screen, I've been snuggling on the sofa with a book or magazine and the relaxation has been so helpful.
Don't Force It: If you're anything like me, you're going to want to get up, do house chores, get back to work on emails, write blog posts (ok, that's what I'm doing right now so I should take my own advice but... I'm on the sofa so it's ok, right?!), but you really should try to just sit still and let your body work it's magic to make you better. I find it incredibly hard to sit still for too long. I get bored, fidgety and annoyed, but the moment I tried to make myself do anything too strenuous, I felt worse for it. So sit still, watch TV, read those books and take it easy!
