Saturday mornings always find me lobbying shots at BCMI... but not today. I woke up with dysmenorrhea, a head cold and a bit of irritation (Haaarumph) behind my throat. What kind of timing is that???!! But as I continue to sit here, digesting my body's condition further, I realize that these 3 happenning today is much better than for it to happen on a regular day of the week. Here's why :
1) On my Dysmenorrhea - no man can possibly imagine nor experience the kind of pain that a woman goes through during the first day of her "period". In my case, close to 30% of my productivity at work goes out the window as I spend close to an hour in the clinic, lying in a fetal position across the bed, a warm bottle pressed close to my abdomen, willing the pain to go away. On a particular cycle that the pain is quite severe, I end up tearing in the clinic..yep, it can get that bad. So you say, 'take a painkiller'. See, I have a strange relationship with painkillers. On normal days when I take a painkiller for a headache, I down 250 mg of Ponstan (mefenamic acid) and its gone in less than 10 minutes. But if I take the same medicine for menstrual cramps, you bet its gonna take about 30 minutes before the pain starts to leave. My eyes also get all puffy as if I cried an entire day. Its one of the strangest reaction that my body does, really. But since this thing happened today, I don't have to be guilty about leaving my work station and returning all puffy-eyed. I can even put my feet up against the wall to help lessen the pain.
So what can I say to Sen. Miriam Santiago's one day MENSTRUAL LEAVE? Its crazy! A lot of women have careers now and experiencing menstrual cramps is something that they don't have time to deal with for an extended period of time. Heck, most women I know, like me, just take 500mg of Ponstan or Dolfenal and forget about it. I just go through the process a little strangely than most.
2) On my Cold and Throat Irritation - I wouldn't have to watch my food intake because having these 2 automatically does the following: a) I can't taste what I'm eating and 2) it hurts to swallow. So, not being able to sweat it out in the badminton court is to me, well compensated by not eating as much as I would normally do.
I thus have a good reason to just stay in bed for the better part of the day and not be guilty of not doing anything.
1) On my Dysmenorrhea - no man can possibly imagine nor experience the kind of pain that a woman goes through during the first day of her "period". In my case, close to 30% of my productivity at work goes out the window as I spend close to an hour in the clinic, lying in a fetal position across the bed, a warm bottle pressed close to my abdomen, willing the pain to go away. On a particular cycle that the pain is quite severe, I end up tearing in the clinic..yep, it can get that bad. So you say, 'take a painkiller'. See, I have a strange relationship with painkillers. On normal days when I take a painkiller for a headache, I down 250 mg of Ponstan (mefenamic acid) and its gone in less than 10 minutes. But if I take the same medicine for menstrual cramps, you bet its gonna take about 30 minutes before the pain starts to leave. My eyes also get all puffy as if I cried an entire day. Its one of the strangest reaction that my body does, really. But since this thing happened today, I don't have to be guilty about leaving my work station and returning all puffy-eyed. I can even put my feet up against the wall to help lessen the pain.
So what can I say to Sen. Miriam Santiago's one day MENSTRUAL LEAVE? Its crazy! A lot of women have careers now and experiencing menstrual cramps is something that they don't have time to deal with for an extended period of time. Heck, most women I know, like me, just take 500mg of Ponstan or Dolfenal and forget about it. I just go through the process a little strangely than most.
2) On my Cold and Throat Irritation - I wouldn't have to watch my food intake because having these 2 automatically does the following: a) I can't taste what I'm eating and 2) it hurts to swallow. So, not being able to sweat it out in the badminton court is to me, well compensated by not eating as much as I would normally do.
I thus have a good reason to just stay in bed for the better part of the day and not be guilty of not doing anything.