Dehydration

Friday started out with a killer sore throat & I debated skipping my run. After several hours I had talked myself into going so I headed out in the midday sun. I don’t take water on my runs & this one was no different.

My target heart rate was 145 but I started out at 160 & couldn’t bring it any lower unless I slowed to a walk. I began feeling very nauseated, and 30 minutes into my run I decided to stop and walk home. (It should have been a 50 minute run.) It took my another 20 minutes to walk home and by then I was feeling really poorly. I drank a glass of water & went to bed.

Within a few hours I was really sick. My throat was burning, my head was pounding, and every muscle in my body hurt. I spent the rest of the day in bed but my body was wracked with pain & I couldn’t sleep. It felt similar to a bad case of mastitis. I tried taking ibuprofen and my migraine medication but it didn’t even touch the pain.

I alternated rubbing arnica & Ben-Gay into my muscles, I took arnica by mouth, and I nibbled on the corner of a protein bar. The day and night dragged on forever.

Saturday morning came and I was no better. I was feverish & in so much pain that I cried off and on for a lot of the day. Phil suggested that maybe I was dehdrated, so I ate a Gu, and drank 2 bottles of Propel, and ate a few bites of pasta salad. I took several hot baths & would feel a bit better during that time but it didn’t last. By now I was hearing noises in my head every time I moved, & by late afternoon I was dizzy and my vision kept going dark. I thought I was going to pass out. At this point I Googled dehydration & heat stroke & what I read scared me. I had all of the symptoms of mild dehdration, most of the symptoms of moderate dehydration, and a couple of the symptoms of severe dehydration.

Phil brought me some Pedialyte & I drank it through the evening and night. I slept in the recliner because it was more comfortable than my bed. By morning (now) I was feeling much better. Although I’m still very weak & in a fair amount of pain, it’s not the excruciating pain I’ve dealt with for the past 2 days. My appetite is starting to come back & I’m still working on the Pedialyte in the hopes that I will be back to normal tomorrow.

I don’t know why it hit me after only 30 minutes in the sun. I know that I don’t normally spend a lot of time in the sun, and I had slacked off on forcing myself to drink 64+ oz of water daily. I had no idea dehydration was this painful & I never want to feel this way again.