Chapter 10 – Visiting Canberra and my longest period ever!

In mid-January we went back to Canberra to visit our family’s. Also, my bonus son was turning 30, so we there to celebrate too.

We were staying at my parents and aside from catching up with family and attending birthday events, we’d organised to catch up with some friends.

We flew to Canberra on the Friday and my period arrived that day. I wasn’t expecting them but they weren’t early or late either. My period still came about every 28 days but I’d never really tracked it and I still wasn’t.

When we got to Canberra, all I’d eaten was some unsalted nuts that I’d packed. I’d intended to take a salad with me, but it didn’t happen. I felt ok, but I was ready for dinner.

We ordered takeaway Pizzas and picked them up on our way to Mum and Dad’s. I’d ordered a vegetarian pizza with a gluten free base and vegan cheese. As gluten free pizzas with vegan cheese goes, it’s not terrible, it’s not great and it’s better than some.

However, when I took a bite of the pizza I felt a blister appear on my bottom lip.

Now, just to be clear, it wasn’t the pizza, it was my immune system. This was an indication that my immune system was low and the blister was in fact a cold sore.

On Saturday morning I woke up coughing. With my lung issue and the colder (even though it was summer) Canberra weather, plus my immune system being lower I coughed more than normal at that point.

Teddy caught up with a school friend on Saturday afternoon, and that night we went to my bonus son’s 30th. There were lots of younger people there, when I say younger they were around 30 years old, they’re just younger in comparison to me, and some from interstate. There were lots of hugs and whilst it felt really comfortable I was also mindful of any covid challenges.

A Covid Scare

Covid was still running riot and to get back into Queensland we were going to have to declare a negative covid RAT (Rapid Antigen Test). Accessing RATs at that point were near impossible. We’d tried to get some in Queensland but we had no luck. My niece was also visiting Canberra and she had a couple of spares, so we knew we had RAT tests, we just had to do our best to manage the ‘negative’ result.

On Sunday morning, we woke up to a message from our nephew in Hervey Bay. He’d driven us to the airport on Friday and had tested positive to covid on Saturday.

We were concerned that we’d possibly contracted covid and were then worried about passing it onto my parents, who were in their 80s, not to mention anyone we’d caught up with, hugged or sat next to on the flights.

We all took a covid RAT test and nervously waited. Thankfully, we all tested negative.

We felt like we were in the clear at that point, however, we were worried about what could happen because we could test positive in a day or two or three, etc. and if one of us tested positive to covid, even the negative person/s couldn’t get back into Queensland.

We all felt well so we decided to stay and do our best to minimise any challenges – as best we could.

Food is Fuel

We spent the week catching up with people, which was lovely, but my energy levels deteriorated and I found the visit quite stressful.

As a baseline, I definitely wasn’t eating enough. I was still intermittent fasting, so I wasn’t eating breakfast but because of life and everything that was happening, I was often skipping lunch or eating it later than normal which has a flow on effect to afternoon tea. Effectively I was running on the smell of an oily rag.

One day I meet a friend to do the bridge to bridge walk around Lake Burley Griffin. We usually do the bridge to bridge and then do another half, so we’re hitting around 7.5km and talking the whole way. On the previous visit, we did the walk two times, a full 10km, but this time I couldn’t make one lap without coughing and feeling like I was going to pass out.

When we finished our walk and catch up, I headed to dinner, thinking ‘right I need to eat and I’ll clean my plate’, but I couldn’t. I ate until I was full, but I couldn’t clean my plate. I felt like I was going to vomit if I ate any more. 

At that point, I knew I had to do something different and my first point was getting food into my body more regularly.

Change Takes Time

I was starting to think that intermittent fasting wasn’t serving me, and the next day I got a message from Christine, a Nutritionist I’d been talking with a few months earlier. She was now able to do Telehealth appointments and wondered if I was interested – I booked in!

I also had enough supplements to get through a couple of days in Canberra, but I knew I was going to run out. Generally this wouldn’t worry me, but with my periods happening, and they were painful, and my energy levels being really low, I wasn’t able to utilise them – because I ran out! I had already organised to pick up a new supply when I got back to Hervey Bay.

My focus over the next few days was to eat, so I made sure I ate lunch, afternoon tea and dinner, and I felt better – not great but better.

My Longest Period EVER

As I mentioned, my period had been quite painful, more so than normal. On Sunday, my belly was so sore, it made me feel exhausted, so I took a 2 hour nap. It was what I needed, but not what I’d planned. 

Normally my period lasts for 5 days, and as I head into the back end of Day 3, things start to slow down, but they didn’t. Day 5 came and went, I was still bleeding. It was weird but ok, maybe they’ll finish on Day 6, nope not day 6. Maybe day 7, nope not day 7. I was wondering – will they ever end? Was I moving into my menopause journey? 

What I could have been thinking was, ‘Is intermittent fasting playing up with my hormones?’ But I wasn’t there yet.

9 days. My period lasted for 9 days and yes I’m still recovering LOL. I’ve never had a period last for 9 days, never ever. I truly wondered if they were ever going to leave. They did leave, and for the following months, February and March, my periods were back to normal, but in April they were 2 weeks late.

With a 9 day period, it was enough for me to check in with my GP and get blood tests done for menopause.

I learnt a lot of lessons during that trip:

• Eat more – your body needs it
• My lungs are ‘low hanging fruit’, if something isn’t working in my body then my lungs will tell me first
• Not eating regularly screws with my hormones (and other things) which screws with my periods, of course – every things connected.

We managed to get back to Hervey Bay, without covid and with food in my belly. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good and there was gluten and dairy, because that was the best option on the day.

 

My next step

Working with Christine, my Nutritionist, has been super helpful. I know a lot about health and wellness, but I’m not qualified in what she does and having a partner to work with and talk through things really helps. I’m great at implementing recommendations, working through mindset challenges (which is what I do with my clients) and finding ways through.

Doing the work with Christine brought in an important lesson I had to learn this year, to enable me to create change in a way that resonated with me. Read on to learn 🙂

You can check out everything about my Project 22 over here and Chapter 11 – My Nutritionist.

 

Share with me

Are you going on your own journey in 2022? Then tag me and use #project22 so we can connect xo

 

Disclaimer

Everything shared in this post and across my website is my story and recollection of conversation and events. They are in no way medical or mental health advice, prescription or diagnosis. Should you be interested in what I’m sharing and what this could mean in your life, then I’d encourage you to engage with the relevant health professionals or if you need support please seek out the health professionals that can support you.

In relation to my podcast, the information shared is mine or my guests. Again it is not medical or mental health advice, prescription or diagnosis. If you need support, please seek out relevant medical professionals.