What did you drink, and how is your belly feeling now?
TW: very slight emeto, could be sensitive for some individuals with ED histories (very little mentioned)
A couple of friends and I went to an event downtown and we found a few local distilleries that had drinks available. They all had a lot of fun, and got drinks from multiple different booths. After my second, though, it was getting really difficult to continue walking around. I really didn't feel good.
I think my first mistake was not eating anything before we went mid-afternoon. Food has been a bit difficult for me lately (sensory/mental health/etc), so waiting this long into the day to find something to eat isn't abnormal. Before we got to the food, though, we wanted to get started on the drinks. First, I got this lemon-liquor (not limoncello, but I'm not sure what it was) slush that looked really good, but I think was what did me in. The overbearing sweetness/tartness of the beverage twisted my empty stomach, but I didn't think much of it as sometimes my stomach reacts weirdly to the first thing I put into it for the day. We continued walking.
We ran into this vendor who was making giant buckets of high-proof seltzer in various flavors. I pushed the gnawing upset feeling in my belly down and chugged the rest of the slush, only stopping to relieve a brainfreeze halfway through. I'm allergic to a couple of common fruits included in alcoholic beverages, so i had to be careful of what I got, but I eventually found a drink I could have. Immediately after I threw the cup away from the slush I started in on the bucket, as I had to finish it before we walked the mile back to the car to leave. I could feel my upper stomach trying to process the cold alcohol as we walked down the first hallway, laughing and behaving as normal as to not draw attention to the constant angry bubbles. They each stopped at a few food vendors for their first courses and I stood back, claiming to be "holding off to see what all was available". We continued walking through the event for a while longer before reaching the end; everyone looked at me and questioned what food I would be getting, and I panicked. I ended up getting a slice of pizza from one of the corner vendors, and they continued around the square once again for their second courses.
A few of them bought thirds to take home with them, as they complained of being too full after the second but couldn't walk away without that third vendor option. It took me a long while to finish the giant slice of pizza I had bought, as my stomach became more and more upset the more we began walking around. I washed it down with the large seltzer, and had almost gotten to the bottom of the bucket when we passed by the vendor again. The one older lady called me over and I didn't want to be rude, and she offered me a refill for half the price of the first. My friends were psyched and my stomach was sloshing, yet I agreed to the second bucket of seltzer. I felt too bad, I didn't want to walk away and not buy anything after she'd picked me out of the crowd.
On our way back to the car I tried to work on the second bucket. It was about a mile walk, and half of it was uphill, so I was already dreading the trek. It was about 90 degrees F and I could feel my skin cooking as we walked- the heat did not make me feel any better. In fact, it made it even worse. By the time we got back to the car, I climbed into the passenger seat and leaned it back a little, trying to discretely slip a hand under my tshirt to rest on my angry stomach. I could feel small washes of acid hit the base of my throat every once in a while, and an overall feeling of shit, I think I might throw up set in. Luckily I was able to keep everything down, but my friends decided to stop one other place downtown before heading home. I'm not great at expressing when I'm not feeling well, so I sucked it up and got back out of the car into the blazing heat.
First they wanted to go into an international snacks store- fortunately, I was able to branch off from the group for a few moments to let myself breathe for a second. I hid in one of the back aisles with the Japanese bottled teas and let myself lean against the metal shelf for a minute, closing my eyes and wrapping an arm around my unsettled stomach. The nausea was more settled in my chest now, and although it wasn't strong, it was persistent. The dull discomfort sitting behind my sternum rose and fell as I found the group again, straightening my back and following quietly.
After the international snacks store, a few members of the group decided they were going to go into a dessert spot on the opposite side of the street. I hesitantly followed as they ran between the stopped cars along the street, all of which waiting for the red light to turn. The store smelled amazingly sweet- which unfortunately, turned sickening soon after entering. A few of my friends ordered while I excused myself to the restroom.
When I got in there I was able to sit down for a second and allow my stomach to settle as much as it could. I could feel my belly protest against the small circles my fingertips rubbed into my skin, and I briefly contemplated whether or not I should just be sick and get it over with. I decided against it, as I didn't really want to have to pull trig I wasn't in there long, three minutes, maybe four, but by the time I felt like I could stand back up again, my friends had already obtained their orders. Luckily nobody questioned why I hadn't placed an order and just filtered out of the building and back up the street. By this point there was a pretty steady dull ache behind my eyes and up into my skull, and I could tell my eyes were becoming more light-sensitive as we walked. Headaches aren't uncommon for me either- nicotine and coffee aren't meals, as much as I sometimes like to convince myself they are- so I wasn't too worried about this, but the pain was becoming pretty uncomfortable by the time we reached the car again. I dug my sunglasses out of my pocket and slid them on, hopefully disguising my difficulty with keeping my eyes open as we drove back. My stomach still was not doing well, but I thought the risk of truly getting sick was lowering a bit. Every little while I would realize my head was feeling a bit worse, though, so as hard as it was to stay awake, I kept my eyes closed as I continued to bullshit with everyone in the car.
When we all got back to the driver's house, everyone was going to go in and spend more time together (they all wanted to play this new video game together). I live just down the street from this friend, so I nonchalantly mentioned I had a few things to do back at my apartment but that i'd come back in a little while to hang out. The walk down the street was pretty difficult- it's flat ground, but the sunlight reflecting off of each car that drove past and even the light color of the cement sidewalk hurt my eyes. When I finally got back to my apartment, I changed into sweatpants in the dark and slipped into bed, setting an alarm for about an hour and a half. Sometimes all I need to settle my belly and make my head feel better is a little sleep. I didn't end up waking up until about four hours later, when one of my friends called to see if I was alright.
After the call I groggily sat up and assessed my condition- my stomach wasn't as upset and the pain in my head had dulled a bit, so I decided I'd go back to my friend's place for a few minutes before going to bed for the night. the SECOND I walked in the door, the host shoved a plate of chocolate bundt cake into my hands and guided me to the room they were all gaming in. I sat and watched them play as I slowly worked my way through the slice of cake, my stomach begging me to stop with every bite. I knew I needed to eat something more, as a slice of pizza and alcohol wasn't enough for the day, but I don't think the cake was a good idea. When I finally saw the chance to go home I took it, and made the final trek back to my place. I knew I had to shower for work in the morning and prep my coffee mug before I went back to bed, so I made my way into the kitchen to finish everything up. After a while I ended up realizing I'd slid down the wall and onto the floor of my kitchen, distracted by my phone and the soft pulsing in my skull. My stomach wasn't extremely happy and was bubbling nonstop, but I didn't get too nauseous again until I tried eating a few grapes. I think I got about three down before I realized it was a mistake. Defeatedly, I got up a little later, took a very quick (and dark) shower, and slid back into bed.
As I'm writing this with my brightness turned all the way down, I'm feeling my stomach shift and growl. I'm not sure if I'm not feeling well now because I'm a bit hungry on top of the upset, or if I genuinely just fucked up bigtime with the booze on an empty stomach, but I don't know how work is going to go tomorrow if I'm not feeling any better.
