Oh that's why

I haven't been feeling great.  It was partially the nausea and headache from the the bcp. My eyes puffy and irritated, feeling light-headed, dizzy, and out of it. I thought I was dehydrated or hadn't gotten enough sleep or was recovering from the heavy period. But as the week wore on, even though I was doing my best to get close to 9 hours of sleep to "catch up" and keeping hydrated, nothing seemed to help.

I went to my eye doctor thinking maybe my prescription needs an update. Turns out my glasses are fine but I have a touch of allergies that manifest as tired, puffy, itchy eyes. She gave me drops and they helped. Since there's no change in my prescription she couldn't say why I'm dizzy or light headed and recommended a trip to the pcp. That night my hearing started to fade on my left ear and I got nervous enough to call my pcp's office. With all the hype about John McCain in the news you know where my mind went.

My pcp was able to fit me in Friday morning and as I sat in the waiting room I contemplated why it felt like I've spent my summer in doctor's offices and whether this was a waste of time. After a quick check and some questions the doctor figured it out easily: sinus infection. So not only hormone side effects AND allergies, but also a freaking sinus infection! As crazy as it is to have all at the same time, I was happy to hear that it wasn't something more.

There's so much fluid trapped that it's causing dizziness, faded hearing, and incredible pressure and headaches. There was no coughing or stuffy nose or any of the classic symptoms that would have made me think of it, but once it was mentioned it answered all the symptoms I'm having and made so much sense. When thinking back on the past few months I just attributed the congested face feeling to frequent crying and didn't connect the other symptoms.  I've started antibiotics and already feel better.