Situation/background overview of activity observed: On Thanksgiving Day I woke up like a regular day except that this one is special the first thanksgiving my son actually understand was a day of celebration. I was cleaning and getting ready to go to my mother in laws house. Then it begins! My belly hurts so bad I thought I was going to die. Describe the activity observed: I haven’t even eating I had just woken up like an hour then.
I got the kitchen clean with my son helping using vacuum for the first time. Then after I had no idea why I went back in bed about five minutes later I tried to stand up that was when I realized I so sick but I didn’t want to mess the day up for the rest of the family. I knew how much my son had being waiting for this day to happen. He actually thought it was his grandmother’s birthday because that was what he told them at school he was thankful for was to help his grandmother blow the cake candle.
I was so in pain that I could not really explain how I was feeling all Tjust wanted was for the pain to stop. Anyway around 3pm | was able to get of the bed and took a shower my husband was not in support of me going if I wasn’t feeling well. He think needed to rest since I couldn’t eat anyways, everyone was about to just call it a day. I told him I would lay the car sit down so I can sleep throughout the hour trip to his mother’s house.
By around 8pm I haven’t eating anything all day and had vomited every nutrient in my body and there were trays and trays of foods in the house while sitting with the rest of the family eating at about 9pm I was not sure I was really hungry but my brain could not take looking at the food without having a taste anymore. So I had a little bit out of my three year old’s plate and I felt terrible immediately after. The pain became excruciating | could not even put it on any scale anymore I had to run into the bathroom and vomited my lungs out again then after I felt better.
Concepts, ideas, and theories observed: I believe my Somatosensory Cortex was working well that day because the kind of pain I felt I was actually able to put a hand on it. I remember I could not lay on my belly because the skin actually hurt that I had to massage it. I also noticed I could actually move the pain around to a different area. As a result of my low tolerant to pain I think Anxiety from my Amygdala mixed with the pain created the Nocebo effect which made my symptoms probably worst that it should have being.
Conclusions and take away learnings: I will say the biggest take away is knowing what food poising pain feels like and as well as finding out how our brain signal pain and how our body/nerves respond to this such experience. During this process I realized how traumatized I felt and my memory with food is different now I watch everything I eat well by being more selective about where l order or even place food in my kitchen since I didn’t remember the process my last meal the night before thanks giving had went through. Metacognition reflection: My initial assumption was that I needed to eat something but that only made the problem worst.
I think this made me realized that as important as food is to any living organisms it can also cause harm if proper care is not taken. Also I guess | am just too scared that I could have being at work at the exact time I felt the pain if it hadn’t being Thanksgiving Day. I know it sounds crazy but now I have ginger candy and supplements in my hand bag just in case. People at home can’t stop laughing at me. I will say the traumatic memory is normal due to the amount of pain I felt however I needed to retrain my brain to not associate food or all stomach upset to food poising.
I will not relate my experience or diagnose PTSD at this moment “To make the diagnosis of PTSD. The criteria for diagnosis specify factors concerning the victim’s perception of the trauma as well as the duration and impact of associated symptoms, including persistent re-experiencing of the traumatic event, marked avoidance of usual activities, and symptoms of increased arousal Before a diagnosis of PTSD can be made, symptoms must last for at least one month and must significantly disrupt normal activities”
