Pushing On And Puffing Up

The body isn't doing so good. Just a week into year 34 and I am groaning and moaning, and not in the good way. Last week, my age old lower back pain decided to make an appearance and stick around for a while. And that same night, I went for a yoga class and I think I overstretched, overexerted, over-something-ed and that brought back the unpleasantness of tight nerves, stiff tendons, tingly spine, sleeping on my stomach head yanked 90 degrees right, walking gingerly, getting up painfully and, of course, jibes from the family. 'I thought your yoga cured this thing.' 'Why come back again, ah?'. Goodness.

I took painkillers before I slept and rubbed some red mentholated oil ("Try it, sure work wan," the mother exhorted). Next morning the pain was still there. So I took more painkillers, 2 yellow pills freed from their plastic-aluminium foil restraints, washed down with HDB tap. I had an interview that afternoon and so decided to take 2 more pills before I left home.

In a toilet downtown, as I adjusted the tie, I noticed some subtle puffiness around my eyes. Uh-oh. I had this before. As my right index finger poked at the slightly swollen flesh, I became confused and worried. The former because I had taken painkillers I wasn't supposed to be allergic to, and the latter because the yellow pills were mostly paracetamol, one of the few remaining pain relieving drugs I can take since the doctors declared me aspirin and NSAID unsafe. Habis.

The puffiness must have gotten worse during the interview. But the nice lady at the other end of the table was too polite to say anything. I must have looked like a monster. Well, at least like I got punched. I confirmed my fears as I left building 40 minutes later. Yup, Muhammad Alispirin did one over on me. In the next 4 hours I think I drank 5 litres of liquid to flush out the toxins. In that time, I had ex-colleagues interrogating me over my suited up, sold out attire and the burgeoning bags under the eyes.

Is it old age? Is it time for these bones and wobbly flesh to give way? Should I look at dentures (yes the teeth are acting strange too) and hip support girdles? Is my body rejecting foreign chemicals? Did I simply eat too much? Oh the young(er), carefree days of 33 years. Oh 32, how I miss you.