Hi. This will be a long post, but it’s one story, not a series, so I’m telling it all at once.

Twice this month something quite strange happened to me. Everything was normal, just an ordinary day, and then without any warning my abdomen started hurting. A pulling рain low in the abdomen and a sharp cramping sensation very similar to mеnstrual рain, only noticeably stronger.

The first time it happened at a car service. I was calmly talking to the mechanic about the car when suddenly it hit. Instant cold sweat, my vision darkened, and I had a very clear feeling I was about to fаint. Outwardly I kept standing and talking, because fаinting in the middle of an auto repair shop was not on my plans. I barely held it together, took the car, drove a little away and sat there waiting for it to pass because driving immediately was difficult.

I thought it was just a one-time episode.

But later it happened again. First the same pulling раin, even though my cycle was still a week away, which already felt suspicious. Then the раin intensified. On my way home, with about twenty minutes left to drive, a sраsm started while I was behind the wheel. Strong enough that I actually shouted from раin. There was nowhere to pull over.
I was shaking, trying to breathe and at the same time keep the car steady so I wouldn’t crash.

I reached home mostly out of stubbornness. I took a раinkillеr immediately, and then a different phase began. I started shivering intensely: blue lips, pale hands, impossible to warm up. I was wearing warm clothes and lying under two blankets, and still freezing. The weakness was severe, and standing up made me dizzy.

My temperature was 37.5 °C (99.5 °F),

then 38.3 °C (100.9 °F),

then 39.5 °C (103.1 °F).

I was shaking and my head was pounding. I seriously thought about calling an ambulance, but I was scared because I don’t have insurance and the cost would be high. The idea of being sick and in debt at the same time was not comforting. I decided to give it one last chance and took fever mеdication. The temperature started going down and suddenly I felt overheated. I didn’t sleep half the night.

Now the fever is still there but I feel better. I messaged a doctor I know and described everything online. First we suspected ovarian inflammation, but the ultrasound was normal. After discussion we came to an unexpected conclusion: autonomic nervous system dysregulation.

In simple terms, the body has an automatic control system that regulates things we don’t consciously manage: blооd vessels, pulse, temperature, and pain signaling. Normally it maintains balance. But when it becomes too sensitive, it reacts not only to real danger but also to stress. Organs remain healthy and tests look normal, yet the alarm signals in the body become exaggerated. The pain is real; the trigger is regulatory, not structural damage.

That explains why the symptoms look unrelated. One time it resembles cystitis, another time migraine, then herpes or dermatitis. Each episode seems like a different illness, but it is actually one mechanism. The doctor explained that the nervous system switches into emergency mode during emotionally significant stress even when there is no physical threat.

And honestly it makes sense. I often get sick when I’m stressed, especially during trips or right after them. I frequently have cystitis without infection in tests, herpes, migraines, dermatitis, while all examinations remain normal. The sensations are completely real.

Right now I have my Polish language exam in a week. I’m very anxious. I sleep poorly, I dream that I’m taking the exam, I watch videos about it, and constantly rehearse answers in my head. Even while writing this I can feel the tension. It all seems to fit together — a psychosomatic reaction on the background of anxiety.

So the first practical conclusion is simple: the first thing I need to fix is my sleep. Because apparently my body is trying to cope the only way it knows by reacting too strongly.