Okay, maybe I DO get sick
May. 28th, 2009 01:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamsharkAs far as I can recall, this is the first cold I have had in the past year and a half. But some people (like my daughter) insist that I do get colds, I just forget about them. So this time I'm posting it to my blog as a matter of record. I have a cold. *blech*
I probably caught it from Richard, although I think he got sick about 10 days ago which would be a rather long incubation period. This one came on VERY suddenly Tuesday evening. I felt okay when I left work, stopped at Kowalski's to buy food for next day's lunch, and noticed a sore throat coming on. By the time I left the store I was definitely feeling pain swallowing and had a little discomfort in the middle of my sternum (oh-oh. Head colds are annoying, but chest coughs are my nemesis). By evening was nose was running badly enough that I had a brief moment of panic when I went to bed that I might drown in the night. On the plus side, my chest wasn't hurting any more. I had already decided to call in sick, since it was clear that I wasn't going to sleep well.
I woke up at about 5am feeling rotten. Since I couldn't sleep I took a hot shower and some SudafedPE. This cleared out my head and refreshed me tremendously. I was able to go back to bed and sleep comfortably, if not soundly. Gotta remember that trick! Got up at 9am and called in sick by email, went back to bed for another hour. When I woke up I felt embarrassingly normal. Since I had already called in sick I decided against "working from home," a modern office trend that I despise. Instead I spent the day working on estate business and other personal finance chores that I have been putting off. By evening I felt perfectly well, and made a run to Office Max for 3-ring binders and blank CDs. "That was easy!" I thought. It's over!
Woke up in the middle of the night with the dreaded pain in the middle of the chest, swollen glands and a wheezing cough. Damn. Slept poorly, emailed in sick again, went back to bed and made myself stay there until almost noon. The only way I've ever found to head off the asthmatic post-cold cough is to avoid moving around during the chest cold period so I don't start myself coughing. Felt better when I got up, had oatmeal for breakfast. Usually I find oatmeal to be a rather unsatisfying meal, but it hit the spot in this situation: warms the chest, coats the throat, soothes the nerves. Another good tip to remember!
Started feeling better, had a lovely relaxing time reading the paper on the front porch with warm spring breezes coming in the window. Except that my eyes started watering and itching. Damn again. Please.... don't let me get pinkeye! (Am I the only adult that still gets that? So nasty). I took more decongestant and added an antihistamine this time. Also some vitamin A (helps with the eyes). And now I feel fine again, as long as I don't breathe too deep and start coughing.
I still have hopes of being over this by the weekend.
I probably caught it from Richard, although I think he got sick about 10 days ago which would be a rather long incubation period. This one came on VERY suddenly Tuesday evening. I felt okay when I left work, stopped at Kowalski's to buy food for next day's lunch, and noticed a sore throat coming on. By the time I left the store I was definitely feeling pain swallowing and had a little discomfort in the middle of my sternum (oh-oh. Head colds are annoying, but chest coughs are my nemesis). By evening was nose was running badly enough that I had a brief moment of panic when I went to bed that I might drown in the night. On the plus side, my chest wasn't hurting any more. I had already decided to call in sick, since it was clear that I wasn't going to sleep well.
I woke up at about 5am feeling rotten. Since I couldn't sleep I took a hot shower and some SudafedPE. This cleared out my head and refreshed me tremendously. I was able to go back to bed and sleep comfortably, if not soundly. Gotta remember that trick! Got up at 9am and called in sick by email, went back to bed for another hour. When I woke up I felt embarrassingly normal. Since I had already called in sick I decided against "working from home," a modern office trend that I despise. Instead I spent the day working on estate business and other personal finance chores that I have been putting off. By evening I felt perfectly well, and made a run to Office Max for 3-ring binders and blank CDs. "That was easy!" I thought. It's over!
Woke up in the middle of the night with the dreaded pain in the middle of the chest, swollen glands and a wheezing cough. Damn. Slept poorly, emailed in sick again, went back to bed and made myself stay there until almost noon. The only way I've ever found to head off the asthmatic post-cold cough is to avoid moving around during the chest cold period so I don't start myself coughing. Felt better when I got up, had oatmeal for breakfast. Usually I find oatmeal to be a rather unsatisfying meal, but it hit the spot in this situation: warms the chest, coats the throat, soothes the nerves. Another good tip to remember!
Started feeling better, had a lovely relaxing time reading the paper on the front porch with warm spring breezes coming in the window. Except that my eyes started watering and itching. Damn again. Please.... don't let me get pinkeye! (Am I the only adult that still gets that? So nasty). I took more decongestant and added an antihistamine this time. Also some vitamin A (helps with the eyes). And now I feel fine again, as long as I don't breathe too deep and start coughing.
I still have hopes of being over this by the weekend.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-28 11:19 pm (UTC)If the coughing stage runs away with me I tend to develop severe laryngitis, given my chronic asthma, so I've learned to head it off by taking those Nyquil/Dayquil equivalents at the first signs of a cough - it's worked pretty well for me.
2 more phases
Date: 2009-05-31 12:20 am (UTC)I wasn't at my best, but not feeling especially bad either. I was starting to get hoarse. A bit of coughing but not deep or out of control. So I went to a play in the evening that involved some socializing afterwards, and enough talking that my voice pretty much went out. I managed to keep the coughing to a minimum with some old cough drops I found in my purse, but I was probably still a bit annoying to the rest of the audience.
On the way home I had a hunger attack and stopped at White Castle. Bought 3 sliders and a small onion chip. I stopped being hungry half-way through, but stupidly ate most of the food anyway. I did not, however, finish the onion chips, which suggests that I was already starting to feel sick.
This morning I felt okay when I got up, but not very hungry. Had oatmeal for breakfast. Within about an hour I started feeling sick. Overall malaise, mild nausea and then diarrhea. No vomiting, but the very idea of eating is revolting. I haven't been able to do anything all day. I've been lying around and reading alternating with not-very-successful naps. I don't quite understand how I can feel so bloated when there is so little left in my digestive tract.
Don't know if this is the final stage of a viral illness or mild food poisoning, but I'm inclined towards the former.