Observations on a week of sick

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I rarely get the kind of sickness I’ve had the last week. It was so ordinary. A virus. A summer cold. How plebeian. I get more dramatic things that may involve death (in my head). Possible kidney stones that turn into a muscle spasm. Shooting pains that are gas (but may be fatal). My symptoms always fit the worst diseases (according to Dr. Google).

This past week was an eye opener on just how ignorant I am about colds. I was re-educated about antihistamines, decongestants, what lets you sleep and what doesn’t. All by trial and error. And buying lots of stuff. Cha-ching, cha-ching.

I bought at least four different medications. That’s in addition to the one we had in the pantry. Most were used once or twice. I found that the best decongestant is behind the pharmacy desk. You have to sign over your first born to get 20 tablets.

You shouldn’t take it at night as you will not sleep. Your pupils will dilate and you’ll spend the night endlessly trolling the internet for bargains. There are no bargains. Trust me on that one.

All of these medications are packaged in blister packs. They call them that because you get blisters trying to open the dang things. My nails are not sharp enough to cut the wrapper so I need a box cutter. The one thing you don’t want to handle when you are sick is a sharp tool. I’m surprised no one has sued because they lost a digit.

They are horse pills. They make fish oil tablets look like baby aspirin. Fortunately I can swallow a horse pill. Usually. Except when I’m sick.

Now it feels like an industrial grade vacuum is sucking out all my moisture. Your eyelids stick to your eyeballs. Your lips are stuck together in a pose that Kim Kardashian would be proud of. This is in contrast to 30 minutes ago when your head felt like a bowling ball with the mucus rolling around in there. I don’t know which is better.

There are no shortcuts. It has to run its course. The best you can do is alleviate symptoms. The sooner you get peace with that the better.

Silver lining – I didn’t go to the gym for a week. I read two books and I couldn’t weed my garden. No guilt! Always look for that silver lining.

Hope you have a healthy summer!

63 thoughts on “Observations on a week of sick”

  1. So, this just shows up on my fb feed! Well, just saying, your humor is outstanding! I can picture a comic on stage doing a whole routine that you just wrote. Hope you are well on your way to recovery.

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  2. Hope you’re feeling better, Kate. Summer colds are terrible. When it’s winter you’re ok being indoors but when its nice out, well. It stinks. Stay well and don’t google so much..:) When we only had hardcover medical books to read about our illnesses, I remember reading a Mark Twain quote about dying from a misprint in one of those books. We make ourselves crazy.

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  6. Sorry you have been sick. I can’t remember the last time I had a cold. I am a regular user of nasal rinse. Started when I was having some allergy thing going on and it worked wonders. Now it’s a habit.

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  8. I hope you’re better by now! How awful. I rarely get sick and never get a flu shot. My husband swears by Sudafed (behind the counter). I like NyQuil to sleep. But really, nothing much works those rare times I am sick with a cold.

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    • I am better but still at the tail end of it all. I rarely get sick like this. It’s been at least a decade since I had a cold like this (and I get the flu shot but this wasn’t the flu). My doc says you have to wait it out.

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  10. I don’t know if there germs are stronger or the two of us here are lesser, but recovery time from one of these virus/colds is much longer than it used to be. Probably a little of both. I’ve gotten really vigilant if any symptoms (headache, sore throat, clogging ears, drag-ish feeling) appear and attempt to road block it quickly. There’s a bottomless bag of cough drops. I react weird to meds, Claritin does nothing. Benedryl makes me hyper and nervous. Zyrtex-D works, -it’s behind the counter and they do track purchases. But I only take it when nose is pouring beyond tolerance and not for long. Anything upsets my system, so basically I just live through it (with hot liquids and Chinese/chicken soup). Husband happily uses massive doses of vitamin C (which gives me diarrhea) and that neti pot thing as DR recommends, but I’m not up to intentional drowning…
    Grandmother always said hot liquids and find a nice sunny spot outside and read a book. (maybe she meant in winter – gads it’s hot now)
    Hope you continue to feel better! Summer colds are the worse

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    • Sounds like you are a lot like me although Benadryl makes me sleepy. I used to be able to short cut these things but now it’s 10 to 14 days with a lot of cranky in there. I used the Zyrtex-D (after forfeiting first born which is a cat) until something gave me the runs. I really needed my mom to make me soup. Not a neti pot person either. I would need to have a long flowery dress and my hair in braids to do that. Seems like a flower child thing.

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  12. Sudafed or it’s generic has gotten me to work with a head cold more often than is quite hygienic.
    But it does feel like you are an illicit drug maker, doesn’t it?
    I got turned down 2x in a row, because “”the state system was down. I assumed it was a euphemism for the FBI is now tracking your sudafed. But I was desperate enough to go to the next state, which handed it over with id and signature.
    Embarrassing.
    I love benadryl or it’s generic for nights. It dries you up and lets you sleep more comfortably.
    The sore throats are hard. I usually resort to ibuprofen, but it’s not quite good enough.
    I’ve become an expert in the last 7 years. I work for a transportation company that moves all the germs that walk off planes.
    I’m going to die in the next plague.

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    • The Sudafed generic left me wired up. I did end up with Benadryl for nighttime and MucinexD for daytime. There was something that upset my GI tract though. At this point, I just a little stuffy but off of all meds. Maybe I’ll go back to Claritin which worked for the allergies. I’ve always been glad I wasn’t a teacher or a bus driver. I had a friend whose husband was a bus driver and he was always catching something. I hate planes. Germ incubators.

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  13. It was when they decided pseudoephedrine was a behind-the-counter product that changed everything – you used to be able to just walk into the grocery store or CVS, Walgreen and take them to the counter – now you get the third degree. Or they are behind the Rx counter.
    And at the grocery store they want I.D. – fortunately (or unfortunately in my case), they no longer ask for I.D. to buy this stuff. They just eyeball me and decide that yes, I am over 21. I hate anything I can’t open up – the clamshell packaging is the worst. I bought some flash drives and the way they sold the package – three different “barriers” to get the flash drive out of the package- for a flash drive?!? Hope you are feeling better Kate.

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  14. Oh ack. Sorry to hear you’re still dealing with that nasty cold. I usually go with Theraflu. There is a nighttime one and a daytime one. I can’t take those ones that you have to get from the pharmacist behind the counter. I get heart palpitations.

    Sometimes I can see your posts as a standup comedy routine. Blister packages. LOL

    I sure hope you are on the mend asap.

    Sending healing vibes.

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  15. Sounds like you got it bad, Kate. When I get that sick I try to sleep – 20 hours a day, if I can manage – with a little help from big Pharma. Chugging back NeoCitran Extra Strength puts me on my ass, thankfully.
    If I could, I’d ask to get put into a medically induced coma until the damn virus runs its course. Why is this not a thing? 😉

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  23. I am so happy to hear that you are feeling better. I knew something was up when you said you felt you had lost your funny. You most certainly have not lost your funny. When I have a cold or virus I usually just suffer quietly and take nothing because it blows my circuits to figure out what I can take that won’t mess with my heart meds and I certainly do not want to call a doctor. Summer better give you some fantastic weather as a reward for being a sickie and survived with humor intact!

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    • Nyquil isn’t one of the ones I bought. Took me a day or two to figure out about nighttime meds vs. daytime. I kept thinking it will go away fast so at the beginning I was trying to minimize it. First purchase was cough drops. Cherry ones. That’s how ‘not serious’ I took it.

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