The Sick Thread

[marodi]

If I was in China right now, I'd swear I've caught H7N9 because the last time I was this sick was when I caught H1N1.

It hurts everywhere...

[becoming]

Was sick as fuck like 2 weeks ago and then got a bad ear infection. It drained and I can hear somewhat but seems like there's still something plugged up inside and its fucking annoying as hell... been like this for a week and 2 days think a Dr office visit is in my near future. Not hearing sucks.

[miss k bee]

Got some hives bad and bad itchy rashes at work last night spread from my stomach to my shoulders and back and wrist, even after going home to sleep woke up itching!! Wtf never had this before, its calmed down a bit now.

[miss k bee]

And then woke up in the middle of the night with a migriane headache grr!

[october_midnight]

Fuck my fucking life. Someone help.

Monday morning woke up, ear kinda hurt (i have slight allergies like once, twice a year so thought it'd be that shit)..by the night the motherfucker was completely swollen shut and hurt like someone was drilling into my skull. I went to the hospital later that night, was told it was an acute inner ear infection. Was prescribed Biaxin (powerful antibiotic), drops, as well as told to eat Advil like they were skittles, which I've been doing.

The only thing that helps is the Advil, for about 3 hours after it only hurts at a 6/10 level, still agony. At night, obviously with the fluid blocking the inside of my eardrum shifting around, it's at...oh I'd say 12/10. No fever yet, but I've literally been up for about 80 hours straight and can barely walk it hurts so much. Three days in and the antibiotics aren't doing shit. Still can't hear out of the ear and it hurts like fire.

Read the results of pretty much every Google search I could muster, 'adult ear infection', 'adult inner ear infection', etc etc and they all say it should be at least getting better by now (or if it's viral and not bacterial, the antibiotics won't help, but again...it should be clearing up by around day 3). There's no discharge so I know my eardrum hasn't ruptured, and I'd rather not get that outpatient shit where they cut your ear open with a tiny hole to drain the bitch.

Help. Anyone deal with this before? I've tried the warm showers on the back of the ear/neck, warm compress (which is the only way I can almost fall asleep when I try)...and nothing is doing anything.

Help lol.

[vpintz]

fuck migraines. fuck losing 10+ pounds in one week without trying and having your doctor not know what happened. fuck gall stones. fuck everything.

fuck.

[Fixer808]

Heat exhaustion isn't fun. Got too much sun yesterday on the golf course, so as a result I was headachy and nauseous all night at work. Still have a mild headache. Definitely wearing a hat to the course tomorrow...

[vpintz]

Heat exhaustion isn't fun. Got too much sun yesterday on the golf course, so as a result I was headachy and nauseous all night at work. Still have a mild headache. Definitely wearing a hat to the course tomorrow...

Heat stroke/heat exhaustion is the worst, and can be so dangerous. Take it from someone who gets heat stroke super easily--wear a hat, keep hydrated, and ice packs. LOTS of ice packs.

[allegro]

Fuck my fucking life. Someone help.

Monday morning woke up, ear kinda hurt (i have slight allergies like once, twice a year so thought it'd be that shit)..by the night the motherfucker was completely swollen shut and hurt like someone was drilling into my skull. I went to the hospital later that night, was told it was an acute inner ear infection. Was prescribed Biaxin (powerful antibiotic), drops, as well as told to eat Advil like they were skittles, which I've been doing.

The only thing that helps is the Advil, for about 3 hours after it only hurts at a 6/10 level, still agony. At night, obviously with the fluid blocking the inside of my eardrum shifting around, it's at...oh I'd say 12/10. No fever yet, but I've literally been up for about 80 hours straight and can barely walk it hurts so much. Three days in and the antibiotics aren't doing shit. Still can't hear out of the ear and it hurts like fire.

Read the results of pretty much every Google search I could muster, 'adult ear infection', 'adult inner ear infection', etc etc and they all say it should be at least getting better by now (or if it's viral and not bacterial, the antibiotics won't help, but again...it should be clearing up by around day 3). There's no discharge so I know my eardrum hasn't ruptured, and I'd rather not get that outpatient shit where they cut your ear open with a tiny hole to drain the bitch.

Help. Anyone deal with this before? I've tried the warm showers on the back of the ear/neck, warm compress (which is the only way I can almost fall asleep when I try)...and nothing is doing anything.

Help lol.

Jesus Christ, dude, this is horrible!!

How many Advil are you taking at one time? Four Advil = prescription Advil (800 mg). I vote you go back in or see an ear nose throat specialist if this hasn't gotten better yet.

I saw a few weird but "wtf, couldn't hurt?" home remedies that include putting some salt or rice in a sock and nuking it until it's warm and put that at the back of your ear.

[october_midnight]

Thank you so much for the home tips, I haven't even really looked at any other than applying a warm compress and the like. Standing in a hot shower with the water hitting the side of my neck definitely relieves the pain temporarily. I actually went back late last night, basically in a 'these antibiotics aren't doing anything, help me, i'm in agony' kind of mindset. Got another doctor who I've had before so was glad to see him. He actually spent some years as an ENT (thankfully), and he pretty much confirmed it.

'Yeah, those antibiotics aren't nearly strong enough.'
'Great.'
'You were right to come back after 3-4 days if it didn't improve as it should've by then...god man, if you didn't keep trying stuff, shit like this can lead to worse conditions. I'm talkin' Meningitis even.'
'Great'

LOL. So he prescribed me antibiotics that I take 4x a day and a nasal spray as he said my inner AND outer eardrum look infected which is why the pain is probably at the top of the scale. So I had one of those and sprayed twice and woke up today feeling actually a bit better. I've still got like 30% hearing out of the ear and it hurts like hell, BUT slept pretty much all night so I may be on the right track. I'm going to try that rice in a hot pack thing though FOR SURE as heat makes it feel so much better for a while!

[Space Suicide]

Thank you so much for the home tips, I haven't even really looked at any other than applying a warm compress and the like. Standing in a hot shower with the water hitting the side of my neck definitely relieves the pain temporarily. I actually went back late last night, basically in a 'these antibiotics aren't doing anything, help me, i'm in agony' kind of mindset. Got another doctor who I've had before so was glad to see him. He actually spent some years as an ENT (thankfully), and he pretty much confirmed it.

'Yeah, those antibiotics aren't nearly strong enough.'
'Great.'
'You were right to come back after 3-4 days if it didn't improve as it should've by then...god man, if you didn't keep trying stuff, shit like this can lead to worse conditions. I'm talkin' Meningitis even.'
'Great'

LOL. So he prescribed me antibiotics that I take 4x a day and a nasal spray as he said my inner AND outer eardrum look infected which is why the pain is probably at the top of the scale. So I had one of those and sprayed twice and woke up today feeling actually a bit better. I've still got like 30% hearing out of the ear and it hurts like hell, BUT slept pretty much all night so I may be on the right track. I'm going to try that rice in a hot pack thing though FOR SURE as heat makes it feel so much better for a while!

I advocate the rice in a hot pack idea. My girlfriend knitted me my own for aches and pains and it really works pretty well. Microwave it and then put it on any place (your neck it seems) where it has a twinge of pain and it'll soothe it.

[ManBurning]

Holy fuck do I ever feel like garbage! Goddamn summer cold came out of nowhere to bite me in the ass. Summer colds are super rare for me, they only show up once every 5 years or so (I can even remember the last one, almost EXACTLY 5 years ago right after I came back from the Pemberton festival at the end of July 2008).

My nose keeps alternating between being an endless faucet of snot or so plugged up I can't breath. I donno what's worse, but i'm leaning towards the endless snot being more annoying. Urgh, on top of the fever (in the 30 degree Celcius heat), and the gunked up junk in my chest and terrible cough this is definatly horrible!

I'm not even sure how this happened, 2 days ago I felt 100%, went for a long walk in the park, everything was fine and dandy then woke up the next morning with a super sore throat, and once you get the sore throat, there's no nursing yourself back to health from there, it's full blown GOTCHA!

[Fixer808]

Holy fuck do I ever feel like garbage! Goddamn summer cold came out of nowhere to bite me in the ass. Summer colds are super rare for me, they only show up once every 5 years or so (I can even remember the last one, almost EXACTLY 5 years ago right after I came back from the Pemberton festival at the end of July 2008).

My nose keeps alternating between being an endless faucet of snot or so plugged up I can't breath. I donno what's worse, but i'm leaning towards the endless snot being more annoying. Urgh, on top of the fever (in the 30 degree Celcius heat), and the gunked up junk in my chest and terrible cough this is definatly horrible!

I'm not even sure how this happened, 2 days ago I felt 100%, went for a long walk in the park, everything was fine and dandy then woke up the next morning with a super sore throat, and once you get the sore throat, there's no nursing yourself back to health from there, it's full blown GOTCHA!

[Baphomette]

Holy fuck do I ever feel like garbage! Goddamn summer cold came out of nowhere to bite me in the ass. Summer colds are super rare for me, they only show up once every 5 years or so (I can even remember the last one, almost EXACTLY 5 years ago right after I came back from the Pemberton festival at the end of July 2008).

My nose keeps alternating between being an endless faucet of snot or so plugged up I can't breath. I donno what's worse, but i'm leaning towards the endless snot being more annoying. Urgh, on top of the fever (in the 30 degree Celcius heat), and the gunked up junk in my chest and terrible cough this is definatly horrible!

I'm not even sure how this happened, 2 days ago I felt 100%, went for a long walk in the park, everything was fine and dandy then woke up the next morning with a super sore throat, and once you get the sore throat, there's no nursing yourself back to health from there, it's full blown GOTCHA!

I think you caught what I have. Sorry about that.

Seriously, though - dealing with almost exact same symtoms. BFF (naturopath) suggested the following:

- Get Brand Name Clear Lungs I like the RED label – pills not liquid. Pretty sure they have it at Whole Foods. It's popular. Otherwise most health food stores.

- And I did mention eat organic pears so get some of the brown-skinned Asian ones (make sure they're not from Fukushima, k). eat one a day for at least five days
- Also, rub lung meridian

- Get Breathe Deep Yogi Tea- and drink lemon ginger mineral water - the lemon for vitamin c for any possible infection; the ginger will help loosen / expel mucus from lungs & help clean them out
- do deep breathing (slow inhale. long pause. slow exhale) in a place w/ decent air quality

The arm rubbing thing has made no difference but the ginger lemon water has definitely helped. Getting pears and Clear Lungs tomorrow. I hate being sick.

[redshoewearer]

Holy fuck do I ever feel like garbage! Goddamn summer cold came out of nowhere to bite me in the ass. Summer colds are super rare for me, they only show up once every 5 years or so (I can even remember the last one, almost EXACTLY 5 years ago right after I came back from the Pemberton festival at the end of July 2008).

My nose keeps alternating between being an endless faucet of snot or so plugged up I can't breath. I donno what's worse, but i'm leaning towards the endless snot being more annoying. Urgh, on top of the fever (in the 30 degree Celcius heat), and the gunked up junk in my chest and terrible cough this is definatly horrible!

I'm not even sure how this happened, 2 days ago I felt 100%, went for a long walk in the park, everything was fine and dandy then woke up the next morning with a super sore throat, and once you get the sore throat, there's no nursing yourself back to health from there, it's full blown GOTCHA!

You went to Lolla right? Its a week after that, and colds seem to pop up 5-7 days after exposure - I bet you got it there - I'm sure it was a cesspool of germs - half of the bathrooms had run out of hand sanitizer. Now I am afraid since I was there too! I think I'll go hit the vitamins.

[ManBurning]

@Miss Baphomette - Thanks for the suggestions. That Clear Lungs product looks promising. I think i'll go get myself some of that if I can muster up the energy to get dressed and leave the house today, haha. I was planning on spending the weekend inside to try and get better. I gotta be better by Monday so I don't miss work, I somehow forced myself through the workday yesterday, but it was tough.

@redshoewearer- Yeah, I was at Lolla. I probably did catch something there. Guess I can add this to my reasons on why i dislike festivals, haha.

My immune system was probably down from last weekend from being at Lolla on Friday and Sunday and being crammed in this tiny ass little bar on Saturday night to watch Ghost play an official "lollapalooza afterparty". Was drinking like every night, obviously not eating or sleeping right while away, not taking proper suppliments all that combined with the fact that our hotel had the Air Conditioning BLASTING all night long and there was no way to turn it off. Seriously, the first night we were there we were FREEZING. We asked them to turn it down but they said it was impossible, they gave us an extra flimsy little blanket instead.

And of course, let's not forget the airplane ride, good old fashioned recycled germs circulating around in there. So if anyone there was sick, there's another culprit to blame.

It's strange, because I started taking all my usual suppliments, vitamins etc. when I returned on Monday night, i'm surprised I didn't kill off any virus that had infected me. But I guess it was a little too late.

Quite interesting that the 2 times in the last 5 years I have had summer colds were from festivals seeing NIN. (Pemberton 2008 and Lollapalooza 2013). I think that speaks volumes about the sanitation levels at festivals. Don't think i'll attend another, they're not worth getting sick over.

EDIT: I just got the Clear Lungs pills, just popped a couple. Let's hope they help with the chest mucus problem, it's probably the symptom that's bothering me the most right now.

[GavinCollins420]

I am totally, utterly fucked.

I pulled a 12 hour nightshift at work last night. Busy as all hell. Running about like a fucking mad man for 12 hours solid is no fun. Aching all over. And to top it off, I pulled a muscle in my groin somehow and I can feel a pretty heavy cold coming on. In AUGUST. Oh, pain. The food and beverage industry is no place for anybody.

Self pity makes it hurt a little less, though.

[heavenly_bearded]

@redshoewearer- Yeah, I was at Lolla. I probably did catch something there. Guess I can add this to my reasons on why i dislike festivals, haha.

I am right here with ya man(burning). Woke up sick Saturday after Lolla Friday. I swear it is the shitty Chicago air. Every time I go there, sick after 2 days downtown. Still congested almost 2 weeks later with no sign of getting better. Could have been affected by the AC or long car ride, but it happens every time I go to Chicago so I blame the city. The air smells like nasty sewage everywhere. Not sure what that is about but St. Paul and Minneapolis don't smell anything like that.

[ManBurning]

Yeah, we totally caught the same bug from Lolla. I'm still congested as well, it's only been a week, but my voice is shot to hell, and I need my voice for work, so I sound like an idiot. Asside from that, I don't really have any more symptoms. Last week was nasty, but this damn chest congestion won't let up.


And yeah, it very well could have been the A/C. They had it cranked continuously all night long at the Congress Plaza and it wasn't even that goddamn warm outside! We asked them to turn it down as it was coming from the central air vents and they said it was impossible to do so. So probably a combiantion of the festival, the A/C and the plane ride home, i'm guessing.

[allegro]

You went to Lolla right? Its a week after that, and colds seem to pop up 5-7 days after exposure - I bet you got it there - I'm sure it was a cesspool of germs - half of the bathrooms had run out of hand sanitizer. Now I am afraid since I was there too! I think I'll go hit the vitamins.

I got a death virus from hell from the pit at a NIN arena show years ago, people are too GERMY.

HOWEVER, Chicago's mold allergen counts have been off the charts high for weeks and tons of us have been suffering (including chest congestion), the only known alleviation is ... A/C. When I hate the A/C in my house being set so low, my dehumidifier is running so much I have to empty it 4-6x per day. This seems to be happening every August (this isn't cold and flu season ).

[Dra508]

people are too GERMY.

After the whole H1N1 scare, all the PSAs on how to sneeze into your sleeve, not your hand, wash your hands regularly and sing happy birthday for length of time to wash has totally disappeared. I have seen soooo many people sneezing into their hands lately. The BF was so kind to share that the neither the old guy and the young kid that were in the men's room the same time as him washed their hands. Uhhhhhhhh

[Pillfred]

I feel oddly achey and tired, i think i may also be getting sick.

[redshoewearer]

My recurrent corneal erosion. It has recurred for the first time in about 6 years. Kind of feels like someone is rubbing a toothbrush across the surface of your cornea. I shouldn't be looking at this forum. I should be lying flat on my back with closed eyes while hopefully it settles down by tomorrow. At least I know better how to manage it than when it first started up. This could go in how fucked is your day or the things that piss you off. Fits in all of the above. I'd been planning to make and can salsa tonight but that's not happening now.

In case you have nothing to do you can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recurrent_corneal_erosion

[slave2thewage]

Sore throat, slight headache and aches. I assume death is near.

[Pillfred]

Sore throat, slight headache and aches. I assume death is near.

That was me earlier this week, only I started with a nasty hangover. Down to some sniffles now though. Fuck being sick.

[slave2thewage]

That was me earlier this week, only I started with a nasty hangover. Down to some sniffles now though. Fuck being sick.

I'm leaning towards bad head cold. It's the third day and the throat has abated a bit, but now I have a blocked nose and my left ear feels slightly blocked or something. I think it's the first time I've been sick in nearly three years, though, so that's something.

[Pillfred]

Blerg, I've got a sickness. Hopefully it passes soon.

[halloween]

Early this year I was diagnosed with Pityriasis Rosea. Ok, cool, it'll go away. A few months go by, the rashes come and go. 5 months later, I have a huge hive break again and now it's making my face puffy!! I've taken the antihystamines like my doctor told me, because this second time she didn't think it was Pityriasis Rosea. Today the hives are mostly gone but my face is terrible. I'm going to try dropping by my doc's because either she's not telling me everything or she's wrong. I'm also going to make an appointment with my old, trusted doctor (they are just so far away!).

I want to cry though, because the first thing I thought of when I saw my face was "SHIT, IT'S SYPHILIS!" But I never got any of the other symptoms for syphilis- like open sores? I hate everything right now.

[Ryan]

Syphiless or syphimore?

[allegro]

Early this year I was diagnosed with Pityriasis Rosea. Ok, cool, it'll go away. A few months go by, the rashes come and go. 5 months later, I have a huge hive break again and now it's making my face puffy!! I've taken the antihystamines like my doctor told me, because this second time she didn't think it was Pityriasis Rosea. Today the hives are mostly gone but my face is terrible. I'm going to try dropping by my doc's because either she's not telling me everything or she's wrong. I'm also going to make an appointment with my old, trusted doctor (they are just so far away!).

(runs off to Google Pityriasis Rosea) ... I had a rash on my face, once, and I went to the dermatologist and he said it was some long Latin word that's Latin for "rash on your face." I'm not kidding. He gave me a prescription for some corticosteroid cream and it went away in about a week. I have really hyperactive skin with allergies, so this was just another one of those "are you fucking kidding me?!?!?!" moments. But, yeah, getting another opinion might help. I've sometimes gone to 4 docs for 1 rash and gotten 4 opinions. Medical science ain't perfect. I hope you feel better soon!

Meanwhile, sick thread ...

About 5 years ago, one of my teeth (canine?) suddenly cracked for no apparent reason, below the gum line. I was sent to a periodontist for gum surgery to cut the gum lower to allow a crown to be placed on the tooth. Then, I was sent to the endodontist for a root canal. Then, my dentist did a crown with a post. FIVE YEARS LATER, after everything had looked "beautiful" according to all of the experts involved, I developed some kind of bacterial infection just above the root at the very top, about 3 weeks ago. The endodontist said sometimes "it happens" for "no apparent reason." He wanted another $1,600 to do an "apicoectomy" which means cut the side of my gum, drill a hole into my bone, chop off the top of the root, treat the infected area (which is pretty small according to the Xray), then fill the area, then hope for the best, 90% success rate of saving the tooth. (I Googled it and got photos, ugh god big mistake.) So I was all set to get the apeco, I WAS IN THE CHAIR, then I freaked out. I mean, like, tears, wondering if I'm doing the right thing, the doc stopped, said get this Rx for Valium filled, come back later. So then, INSTEAD, I made an appt. for a second opinion with my Mom's ORAL SURGEON. He said, yeah, bacteria is really smart, it may have gotten in there when this all first happened 5 years ago, colonized, went dormant, and then revived recently, and he could do the apeco. For EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS. Wtf.

So, I had the apeco done this past Tuesday by my Mom's oral surgeon, and it feels like I was in a fight. My jaw hurts, I have stitches in my mouth, I have to eat soft foods for a week (now I remember why I don't like scrambled eggs, yuck), and I am taking Vicodyn. I've never taken Vidodyn. This stuff is crazy! I can't take it while I'm working, it makes me too buzzed, whoa. So I'm taking Ibuprofen right now until I can't take it anymore and then I take a Vicodyn.