I would just like to complain (you probably don't wan to read this)

[lydy]

I'm sick. I woke up Sunday with a sore throat. That is, it hurts if I swallow. It feels fine the rest of the time. Do you have any idea how often you swallow? As it turns out, I didn't. As it turns out, lots and lots. I started in on the ibuprofen, eventually abusing ibuprofen rather severely. Four two hundred mg tablets every four hours for a while. That's a shit-load. And not good for your kidneys. I varied it a bit, but still was taking way more than the recommended dose. I was going to call in sick to work on Wednesday (my Monday), but was feeling better Wednesday morning, so I decided to go to work. I stopped by Cub on my way to work and got some Tylenol, which I never use, so that I could do the ibuprofen, tylenol, ibuprofen, tylenol dance. Every two hours, you take one or the other. They operate differently, and stress different parts of the body, so you can kinda double up. This helped some, but it still fucking hurts.

Somewhere around Tuesday, I developed a runny nose. That was fun. And then on Friday, yet a new symptom. When I lay down to go to sleep, I started coughing. I was fine, sitting up. So, I had to take a cough syrup (which I hate for good historical reasons), and wait for it to kick in. So instead of getting to bed by 10:30, like normal, I was up until almost 1:00. Consequently, Friday night I had very little sleep. So I get home Saturday morning, and after most of the night of my throat behaving itself, it starts to hurt like the devil again. So I'm doing ibuprofen and tylenol. Yay. I lay down, and start coughing again. Why did I not learn from yesterday? I don't know. So, here I am waiting for the cough syrup to kick in. Have I mentioned that I hate cough syrup? Oh, I have, have I. Right, then.

The worst thing about being sick is that it's fucking boring. And I'm not sick enough that it's all a painful, dim timeless haze (which is it's own sort of hell). Instead, it's a time-is-dragging-really-slow and oh-hell-I-have-to-swallow-again sort of thing.

Bascially, I suck at being sick. You would think I would be better at it, given all the practice I had as a child. Oh well.

I'm currently wondering if I should go to the doctor on Monday if I'm still sick. It's not serious sick or anything, no fever, no chills. Just a damnably sore throat and general malaise. It's not like they'd give me codeine or anything interesting. But if it lasts for a week...

Damn, what I wouldn't give for some codeine, though. My throat fucking hurts. When I swallow. Damn. I swallowed again.

Comments

[carbonel]

If you're still sick on Monday, you should see a doctor. If nothing else, she can prescribe cough syrup with codeine.

Also, have you tried that spray-anesthetic throat stuff? If it doesn't set off your gag reflex, it's nice for temporary relief. For me, it works better if someone else does the spritzing, but you have housemates if that's true for you as well.

[lydy.livejournal.com]

You know, I have tried it. And while it numbs the throat while I'm not swallowing, it does nothing for the pain of swallowing. Which means that it doesn't help at all, since the throat doesn't hurt in between swallows. This probably means something about the nature of the sore throat, but I have no idea what.

[kaffy_r]

Oh, that sounds so crappy, and I feel so bad for you, because I've had that kind of sore throat, and it sucks. Or blows, whichever fits better. I am, however, a little concerned that it's lasted as long as it has. Have you been running any kind of temperature? And I share your concern about the ibuprofen. The Tylenol is almost a better bet when it comes to avoiding bad side-effects. Glad to hear you're not taking naproxen sodium; even though it works a proper treat with a lot of pain, it rips stomachs to hell. One emergency nurse that helped BB with last year's bleeding told us she'd like to see the stuff outlawed.

Anyhow - if you've not been able to shake this for a week, and if you do turn out to have a temperature of any kind, you may need antibiotics to get rid of the infection. (And I think anything that's lasted this long and is this painful is, in fact, "serious sick," so take care of yourself!)

[redbird]

Yes, a doctor is a good idea. And probably would give you codeine, under these circumstances.

Hope

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

You feel better soon.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

If I had a sore throat that lasted that long I would definitely go to the doctor, especially if it hurt as much as yours seems to. When I get a cold it usually starts with a sore throat that lasts up to 24 hours, then pretty much disappears as other symptoms kick in. In my experience, a serious sore throat that lasts longer than that is usually strep or some other bacterial infection. YMMV.

Usually if you emphasize that coughing is keeping you from sleeping, doctors will prescribe codeine cough syrup. At least that was the case back in the 80's when I had a tendency to develop winter-long hacking chest coughs. I don't recall it doing much for flat-out pain control at that dosage, but it sure as heck calmed the coughing so I could sleep.

All sympathies to you - I suck at being sick too.

[fgherman.livejournal.com]

Can we bring you some herb tea or chicken soup? I don't have any codeine right now.

[apostle-of-eris.livejournal.com]

aww, poor baby

[spacecrab.livejournal.com]

I'm someone who has symptoms not unlike what you report about 60% of the time. I have antibiotics and anti-fungal agents that I take specifically to address the wrong kinds of bacteria establishing colonies in the throat and esophagus.

An easy, harmless over-the-counter thing you can do that might ward off iritation (if yeast or fungal growth is what's causing it) is take garlic tablets. When I experience a sore throat upon swallowing-thing, I break a garlic tablet in half and suck on it. Over-the-counter Prevacid is another harmless thing that addresses acid reflux.

But from what you report, it sounds like something else might be going on with you. Sympathy.

[pameladean]

They will totally give you codeine if you say you can't sleep. Well, HCMC has given it to me under those circumstances, anyway.

There are some small studies indicating that honey or dark chocolate may be as good at inhibiting coughing as dextromethorphan. I used honey when I had the Wiscon Death Cold, and it did help a lot during the day. At night it was not so great because who wants to eat a couple of teaspoons of honey every two hours instead of SLEEPING?

P.

[lydy.livejournal.com]

Thing is, I don't want codeine for the cough. The Wal-tussin or whatever the hell it is that expired in '08 that's in the cupboard in the bathroom works fine for the cough. Which I only have when I lie down. I want codeine for the pain. Cause ibuprofen and tylenol are not cutting it. And they're remarkably chary about handing out codeine for pain. Oh, for tylenol 3, or better still ACC. (I got ACC for menstrual cramps, once. I had a fight with the gynecologist for it about it, though. She's like, "Well, you're not in pain now. Why do you need it?" I'm like, "Cause I never want to hurt that much again." I did get it...6 whole tablets. Which I used up, on menstrual cramps. Which, all in all, were much much worse than this, I must admit. The thing about this is that the pain isn't really all consuming, or anything. It's just persistent, intermittent, and debilitating. It's still only a 4 or so on a chart, I expect. But for some reason, I'm finding it really hard to deal with. Lack of practice, perhaps.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I have a whole bottle of ACC. Sorry I didn't see this sooner.

K.