Saturday 26 December 2009

This flu's a real swine

I've been lucky; I've hardly had any serious illnesses in my life. Which makes this current bout of flu a bit of a shock. I've never felt so rotten in my life.It started with the temperature, with the skin almost too hot to touch. Curiously, I seem to have lost the ability to sweat. So no natural cooling. It's like have permanent heat stroke.No wonder I've had a headache for the last 6 days and nights. A symptom compounded by the sinus congestion.Which in turn resulted in me tearing a nasal blood vessel while trying to blow my nose. So now I haemorrhage if I forget and attempt to remove the gloop too vigorously. 
I've also had the nausea that the NHS website said you might get, so I'm not all that interested in eating. So I've got weaker (I lost 2.5kg in 4 days). And despite trying to drink water by the pint, my saliva has the consistency of wallpaper paste. This I find extremely distressing and in turn makes eating difficult, and contributes to the nausea....
I'm taking paracetamol and ibuprofen, which seems to help a bit. I've not gone down the 'Tamiflu' route, because we have been snowed in here, with eight inches of snow, and lots of ice, on the lanes.
'In most people, the disease is mild', says the Govt. I guess I don't fall into that category. But again, maybe this is what mild is like. As I said, I've been lucky. Until now.

7 comments:

  1. mmm....if you've been this poorly for nearly 6 days i think you might need a bit more than paracetamol and ibuprofen. have you called nhs direct? they might be able to arrange a send out. take care smiley :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. oh fuck. im really sorry steve.
    the only consolation seem to be the resulting health gains..ive lost 1/2 stone, craving fresher foods but in smaller portions and have no desire to drink alcohol of any real note and mostly i no longer like its taste
    unfortunately mine has dragged on..chest infection but also a kind of flu hangover where i feel a bit spaced out and tired, especially in the afternoons
    anyway take it easy, not that there's an alternative option, and i hope you're feeling better soon
    sorry i appear to have ballsed up your xmas

    ReplyDelete
  3. Poor Hayfella! Sounds really horrid and to be suffering in these times of sledging, santa and guilt free scoffing is even worse.
    Sorry to read how ill you've been, a bit scary sounding and what a brave soldier to be blogging at such times. You put me to shame. Take care and hope you're on the mend very soon. RBx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi kate: Mags had come to the same conclusion, so she phoned them and it turns out I have a chest infection! Still, the amoxicillin seems to be getting a grip. Thank you for the advice. It saved days more misery!

    Hi uc: Please don't feel bad about it! I feel I'm on the mend. Day nine now, and no booze or caffeine. I can face non-bland food a bit now. I tend to feel rough in the morning, brighter through lunchtime and in the afternoon, then dip from about 5 ish. Best bit of the day is the shower in the morning - all that humidity loosens all the grilch in my head a treat. Like you, I crave fresh foods. And Jaffa Cakes. And Petits Filous fromage frais. Hope you're doing OK. I've an image of us, hundreds of miles apart, just snuffling through, one day at a time!

    Hi RB: I hereby entitle you to do my full share of Festive scoffing and sledging. We've had the most beautiful snow and sunshine here, though it's gone grey today. Thank you for your kind words. I'm getting better.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Hayfella, just checking on you, are you better yet? Hope you had some fun during festivities and wishing you a much healthier and injury free 2010.
    Your blog has been a little harbour of happiness and hope... looking forward to many more heart warming running tales in the New Year. RB

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello RB: Thank you for your kind words. Yes, I've turned the corner. I'm even contemplating going out for a little walk with Mags soon. This is a significant step forward.
    Good luck with all your plans in 2010. I'm very fond of Wilmslow as I used to be a member of Wilmslow Running Club and it was 'our' HM. You'll blitz it , it's a pretty good course.
    I hope to run local fell races, low key, just for the fun of it, and I'll certainly blog my tribulations to give an idea of what life's like amongst the also rans.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi there Hayfella, Sorry to hear about your nasty bout of 'flu and hope that by now you're well on the way to recovery.
    Here's wishing you a very Happy New Year with lots of enjoyable running to boot!

    ReplyDelete