Just got back from the doctor, and it looks like I scored a twofer: strep throat and bronchitis. Taking a z-pack and some decongestant stuff, as well as the usual (aspirin, tussin, fluids, etc.)
On the up side, my flu symptoms are subsiding- less achy, less joint pain, and now the pain is more localized- head chest, and, specifically, the throat. I stopped by Kroger and picked up some Vicks Vapo-rub (love that company) and a Vicks Vapo-steam, and I have turned my bedroom into a sort of eucalyptus/menthol steam bath. I have also decided I just, in general, like menthol. It kicks major ass.
Also, I got a little nostalgic at the doctor’s office when the nurse rammed a thing in my ear to take my temperature in one second. Gone are the days of mercury thermometers, it seems, and I had a flash back (maybe it was the fever) to when I was a kid and sick, with my mother taking my temperature and giving me those yummy chewable aspirin. Kids today will never experience that, and that made me briefly sad. Then my mother informed me that all the broken thermometers meant poisonous mercury in landfills, and I got over it right quick.
BTW, Diet Sprite Zero and Fresca rule.
Brian
Maybe you need to gain back some weight.
Seriously, get well quick. Do you have a tape of the Super Bowl game you can replay?
SeesThroughIt
Just don’t go smoking Newports. I started out on those things, and…yeah. The thought of it makes me cringe today.
If your throat is really bothering you, gargle with some warm salt water. Seriously. That’s what my mom (an R.N.) had me do back in the day, and it does provide some relief.
Krista
Vicks rocks!
If you’ve got bronchitis, it sometimes helps to use an asthma puffer. It helped me when I had bronchitis. Make sure you have lots of pillows too. You might have to sleep sitting up.
Shygetz
My kid still gets yummy, chewable aspirin. It’s actually a bit of a problem, because she has started faking pain to get her hands on that sweet, sweet candy.
capelza
Oh, the old St. Josephs (I think) orange flavoured aspirin. Yeah, that was tasty…remember sneaking into the medicine cabinet more than once for a couple.
I hope you feel better soon John Cole…bronchitis will wear you down. Take good care of yourself. Though whenever I’ve had it (fairly often in the past), I did lose a bunch of weight…my husband always called it the “capelza” diet.
Ancient Purple
Mmmm… Fresca.
Fresca: It’s cold, yet feminine.
RMazza
‘Tussin’ — hee, hee!
Otto Man
Vicks Vap-O-Rub is, and always will be, the silver bullet for sickness. Godspeed.
ppGaz
You sound delirious, but on the right track.
Keep resting and don’t forget to drink a lot of liquids.
Do you have access to a good homemade chicken soup? Get it and slurp it down as rapidly as your system can take it.
Barry
Gee, I don’t regret the passing of the old thermometers – I like to keep my pants up, even in the doctor’s office :)
Take bronchitis seriously. I believe that untreated bronchitis gave me a mild case of asthma.
One thing that I’ve found helpful with these winter respiratory problems is the disposable paper dust mask. Wear one religiously, whenever you go outside, even if it’s just to the mailbox and back. Don’t let your lungs experience one minute of winter air, for three-four days. It prevents a lot of the irritation that winter brings. I don’t know if it actually promotes healing, or just removes a level of stress load, but it feels a lot better.
I can’t recommend a humidifier strongly enough, whenever you’re feeling respiratory problems. To me, it’s been the difference between waking up feeling like my lungs had eight hours of healing and rest, vs feeling like my lungs haven’t gotten any relief at all during the night.
Davebo
Don’t believe that crap the Doctors tell ya about alcohol making antibiotics less effective!
I mean, you’re off work anyway and already hung over… might as well get tossed!
G631
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM fresca and diet sprite zero are true elixers. also, feel better and lay off the pipe.
Bob In Pacifica
Plenty of fluids, wonton soup or jook, or chicken soup. With tylenol, ibuprofen or aspirin products, make sure to drink even more liquids. Drink so many liquids that your best friend is your toilet.
Steve
I didn’t see a single typo by John in this post. I sure hope he’s back to feeling like himself soon!
KC
Glad to see you coming around John.
ppGaz
Heard in the ER:
Q: What is the difference between an oral and a rectal thermometer?
A: The taste.
ppGaz
At least you didn’t say, your “only” friend.
Pooh
Best wishes. Bronchitis = not fun, as my college roommates who drove me to the hospital 4 times many years a go can attest…
Krista
ppGaz – Ewww…you’re gross.
John, if you can get someone to bring you some hot and sour soup, that’ll do a great job of clearing up any congestion.
I was hit hard by bronchitis just before frosh week when I was 18. Get thee a Salbutamol (Ventolin) inhaler. It’ll help you avoid the unpleasant sensation of feeling like you’re breathing through a straw, and that even when you can catch a breath, your lungs hurt so badly that you feel like you might be getting a quarter-cup of air, if that.
ppGaz
I heard it in the ER. Told by a paramedic, while I was lying on a stretcher in a hospital in Bay City, Michigan.
I swear.
Theseus
Hope you get better John soon.
Theseus
Ummm, that would be “hope you get better soon John”. D’oh!
over it
Half and Half: Half Sprite/7-up/lemon-lime beverage of choice and Half Orange Juice. Lots of ice. I live off the stuff when I am sick.
Keeps ya hydrated…and the carbonated, citrusy, ice cold nature of the drink helps keep your mind off the fact that it hurts like hell to swallow. The extra kick of Vitamin-C can’t hurt either. ;)
Anderson
Wow, Cole, you *are* ill. Hope your taste buds, and the rest of you, recover soon!
scs
John- you didn’t mention that you are taking antibiotics for your strep throat. If you really do have strep throat, I suggest you RUN back to your doctor and insist you get some antibiotics. Rheumatic fever, which is what strep throat can evolve into, and contrary to what many doctors think, is STILL around, AND can hit adults who may be predisposed to it. Rheumatic fever used to be a big killer in this country before antibiotics and is still a large cause of heart valve defects in this country. Many doctors don’t want to give out antibiotics for practically anything anymore because it is being drummed into their heads that “antibiotics are not necessary” and don’t want to contribute to resistance. But for one course of antibiotics to prevent a condition with potentially very serious, long-lasting effects, I think it’s worth it, and better to be safe than sorry.
S.W. Anderson
There’s a piece of advice that cost nothing and is worth even less.
John, you didn’t say, but if by chance you’re being treated with erythromycin, drinking alcohol is likely to make you several times more ill, at both ends, and could even leave you with liver damage.
Keep in mind that one of the best ways to avoid being hospitalized with pneumonia is to take really good care of bronchitis.
Sip lots of liquids all the time, inlcuding chicken soup, and get plenty of rest. We’ll keep a good thought you beat this misery quickly.
scs
And by the way, don’t listen to your doctors if they say you are not testing positive at the moment for a strep bacteria and antibiotics won’t help. If your sore throat is long lasting and severe, take the pills. They still help in ways not yet known exactly by doctors, even if you aren’t testing positive. Again, they won’t hurt you and they may help you – better say than sorry.
John Cole
A z-pack is an antibiotic– really strong stuff, too.
carpeicthus
I’m right with you, John. Touch of pneumonia, too. Whee.
CaseyL
Strep and bronchitis is a bitch’s bastard of a combo: coughing your lungs up through a lacerated throat. God, John, I hope you feel better very fast.
If you’re on antibiotics, please finish the course, even after you feel better, even if they upset your tummy. Otherwise you could wind up with antibiotic-resistant germs. Very bad news, that.
I disagree very strongly with the notion of harassing doctors to prescribe antibiotics against their better judgment. The flu is viral; so are head colds: antibiotics don’t do diddly against them. Antibiotic-resistant germs are a huge problem, getting worse all the time, and prescribing antibiotics when they’re not needed is a major culprit in creating resistant germs.
This has been a brutal winter, cold-wise. Just about everyone I know has been really ill, more than once.
Um, favorite remedies? I always swore by Nyquil, mostly because it knocked me out. An old ex of mine used to make what we called The Noxious Brew – basically, hot lemonade with whiskey. Also good for knocking you out.
Gary Farber
I prescribe lots of DVDs, and sleep. Hope you feel better and are back up to speed soon, but meanwhile, take it easy as you can. (And after years of reading you, I wonder how your blood pressure is. :-))
Oh, and the DVDs are best used when put inside a machine that when connected to a monitor lets you watch the content they contain. Do not take orally. Do not watch just the DVDs, absent the machinery to view the data, although they are nicely shiny.
Patrick Lightbody
DUDE! The Z-Pack is so dope. I used to be a strep magnet for a few years and the Z-Pack seriously made my sickness go from an average of a week to just a couple days. You’ll be doing backflips by tomorrow afternoon!
S.W. Anderson
Carefully controlled studies indicate antibiotics don’t do anything about viral infections, true enough.
Nonetheless, many a good clinician will tell you that out in the wild, people who have all the earmarks of a viral infection and even have negative culture results for bacterial infection usually get better faster on a broad spectrum antibiotic. Exactly how and why — suppression of opportunisitc secondary bacterial uprisings maybe — remains speculative. But anecdotal and observed benefits are so consistent that they’re hard to dismiss.
The scientist in these practitioners doesn’t want to overprescribe antibiotics and help brew resistant bugs. The fellow human being who has suffered illness and the doctor-fix-it in them says go ahead, just this once, and give the poor wretch some relief and added protection.
Final note, which your care giver probably mentioned, but just in case: Even if your culture comes back negative and you feel lots better tomorrow or the next day, DO take the full course of the Z-pack, unless you have an allergic reaction. And in that case, get in touch with your care giver pronto.
Again, hope you beat this misery quickly.
S.W. Anderson
Final note concerning alcohol while on this Z-pack, which is chemically a first cousin of Erythromycin.
ALL OTC medications containing alcohol, G.I. gin and homemade hot toddies that might be comforting for a head cold are a really bad idea while you’re on this antibiotic, and for at least 24 hours afterward.
You know what it’s like when you put a big, heavy throw rug through the washing machine, like it’s all the machine can handle, and you just hope you don’t cause a breakdown? Well, that’s the kind of load you’re throwing at your liver with the antibiotic you’re on. The workout it’s giving your stomach and liver are what has you saying it’s so potent.
Take the Z-pack as directed, all of it, avoid all alcohol, and you’ll get your best result with a minimum of grief.
scs
Thanks Anderson for that info. Some doctors have swung a little too much the other way against antibiotics, not prescribing them even when they can help. As far I have have heard, erythromycin (sp?) which is your z-pack, is not that helpful anymore for strep infections. The best drug for strep is penicillin, and doxycycline also seems to work well. If your sore throat continues, you may want to ask your doctor about that.
scs
So Anderson, just curious, are you a doctor? How about free medical advise for all then? (just kidding)
scs
FYI, Just saw this article in the NYT for all of you who think that a doctor’s word is supreme and that a lowly patient should never be arrrogant enough to even think of questioning an “expert”.
S.W. Anderson
scs, I’m not a doctor, but I worked very closely with some good ones in the military.
As for the misdiagnosis problem, I think most practitioners would be willing to admit a lot of art goes along with the science of what they do, and intuition sometimes plays a part.
Like all human beings engaged in problem solving, they seek patterns and resort to familiar routines. Percentagewise, going by the statistic you cite, they get it right four times out of five for patients who die. I presume they do somewhat better for surviving patients.
Given the complexity of human anatomy and physiology, especially when you add in idiosyncratic differences, that statistic is not so surprising.
Another perhaps mitigating statistic doctors might cite in response involves the number of patients who fail to do what their doctor advises. Thirty years ago, a study indicated that only about 45 percent of patients put on antibiotics were taking the full prescribed course, even when their doctor explained the importance of taking the medication until it was all gone.