Malaise Meister

[raggamuffin]

I rarely get ill which is interesting as I feel ill every day from anxiety pains that come and go throughout the day the past 6 years. But this cold has been going around work and has hit me hard. Understandable with an office space, people in close proximity and A/C pumping colds and nonsense around the air.

It all started with a sore throat 2 days ago at work and by the end of the day I was losing my voice. Didn't feel much worse yesterday in the morning; a bit of chest discomfort (but I'm no stranger to that with my anxiety), although this felt a bit deeper, truth be told everything was feeling a bit achy and off yesterday but I can understand that. I had a nap later in the day and when I woke up it felt like it had picked up pace. I didn't have a blocked nose at the time which meant I could get to sleep ok but I woke up feeling like an elephant was sat on my chest. Coughing up green crap and every time I cough, my god my throat, feels red raw.

I'll be honest I did succumb to anxiety for a while. Mainly because a woman at work had a cold earlier in the month that has developed into pneumonia and boy did that play on my mind. But I realized I didn't have the symptoms for it and so I gradually talked myself out of the panic. Alas I did succumb to asking for a GP triage call to discuss things with him. As soon as I said "I had a cold" he sounded rather disappointed that I'd rung him.

Got blood test results back the yesterday too as I've been aching every day for 6 years and I figured I might as well have bloodworks done. They took 4 vials and did 5+ tests. The Dr said my white blood cell count is low. To be honest that could be anything so whilst I initially fretted for a few minutes I rationalized it all. I used my old Google trick of inserting "anxiety" before searching. So my anxiety low white blood cell count came up with no end of similar posts of people who'd experienced the same thing and thankfully one post was from someone who worked as a blood sampler...sorry forgot the technical/proper term and that instantly put my mind at rest because I remember what number mine was at and he provided a number range and said if it's within this there's absolutely nothing to worry about.

Today the cold is in full swing, stuffy nose, coughing up crap, chest discomfort. But a very unwelcome return is a flare up of my epididymitis so now I have a moderate to rather intense pain downstairs. I haven't had a proper flare up in quite a few months and even then it lasts the day if that. When I first had it it lasted nearly a year and I was on over 5 different courses of antibiotics for nearly 6 months straight, it wasn't fun.

I'm simply presuming this flare up is due to my body being all groggy and full of cold and bacteria that shouldn't really be there and my balls think they might as well join the pain parade. The pain is quite pronounced today and it feels like it might be a flare up that'll last more than a day. Then again I'll try my hardest not to assume the worst and simply get on with my day. I still have plenty of Gabapentin which the Dr gave me for the pains from the epididy. Only problem is today I took 2 tablets and it has only dulled the pain a little.

Had 2 days off work and because I'm on 4 on 4 off tomorrow is the start of my 4 days off so it should be plenty of time to start feeling more like my old (achy) self

Ed

[JohnC]

Right there with you Raggamuffin, sore throat , coughing, earache etc. Such a drag

[raggamuffin]

Aye, I'm at the not being able to breath through my dripping nose stage. So much fun. I feel bad for my gf as she's probably going to get this from me lol.

Ed

[JohnC]

Yep, two guys at the office got it and one of my kids got it and now i got it.

[raggamuffin]

The cold has basically gone. I still have a tickly cough and sometimes sniffling. I just can't seem to shake this sinus headache. Sometimes when sniffing I get a sudden severe pain. Bending down also makes my head pressure feel rather immense. I know it'll calm down in time it's just a bit annoying that it's lingering and cam on towards the end of the cold but apparently that's pretty common. OTC painkillers don't do anything so I might go get some antihystemines as they're supposed to help somewhat.

Ed