It started on Monday when I had a slightly runny nose and lots of sneezing. No big deal.
I took some cold medicine before I went to bed because I have a history of sinus infections and if I don't clear the gunk out, bad things happen.
Woke up on Tuesday with a worse cold, but still feeling fine. Went to the office. By the end of the day ( and this particular day didn't end until about 10 pm), it felt like someone had circled a wide band of fabric around my middle (bottom of rib cage to top of my hips) and was pulling it tighter and tighter. My stomach (lower and upper) felt cramped and my lower back felt like it would hardly support me; my middle back felt tied up in knots.
My stomach hurt enough that I thought I'd caught some sort of bug and would start throwing up shortly.
That didn't happen, but I still couldn't sleep. I put a heating pad on my back and that seemed to hellp, but I didn't fall asleep until I took some drowsy cold medicine.
When I woke up this morning the pain was mostly gone, though I had no appetite and was absolutely exhausted. I stayed home from work, and just took a several hour nap (like 5 pm until 9 pm) expecting to wake up and feel better. Not so - the pain is back with a vengeance, I am back on the heating pad uninterested in downing anything except ginger ale.
What the heck is wrong with me?
Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Kasie H: So I'm completely stumped.
It started on Monday when I had a slightly runny nose and lots of sneezing. No big deal.
I took some cold medicine before I went to bed because I have a history of sinus infections and if I don't clear the gunk out, bad things happen.
Woke up on Tuesday with a worse cold, but still feeling fine. Went to the office. By the end of the day ( and this particular day didn't end until about 10 pm), it felt like someone had circled a wide band of fabric around my middle (bottom of rib cage to top of my hips) and was pulling it tighter and tighter. My stomach (lower and upper) felt cramped and my lower back felt like it would hardly support me; my middle back felt tied up in knots.
My stomach hurt enough that I thought I'd caught some sort of bug and would start throwing up shortly.
That didn't happen, but I still couldn't sleep. I put a heating pad on my back and that seemed to hellp, but I didn't fall asleep until I took some drowsy cold medicine.
When I woke up this morning the pain was mostly gone, though I had no appetite and was absolutely exhausted. I stayed home from work, and just took a several hour nap (like 5 pm until 9 pm) expecting to wake up and feel better. Not so - the pain is back with a vengeance, I am back on the heating pad uninterested in downing anything except ginger ale.
What the heck is wrong with me?
I have no advice, not being a medical person, but I am at your Tuesday.
Uh oh.
HELP!
And Kasie, at least we can commiserate and be miserable together until said help arrives!
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Are you coughing? If yes, is your cough productive? Nasal drainage? Still having tightness in your chest? If yes, have you taken any anti-inflammatories?
Posts: 155 | Registered: Jul 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Cough is intermittent but not serious. The respiratory congestion is irritating but nothing like it has been the last two times I was sick this year, both of which were sinus infections.
I took some Advil a couple hours ago. I think that helped my back a little bit.
Posts: 1784 | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Sounds like food poisoning to me. My first guess would be listeriosis from a contaminated milk/cheese-containing product, which oddly isn't on the food poisoning lists I've glanced at. BTW: The descriptions are too heavily weighted toward symptoms of severe vomiting, severe diarrhea, and severity in other miseries. "Stomach flu"s can start with a slightly runny nose, then go on to include light nausea/vertigo with a mild headache and fever (which feels more like overheating from exertion), abdominal discomfort (of the kind ya get from coughing too much, but without ever having coughed that much) and general muscle ache/weakness (including the back and neck), and possibly an extremely brief or singular mild bout of diarrhea.
Posts: 8501 | Registered: Jul 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
So I'm curious, when people talk about "The Flu" are they talking about like a stomach virus, or something more akin to a really bad cold?
I ask because my kids got their flu shot about a month ago. My son started with massive blowouts in his diaper on Monday. Now, four days later, every single person in the family has had SEVERE diarrhea and vomiting. So is THIS the flu the flu shot was supposed to hold off? Or is it something else?
So it seems to be a bad week for a great many. I don't know what to tell you Kasie, but hope that you feel better soon.
Posts: 293 | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
The "flu shot" is for influenza, a respiratory virus that changes its genetic makeup on a regular basis (thus the need for updated versions of vaccinations, and the imperfect nature of those vaccinations, as there are other strains around besides just the dominant one in any one year).
Generally, influenza comes with few if any "cold symptoms" (runny/congested nose, watery eyes, sore throat, etc), although that varies. More particular to it is the systemic nature of the symptoms: general malaise, aching of muscles/joints/headache, fever. It is a respiratory virus because it is mainly through breathed-in droplets that it is passed from one person to the other, even if there aren't exclusively respiratory symptoms once infected.
"Stomach flu" is a misnomer. It is imprecise and misleading terminology, although popular. More accurately, this would be termed "gastroenteritis." It has nothing to do with influenza.
posted
Yeah, thanks for answering that, CT. Now that I've had that stomach thing cycle through me too I'm wishing there were a vaccine. What a horribly miserable experience. From your description, it sounds as if Kasie has something closer to influenza.
Posts: 293 | Registered: Sep 2006
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
