Well, I’m finally recovering from the nastiest case of bronchitis ever wrought by God or man. I’m 29 (just turned) and I’ve not had a fever in, oh, about a decade? My average through this has been 102. I spent every day since Friday in bed - freezing, then frying and sweating, then freezing… I had no idea a fever was this bad! I don’t really ever get sick aside from the occasional sinus infection or migraine - so this whole ordeal really took me for a loop.
So what’s this mean to you? Well… let me give you two cases.
- Girlfriend - she gets sick Thursday. :cough: She goes to doc and gets antibiotics. She’s up and around by Sunday.
- I get sick Friday (from Typhoid Mary above) and since I don’t have insurance and its the weekend, I ride it out. By Sunday I have to go to the UrgentCare center and spend a small fortune for some antibiotics and cough drops before the damn thing takes over my entire respiratory system. Also, since I don’t get the meds till then and my infection progressed a great deal by then - I’m still sick as a dog, but at least up and about (kinda.)
The lesson, dear friends, especially students…. when you start getting something in your chest (coughing, hacking, etc) and you happen to have insurance - see the doctor immediately. It’s not worth taking the risk that it will progress and really knock you down, hard.
If you don’t have insurance…. just keep an eye on it. If it’s not better after a day or two, try to find the cheapest place you can see a doc. Most likely they’ll give you the antibiotics you need, and then you can just loose a few days as opposed to a week.
And, of course, it could all be viral and you’re out of luck no matter what.
When in doubt, all of mom’s advice applies…. Lots of liquids! (but not too much juice.) We went through two twenty-four packs of gatorade over the week to give you some idea of our needs in this ordeal. Hot, steamy drinks are dandy! So are cool drinks! Try to find a big, comfortable blanket and just setup camp and see if you can get anyone to bring you some comfort food.
So, anyway, hope you keep healthy the rest of the semester. Be wary, my doc told me the last bout of flu vaccinations were only 45% effective!
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