Current Obsessions: Sick Edition

February 11, 2011

I started feeling sick on Monday, and by Wednesday afternoon I had thrown in the towel. This cold, or whatever it is, has hit me hard. I won’t get into all my ailments, old lady style, but trust me when I say that they are numerous.

The only times that I have ever called in sick to work are when I had gastroenteritis and ended up in the ER, and when I had my miscarriage. But since I’m not allowed to take hardly any medication at the moment I haven’t been able to stay on top of this one. (Plus, since nearly all of my patients are immunocompromised and our routine discharge instructions involve telling them to stay away from sick people, being at work like this would kind of make me feel like a hypocrite.)

The end result is that I’ve been home for the past two days and I don’t think I’ve taken off my robe for 48 hours straight. Here’s what’s been helping me survive in the absence of Mucinex or Sudafed.

1. Halls Breezers, cool berry flavor. These are my favorite cough drops. They taste like candy, not like medicine at all! And of course, are completely soothing.

2. Water. Lots and lots of it.

3. Chicken bouillon. Nothing better than a warm cup of broth when you’re sick. I’ve probably had about 32 ounces of it in the past two days.

4. Humidifier. This is a lifesaver for nighttime. Since I can’t breathe out of my nose very well, it helps me not to wake up with cracked lips and eases my raging sore throat.

5. Tylenol and Benadryl. These are the only two medicines that I’ve taken, and they help somewhat, although the Benadryl makes me sleep so I only take it at night.

6. HGTV and Netflix streaming. There are so many things I would have loved to do these past two days, starting with the dishes, but I have barely had the energy to feed myself and I’m pretty proud of the fact that I showered. Instead, I’ve been watching nonstop HGTV interspersed with episodes of Veronica Mars on Netflix instant streaming and, of course, naps.

7. A super sweet husband. He’s babied me, brought me food and water and supplies, taken care of the dogs, forced me to rest, and given me two of the sweetest cards. See one for yourself:

The fact that I’m writing this I think means that I’m over the worst of it, and I hope I didn’t just jinx myself by saying that. What are your sickness survival techniques?

From Megan:

Hard liquor. And complaining. You’ve never really been one for either of those.

P and I will pray for you to feel better and get better. Loving you!

From Callina:

I’m sick right now too with a nasty cold, and my non-pharm miracle relief has been Breathe Right strips–even though I’m congested I can at least breathe through my nose, which is rather helpful. My other miracle worker is good ol’ H20. I drink massive quantities of water (like, drink as much as I possibly can, then when I think I’ve had enough, I drink some more), and while it doesn’t help with the congestion too much, it WAY helps with the overall feeling like crap. Oh, and I also love Vicks vapor rub. Good stuff.

From Holly:

I hope you feel better soon! When I was pregnant I ended up in the hospital for a day thanks to a horrible cold – it was during the height of the H1N1 hype and my doctor thought I might have it. It was awful! I used Otrivin nasal spray and a humidifier to help me survive!

From Christine:

Your husband is really sweet taking care of you. I hope that you get better quickly!

My sickness survival techniques? Taking LOTS of vitamin C and D and hot water with lemon and honey.

From Becky:

Feel better soon!!!!

From steph anne:

I hope you feel better soon!!! :)

From Stef:

I’ve just gotten over a bad cold. One thing that made a huge difference was using the neti pot. I don’t like it, but the relief of the sinus headache afterward is totally worth it.

Hope you feel better soon!