Has anyone had this killer cold/flu going around? (pain, infect, symptoms)

[Bakeneko]

Yeah, I've been fighting this thing for about five weeks! So far I've done everything I know - menthol cough drops, OTC meds, warm showers, tea with lemon and honey, rest (well, as much as one can get with a sick toddler!), soup, etc..

also a course of presnisone, then antibotic for sinus infection, codiene for cough. Plus a inhalor for wheezing and difficulty catching my breath....

[AnonChick]

I had no idea what I was experiencing. Honest to god, I don't get sick. I haven't had more than the sniffles and a few stuffed sinuses in over a decade. My allergies are pretty mild, mostly hives from laundry detergent perfumes (I just acquired THAT allergy, blech), and the occasional stuffy nose and stinging eyeballs from pollen. Other than that - nuttin.

So what the heck do I know about this weird feeling in my chest, like I -want- to cough, but there's nothing pushing the cough out. So I assumed it was just mold spores from the mild winter, and grabbed some benadryl. Didn't help. A few hours later, I'm begging my spouse to get me some Nyquil from the pharmacy.

Next day, I'm 100% bonafide miserable. Coughing is painful, but I'm not coughing much at all. In fact, I'm wishing I -would- cough, just to get rid of this 200-pound barbell sitting on my chest. And then my sinuses start filling up and getting clogged. And then my back starts to ache, like I have the flu. Except - I don't have a fever. So it's obviously not the flu.

Turns out, it's just a cold. But I never get sick, so I didn't recognize it at all! Freaked me out and threw me for a loop, and today I'm JUST starting to get over it, the cough finally loosened up and became productive last night. It's true, the 9-day myth: 3 days in, 3 days on, 3 days out.

It takes 3 days from the time you first catch a cold, til the time you feel sick from it.
The next three days, you are actively noticeably sick and miserable.
The last three days is recovery, and by the end of the 9th day, if all you had was a cold, you should be feeling your usual self again (although probably tired, from being sick the last week).

[hueyeats]

I don't want no part of it...
Hopefully no one bring it home.
Fingers crossed!

[LittleDolphin]

Keep washing your hands, folks...I think I picked mine up from a crowded wine-tasting event that I went to--and failed to wash my hands afterwards...

[Tony22]

I have gotten sick way more than I ever did this winter.

[julian17033]

Two months ago I began to feel horrible with aches, fever, chills, dry cough, vomiting and diarrhea.
It became so severe that my wife drove me to the ER .
After a culture was taken it was confirmed that I had a confirmed case of the flu.
The hellish event lasted 8 days with me not being able to eat anything but occasionally being able to keep down a Boost nutritional drink.
I lost a total of 12 pounds.

I wasn't completely back to normal for about two and a half weeks after I began to feel better.

It was the absolute worst case of anything I have had in my 45 years on this planet.

[Weatherfan2]

I had swine flu in 2009 and my symptoms were nothing like what the person above me describes in terms of intensity. My immune system is very strong though and I never get anything particularly badly.

[GloryB]

I had it before Christmas and it seriously messed up my holidays.
I have never been that sick before.
I coughed for about 4 weeks even AFTER I was better.

[lubby]

So far for me 2012 has been good to me healthwise except this cold I had last week, the end of 2009/ and part of 2010 I had pneumonia twice, a stomach virus and several sinus infections. 2011 I only had 2 sinus infections that's all. keeping fingers crossed that I stay well.

[TFW46]

I dont usually get colds but I caught one at Thanksgiving...fluid in the ears, pressure over the cheeks. headache and (worst of all) coughing that's so intense I think I've cracked a rib.

I'm just now starting to feel a little better. The coughing is still a problem, though.