Have I the flu?
I’m trying to figure out just how sick I am. Maybe some Jellies can weigh in? There are a lot of details, so please bear with me.
I started feeling sick Monday. It started as just general sick-y feeling (weakness, low energy). Monday night I found myself to be very cold. In the early evening I was on the couch with just a comforter and I was fine. Then I got cold, turned the heat on, and stayed cold. I went to bed with every possible blanket and article of clothing and couldn’t get warm. Around 4:00 AM I woke up hot and resumed my usual pajama/blanket regime.
The other issue is my stomach. I’ve had ongoing stomach issues for the past five months, and I was recently diagnosed with a parasite. I took an antibiotic and it seemed to fix it. All was well for two weeks. The past couple days my stomach’s been really bad, and pretty much all I’ve eaten is chicken soup and crackers which shouldn’t upset it.
I’m a little snotty, but nothing too bad so far. Today (Tuesday) I didn’t feel terrible (which I credit to all the zinc I pounded last night) but in the evening the shivers returned. Temperature is at this point my main concern. I don’t have a thermometer at the moment but I intend to get one.
It doesn’t seem like the usual cold I get because of the extreme cold and the stomach issues. Does it sound like the flu?
Thanks!
P.S. One more thing: I got way more exercise last weekend than I’m used to (long hike Saturday, long bike ride Sunday), if that makes a difference.
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6 Answers
Tell us more about your parasite. My daughter has one from spoiled shrimp on a cruise. It acts up at the oddest times and she has the same symptoms as you.
She takes her medication for the parasite, it helps sometimes but not all the time. Her parasite hides in different organs of her body and sometimes avoids the antibiotics she is taking. Some are hard to kill.
Pls tell us more.
Hmmm interesting, @john65pennington. It’s Cryptosporidium. I got it in Mexico in April (if you want lots and lots of details look at my questions in the past five months!). Symptoms were diarrhea for the first month, then just general irritability, pain, bloating, and gas upon digestion thereafter. The parasite hid for my first lab test, and I didn’t get another until just recently. They prescribed me Nitazoxanide, an expensive three-day antibiotic. That was about two or three weeks ago. I just did another lab test but haven’t heard the results yet.
My symptoms the past two days have been diarrhea, discomfort, and lots of gas.
@sliceswiththings You are obviously unwell, but no, it’s not the flu. If it were the flu you wouldn’t be able to even deal with turning your computer on, let alone coming onto Fluther and asking such a well written question. I discovered last year that Flu is one of those things you KNOW you have, but only once you have it. At that point, you realise that every other time you wondered if you had flu, it was just a bad cold.
It does sound rotten though, I would definitely visit my doctor in your situation, particularly as you have the history with the parasite.
When I have the flu, I usually get body aches, fever (which it sounds like you may have), and vomiting and diarrhea.
But it definitely sounds like you have something. Rest.
Ahhh…@slices
Crypto usually returns within 6–8 weeks of getting it. (Milwaukee went through a BAD bout of it…myself & my entire family included in it)
Snotty-ness does not occur with crypto. Sounds to me like a nasty virus.
Rest, stay hydrated and keep warm to fight it off.
@harple is so right about flu. If you have it, reading and writing are way more than you can do. We talk about flu for stomach viruses and colds, 24hr flu!! No such thing. Flu kills. This has been a pet peeve of mine.
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