I am still sick. The flu part is getting a little better each day, I can tell: it’s still gross, but I am up and around more, and my appetite is significantly better, and I have more ability to do things. Before, I had to pick the number one biggest priority for each day (“scoop litter box”; “pay college tuition bill”) and try to do that, but now I can do extras like bossing the children to clean the kitchen, and bossing them to help me take down the Christmas ornaments. Paul is still handling dinners each night, and after a couple of weeks of this he’s getting all frustrated and worn down and out of ideas and tired of cleaning up afterward, and I am like I KNOW RIGHT.
Right now the main issue is my ear. Last night it hurt so badly I couldn’t sleep, and I was worried Something Was Going Terribly Wrong. That was WITH ibuprofen. I took two benadryl, two decongestants; it still hurt too much. Finally the previous dose of ibuprofen wore off and I took THREE ibuprofen, and that was enough to let me sleep for a few hours. The earliest my doctor can see me is in a week and two days; the earliest the office’s nurse-practitioner can see me is tomorrow; I took the nurse-practitioner appointment but may need to instead go back to Urgent Care today. But this morning it feels enough better that I am second-guessing. Not SO much better (as in, maybe the ear drum ruptured and now it feels so much better!) but not terribly painful either. Just the usual sore, clogged, and I can hear nothing but my pulse. I’m letting the ibuprofen wear off on purpose (which might be a bad idea) so I can further assess the pain levels.
I am worried about taking so many NSAIDS day after day, week after week. Each doctor so far has said to take ibuprofen, but once a day or so I take acetaminophen instead, in case that’s a good idea. I remember seeing somewhere that acetaminophen and ibuprofen are processed by different organs (kidneys/liver?), so maybe it helps to give the liver/kidneys a break and let the kidneys/liver take one round.
Speaking of liver, I never do Dry January, for reasons ranging from not wanting to do unpleasant things just for the sake of doing them, to feeling that January is plenty grim enough—but I notice that because of being ill, I have not had a drink since December 23rd. (I’m not sure if I DID have a drink on December 23rd, but I know I DIDN’T on the 24th or since.) So I have a very nice head-start on doing something just for the sake of doing it, if I wanted to! I had coffee the first few days of being sick, but then stopped because it was making me feel worse, so I’ve also been coffee-free since, say, December 27th or 28th. I had expected to see more of an amazing transformation of skin and/or mental health and/or sleep from cutting out both alcohol and coffee, but I guess flu is interfering with that.
You poor, poor thing!! I say go back to urgent care and have them reassess. I am a lifelong ear infection sufferer and nothing makes me more upset than a practitioner who is too blasé about treating them. Allll the antibiotics! Never once in my life (or my kids’) has a wait-and-see approach cured ear infection. I hope you feel dramatically better as of your next writing.
I am so sorry you are still sick! This flu sounds so awful! I may have cackled a little, schaden-freude-ily, at Paul’s frustration with cooking etc.
Me too! My family has had to deal with the antics and needs of a new puppy, plus feeding themselves due first to me having Covid and now because I’m recovering from a minor foot surgery, and it’s kind of nice to be off the hook for all the care and feeding and cleaning in the house.
Coffee is full of antioxidants, and we should all drink plenty (if we like it).
Your poor ear. Poor you, with that ear attached to you and all.
(Snort-laughed at I KNOW RIGHT — I stopped making dinner when the last kid left for college, but I still cook when they’re home, and the break did not make me love it. Me, who used to think of myself as Someone Who Likes to Cook is definitely now on team I KNOW RIGHT)
I like to cook and I’m definitely on team I KNOW RIGHT.
I KNOW RIGHT! And also, I hope you feel better soon!
I’m very sorry you’re still sick and in pain. Not a good way to start the new year.
I’m having an experience half-similar to Paul’s right now, as my wife is out of town for an indeterminate period of time due to a family crisis and I’m doing all my chores plus hers. The reason I say half-similar is I am in no way surprised at how difficult/time-consuming some of these chores are (especially grocery shopping). I knew! And appreciated her!
Anyway, I hope you are on the mend soon.
Pain in your head is the WORST. I had to have a repeat of a minor operation on my foot on Monday and people have been asking how the recovery is going and I’ve had to say that it’s hard to tell because I also had a headache/migraine come on Monday evening and the combined pain at each end of my body has made the experience so much more wretched. Like, I barfed a fair amount that first night so it made my throat sore for all of yesterday too. And I couldn’t even get up to hobble to the bathroom easily, so my poor son had to get up and empty and rinse my bucket for me every time I threw up. (I mentioned this to my daughter who was downstairs keeping our new puppy company and she said tartly that it was a small measure of returning the favour for all the times I’ve emptied his barf buckets over the years. Which I suppose is true, but he also had a headache at the time.) I woke up with the headache still there today but it’s finally, FINALLY receded and I’m finding it so much easier to cope with the small amount of pain in my foot, which is at the far end of my body.
Ibuprofen is very hard on your stomach, so take it with food. Even a yogurt or something at the same time will help. No doctor in Canada ever mentioned this to me but in Europe doctors are very careful with ibuprofen and very adamant about taking with food. You can alternate Ibuprofen and acetaminophen by taking them alternately every 4 hours (Eg ibuprofen at 8, acetaminophen at 12, ibuprofen at 4, ….) and that is fine. It helps avoid having painkillers wear off completely.
Good luck! It sounds really awful.
I have been sick since the week after Christmas. My daughter was sick the week before, my Dad was sick around the 23rd forward, and then my husband and I went down. He’s doing better- I’m still coughing and exhausted. Carrying a basket of later downstairs wiped me out. I’m back to work, but working from home, thankfully. I just sent a message to my manager asking to take some leave this afternoon because my brain is scrambled and I’m coughing again. This is terrible. Fingers crossed that we’re all better soon.
Paul should get a small break soon, what with the college kids heading back to college, right? Although, then you lose your kitchen cleaners. (which Paul could have been taking advantage of also while the kids were home).
Anyway, I’m glad you are feeling a bit better. As for the pain meds, cycling between acetaminophen and ibuprofen is a thing. I know I have done this before. But I can’t remember if it was for my kids’ wisdom teeth extractions, my own minor surgery or as long ago as after I gave birth. I’ve also seen it suggested for migraines. It’s not just that they may be processed by different organs (I’m not sure about that either) but that each med deals with the pain through a different mechanism. I should really google this.
If you can take ibuprofen, may I also recommend trying Aleve? It’s a 12 hour pill, instead of ibuprofen, and when I’ve got some bad pain it works SO much better. Or see what the nurse practitioner says. Feel better soon!
Poor, poor Paul, having to do daily dinner! (sarcasm….) In our home, one cooks and one cleans up after – maybe he should consider doing one or the other going forward.
H got covid 12/20 (I also got it 12/24 but that’s not important rn) and it kicked his butt. He’d been soft planning on doing dry January, but since with Covid he didn’t even want to drink anything but water from 12/20 to like 1/2 or 1/3, he decided to keep going. I’m not sure he’s experienced a miraculous improvement in his health, but I have because for the first time in probably 15 years he has stopped snoring almost completely. I’ve had virtually uninterrupted sleep night after night and it probably made a difference in my covid recovery and I KNOW it’s made a difference in my general health. I’ve never been so glad it’s January!
For what it’s worth (maybe nothing!) my mom’s doctor said (regarding her endless pain and therefore endless need for otc drugs) that excessive acetaminophen basically couldn’t hurt you, whereas excessive Ibuprofin or Naxoproxin could. When I complained that it just doesn’t work well enough, she said to take more of it, so now I give my mom 3 extra strength Tylenol instead of 2 Advil and it works just as well!
I am not a doctor BUT acetaminophen is very hard on your liver and LOADS of people die every year from overdoses of tylenol. I think your doctor is wrong. They reformatted it and you can’t really get “extra strength” anymore because it’s so bad.
https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002598.htm
https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/tylenol-acetaminophen-poisoning
So many mixed messages on this one! My understanding was long term acetaminophen use is really hard on the liver. My European husband won’t use it or let me give it to the kids, because the doctors had such dire things to say about it when he was growing up.
Actually, excess acetaminophen can be very dangerous, and it’s easy to take more than you think b/c it’s in so many cold and flu medications. Acetaminophen overdose is the second-most common driver of liver transplants. It’s also particularly important to limit alcohol intake when taking acetaminophen. Something to be aware of if you have college-aged children who might want to prevent or quell a hangover with a few Tylenol before bed. (My kids will tell you I harp on this…)
I’m so sorry you are still feeling sick. I had exact same symptoms as you are having and much better now. One thing my various doctors (urgent care, ENT referral) recommended when I had the same was Flonase. In addition to a steroid course to reduce inflammation, and antibiotics because I did have an ear infection. Flonase helps dry out the whole canal system from ear up to nose. So that the fluid behind your ear drum hopefully slowly reduces. They did first check up my nose with a scope to see if that wasn’t clogged (because otherwise it wouldn’t get up that far?? I had no idea about the whole tunnel system going on in our heads). I hope you get answers, medication, and help in general from whoever you see
Yes! I have tons of ear problems and came here to recommend Flonase. It’s over the counter and will be more than you’ll want to spend (~$20 near me) but IT WORKS. I especially try to take it right before bed. It seems to drain nicely through my sinuses then.
You may know about this ear trick already? And/or it may not help, but I’ve used it a few times and it has SOMETIMES helped with ear problems. I’ve also seen flight attendants do it for people suffering on planes.
https://www.lovewhatmatters.com/im-about-to-share-a-coveted-family-secret-with-you-with-ears-prone-to-infections-and-broken-eardrums-i-use-this-all-the-time/
Basically you put boiling water on a paper towel or cloth in a cup. Put the cup against your ear. Obviously being careful to not burn yourself. The dampness and heat can help.
Ear problems suck.
Ha, this: “I never do Dry January, for reasons ranging from not wanting to do unpleasant things just for the sake of doing them, to feeling that January is plenty grim enough” – I actually did do Dry January once and did not actually feel any different. So, um, maybe I just don’t drink ENOUGH. Ha!
I am so sorry you’re still sick! The ear thing sounds absolutely dreadful, I hope you’re on the mend soon.