Viral infection

This is a very odd one!.
I have been unwell since Boxing Day but on the mend I would say. Still have the awful spasms of coughing up green stuff!!. I spent the first few days in bed most of the time as I felt very weak. Yesterday I felt well enough to take down some of the decorations. Like others I have for the first time in my life completely lost my sense of taste and smell. Chocolate tastes just awful which is good and I have lost a few pounds as I couldn’t eat a thing for the first week and still have no appetite for anything .
What is so odd about it is that it fluctuates from day to day or even just every few hours. I can feel well in the morning but bad again in the afternoon.
Last night I actually got 8 hours sleep. Many things have been recommended my my medic friends but what has helped me is Potters Chesty Pastilles. They clear my nose and help to bring up the horrible green phlegm!.
Beconase spray has been recommended together with NeilMed Sinus Rinse but I haven’t needed either as I do not have a blocked up nose.
My friend had this before Christmas and she is still coughing a bit. I would say that I’ve been coughing for England in the last 10 days, day and night non stop almost, it is much better today, so far anyway but it might change by this afternoon. I do feel a lot better today but it’s only 10.30am, poor husband seems to be worse today and we started this on the same day. Up till now he’s been fine with just a bit of a cough but he’s had a bad night and his cough doesn’t sound too good?.

I have been taking Paracetamol 1000x4 times a day.

So sick of it. Had just got over a bad virus when WHAM. Coughing is such a pain and don't get me started on the runny nose! It can't be flu though as no high temperature, so probably have that to look forward to as well... Keep having to restock paper hankies. Appetite completely went. And exhausted! Couldn't even take the tree decorations down without stopping to rest several times. At least up and about now, but still having to take it easy. Sympathy to all fellow sufferers.

It's true that it does fluctuate, better one day, worse the next. I have felt so exhausted have been going for a rest every afternoon like an elderly person (I am an elderly person!) Neighbour rang to ask if we need supplies as she's going out shopping tomorrow but doesn't want to be contaminated so can we pin the shopping list to the door. It's like the Great Plague!

Haha, Lazigirl! I must admit, I feel like Typhoid Mary!

I didn't take that dram last night but I think I must tonight as I didn't sleep well again and woke with a head full of concrete.

At least I've washed my hair and now Dh has come home with some Sambucol syrup which hopefully will buck me up.

I think everyone as had this one, just got over mine. It was just coming to an end by Christmas but still had the chesty cough. Daughter had the same cough, there is little you can do about it, other than keep warm have plenty of fluids and take things as easy as you can.

I was so tired yesterday that I went to bed at 8.30 and slept to 5.30 - I just don't feel better for it!

Suffering here in Ireland too. Such an awful cough and no respite night or day. Aching diaphragm, wheezy chest achy legs and absolutely no appetite. Scales indicating a loss of 4lbs so far. Was beginning to think I should. stock up on Tena lady but the coughing has relented somewhat which is a relief. DH is very fit and appears to have escaped apart from the sore throat at the beginning. He's off to do the shopping bless him.

We were just saying this morning that every single person we've spoken to over the festive season has had some version of this nasty virus. Add flu into the numbers and no wonder the poor old NHS is struggling right now.

I think I've finally turned the corner. I'm dressed for the first time in a week! I had a better sleep, too, as I didn't cough every time I moved.

I hope everyone else is improving, too.

Been to see my doctor today as after a night of coughing and my breathing not too good this morning I thought it best to seek help. He checked me out and told me that my lungs are fine?which was what I was worried about. He prescribed Sudafed Nasal Spray as he said that the mucus was in my head and travelling down to my chest and if worried not to hesitate to go back to the surgery. He told me that it lasts 3 weeks or more.

I hope i will eventually get to sleep. Propped up in bed with four pillows as each time I try to lie down the cough comes back. Throat still sore but did eat some mashed potato today.

I've attended a special cough clinic for over 10 years now, but I don't think I've ever had a cough as bad as this. I'm finding it quite distressing and can't possibly leave the house as it is now. It feels like I'm trying to turn my throat inside out and that I'm going to do some damage somewhere to my body with the amount of strain I go through to get it under control. All my other symptoms are the usual routine ones you get with a bug, but these last few days I've almost passed out through coughing. I usually keep up a cheerful front, but I'm struggling and it's not like me.

Maybe it's time to see a doctor, Wilmaknickersfit?

I don't know what he can do about it SueDonim. I have booked an appointment for the week after next just in case.

I think I'm in week 5 now and my cough is fine apart from first thing in the morning but I am still exhausted.

Saw doctor this week Friday emailed the website with my symptoms and they phoned me back with appointment!!
Normal wait 8 weeks for appointments saw very nice doctor and she could see I was having difficulty breathing told me I had chest infection and prescribed Amoxicillin for five days started course yesterday still coughing when I went to bed and ended up being sick had to change bed? Do feel slightly better today still exhausted so I'm hoping might be on the mend for everyone else suffering hope you all get better soon ( still keeping Tena in business ?)

Well, no, I guess that's the problem, WilmaKnickerfit - what can they do? I suppose at least getting checked to be sure you don't have a chest infection would offer some comfort.

My bug is easing off now. I can smell the Vick's if I stick my nose right in the jar and Dh took me out for a jaunt in the car today. First time out for two weeks!

Well last night for the first time in two weeks I actually managed to lie down without wheezing! I was so astonished, I was afraid to move in case it all started up again. The noise is usually deafening, so I could hardly believe the silence in my nasal passages and throat. It was a bit scary . I still had several coughing fits that woke me in the night, but even so.... silence in my head for the first time in ages!
I'm almost dreading going to bed tonight in case it was a one off and the cacophony starts all over again

My lungs sound like a set of bagpipes, still.

I'm feeling so sorry for all of you. I started on Christmas Eve with a cold and am just getting over it now but I haven't been as bad as you all sound. A couple of years ago I had such a bad cough (I'm asthmatic as well) that I couldn't stop coughing for nine months! I had x rays, antibiotics etc but nothing touched it. Eventually I was sent to a cough suppression clinic where I was told to have a bottle of water with me all the time and drink every time I wanted to cough! i thought this may help Wilmaknickersfit in her search for help with her cough.

I thought I'd had a mild dose of It back in early November and I've been around all my relations who've been down with it - but yesterday I started coughing, and this morning I woke up all bunged up and sweaty. I fear the worst!

BrightonBelle thank you for thinking of me. I've been attending a similar clinic since 2006 as I've had a chronic cough for almost 20 years. It has a number of causes, but I also fit into the group of patients who have oversensitive airways. It called Chronic Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome and a drug is being clinically trialed which finally looks promising. I can cough to the point of being sick and it damaged my vocal cords, so I had speech therapy to help me learn to speak in a lower register and improve my voice. The cough has had consequences for my health and I had to give up work. I never go anywhere without a bottle of water (just tap water) and have them in the bedroom, in the living room, in my bag, etc. Luckily I've always been a big water drinker. I also have a good selection of throat sweets and gum which can help. Problem is nothing really works very well. Ironically, when I get a cold usually my cough is better, probably because my throat is coated. Not this time though. This time the aggressiveness of the cough has got much worse. Instead of the usual cough being replaced with a 'cold' cough it's added the two together and very unpleasant.

The exhaustion is getting on my nerves now. All I've done today is get up, drink three mugs of tea to rehydrate, stagger up the garden path to let DD's dog out because she's away until this evening and now I'm sitting down with another hot drink!

On a positive note, the plantar fasciitis which plagued me through the whole of last summer has gone away - thanks to the enforced rest.

Chin up, everyone, summer's coming!!

Definitely a bonus if you’ve got rid of the plantar fasciitis!