dying of cold

[MargeB]

if you have a cold, you should go to bed and drink some hot fluids and not exert yourself. Is this right? Does it really make a difference on the timespan of the illness? Shouldn't you just as well work through it?

I presume cos I don't have sore limbs that it's not the flu.

[Lisax]

personally i agree with you... work through it.

one of the drs i work with once told me you know if you have the flu because if you saw �100 outside on the ground you wouldnt have the energy to go pick it up.... i told him i'd always have the energy but he thyen replied that i must never have had the flu x

[Ding-Dong]

Difficult one this - I have just got over a cold, felt really crappy for a week, but still came to work because my boss would have a blue fit if anybody phoned in sick with a cold - the result of which is that I have given my cold to about a dozen other people.

Also agree with the flu comment - if you have flu, you wouldn't even be able to struggle out of bed to phone in sick: people who do phone in sick with the 'flu' invariably are just suffering from a cold.

[HAnn521]

Speaking from experience...I also know that you wouldn't have any doubt if you had the flu or a cold!

You would be able to tell from the undying pain and aching in your muscles, bones, joints and all over your body...as well as the running nose, the stuffy head, often with migraines/headaches and the shooting pain that comes from light, sound, etc.

It's rough and I hope you never have to go through it Marge dear!!

[Scarlett]

I think if there is any doubt in your mind as to whether you are fit for work or not, then you are able to go in!! With flu, you simply have to lie in bed and let it do it's thing. A cold is inconvenient and makes you feel rotten, but you can still function. Just the word "cold" infers something not that bad, hence lots of people saying they have "flu" to make it sound worse!!

My Mum used to get "sinusitis"!!!!

[irisred]

Actually you should just rest and get over it - and stop spreading it to other people too!  I know the kindly souls at work that do the 'drag themselves to work cos the place can't function without them' thing and all they do is complain all day and pass the germs around the office.

Also physical exertion should be avoided if you do have a cold as it can put excessive strain on the heart.

However I beleive that a cold lasts as long as it lasts no matter if you rest or struggle through.

Hope you feel better soon!

[MargeB]

Thanks all.

My old workplace used to be very strict (rightly so!) NO MARTYRS HERE! If you have cold, go home! Don't wipe out half the office!

Where's me hot toddy/

[Clanad]

A Doctor friend told me once that, flu or cold, take lots of over the counter medications, steam your head, drink tubs of orange juice and your ailment will last a week.  Do nothing and it will last seven days.  Not much encouragement...

Scarlett, siniusitis is a different breed of cat, so to speak.  It can be quite serious and the symptoms are only mildly related to cold's or the flu. Many times, it requires antibiotics for treatment, since it is bacterial in nature.  None work for cold's or flu since they are viruses.  So don;t subscribe to the old wives tale that going out in the cold and wet without a hat on will give you a cold...

[Scarlett]

Clanad!

Yes, the point I was making is that my Mum had nothing of the sort. She had a cold. But always called it sinusitis. It wasn't.

[El D]

as far as I am aware there is no evidence at all that all that orange juice and vit c malarky helps - I fink its just an old wives tale. . . Personally I always rest up. But then I'm lazy.

[MargeB]

Hi El D. What about prayers? I'm waiting for a miracle. Unless I can find some lemsip fast...

[pixi]

margeb if you have cold and it isnt 'manflu' then you need to get yourself to the doctors sharpish lol

[cherrybomb]

About 20yrs ago I worked at Boots Chemist's and our pharmacist used to make up a cold remedy for any of us that felt we had a cold coming. I remember it had alot of effervescent orange flavour vitamin C the rest he kept secret. It must have been the placebo effect but we certainly all used to feel much better after it.

I have had flu once and no placebo or genuine remedy for that matter made me feel any better. I slept on and off for nearly 4 days solid didn't talk or eat. I never want to go through that again.   

[mimififi]

I f I think we are coming down with any thing, I continue my daily brisk walk along the beach with as many kids walking as poss and the babies in the double buggy.

nearly always heads it off.

I heard that Vitimin C needs to be taken regularly for it to help with the battle of a cold or any illness.  Starting to take it when you are already ill is a little bit of bolting horses and gates.  The only thing that will help I guess would be a bit of jolly paracetamol for the fever.  COld rememdies are just mega bucks, don't waste your money.  Tesco value paracetamol: 70p

(I get seasonal and allergic Rhinitis which is a bit like sinisitus, though not bacterial and it's horrible.  I really should give up dairy food, but I just love cheese and marmite so much.) But then, I have no self discipline.)

Although marge; A stiff whisky is my remedy for everything from a gammy knee to a broken heart.  I'd have a toddy too.

[shaneystar]

My brothers favourite recipe

Large slug of dark rum,juice of one lemon,pinch of cinnamon,
teaspoon of brown sugar,pour over some boiling water (spoon in glass so it doesn't crack) slug it down and go to bed!!

[georgit79]

I told you- I'm right here waiting (a la Richard Marx- I think) with the hot toddy, Vics and back rub!

[joko]

Stay at Home!

Ask your boss if there is anything you could get on with from your sickbed, but don't spread it around.

You will recover much quicker if you rest and stay warm anyway. By working you just stay ill longer.

Its ok for people with a generally healthy system, but anyone with, for instance a respiratory illness like asthma etc it can mean weeks and weeks of illness and tablets etc.

You also pass it to passengers on the bus, the people at sandwich shop etc, as wll as all your work mates.

Its not BRAVE!

It's UNFAIR & potentially dangerous!!

[clarabel82]

I get a lot of colds, as do all my colleagues, probably because we work in a chemists and I feel guilty ringing in sick as you have to be dying or something before our bosses will accept that you are ill. So we all get each others colds before long as we all share the same tills and screens etc.

[fly258]

Children get colds

Men get flu

Women get on with it

(according to herwotdoesthepots)

[DirtyHabit]

fly258
I was just about to write that......but I am too ill. I have the FLU ;-)