Tue 1 Apr 2008
It’s four in the morning, and I’m awake with a sore throat. I cannot stand a freakin’ sore throat: I can’t ignore it, and it doesn’t daze me such that I can just drift drearily through it. Two thumbs down.
What’s the symptom that bugs you most? Worst minor malady? And why?
Posted by Josh Millard18 answers so far!
The dry heaves. The have-to-vomit-but-my-body-won’t-go-for-it. They hurt my entire body, and I end up crying because I Just. Want. To. Vomit. And get it all over with.
Any stomach and/or digestive thingy. It’s completely demoralizing not to be able to eat.
Yeah, debilitating nausea is probably the single worst symptom, but ask me again after I’ve experienced the joy of pancreatic or bone cancer pain. Most frustrating minor malady: laryngitis, the type where you feel more or less functional but cannot produce a sound.
Hangovers with throwing up the next day. At least other illnesses I can blame on somebody else. I just feel bloody stupid hungover.
Trying to sleep with a fever and you’re afraid to because of those nasty fever dreams! They can be so unsettling.. more of a mental torture than physical.
Oh, and one of my worst ones was based on this Far Side, and when they hit the nail in the missile I woke up with my ears ringing from the “noise.”
For me it’s a tossup between a cough that won’t let me sleep, or a stuffed up nose that won’t let me breathe. Or sleep.
I haven’t experienced any of the others yet; am I missing out? (I do get night terrors when I have a fever, but haven’t had one in my adult life so that’s not on my radar.)
4th Degree Paisley Crotch Snot.
Stomach flu. I had it so bad once I was unable to move for a couple of days except for the bathroom. After 2 days, I finally staggered to the kitchen and made lemonade and it was the best thing I’d ever tasted in my life (and kept down).
I was a houseguest and had nausea too bad to sleep. All night. Two days ago. :(
I’ve had so much mystery nausea lately I hardly mind it anymore. But the out-both-ends smash debut of a good round of full-blown food poisoning beats a full house and a straight flush.
Headaches make me dejected.
Hands down: food poisoning. Hoo boy.
Food poisoning. I remember at one point sleeping in the bathtub because 1) I’d be closer to the toilet, and 2) it would be easier to clean up if I couldn’t make it that far. A close second place goes to mono, which I have had the misfortune of having three times.
Stomach stuff. I get headaches but I know how to deal with those. Stomach stuff gets me every time.
Nausea. I hate it so much. I get it from time to time, more often than I’d like, and I just cannot get used to it.
Migraines. I feel nauseated and just all uncomfortable-out-of-it, plus have intense head pain. The puking isn’t so bad, it’s usually a relief, but the sense of discomfort combined with some of the worst pain I’ve personally undergone is just unbearable. The medication I’ve been given for it usually just knocks me out for a couple hours, which is all I could ask for.
Middle ear infections. I get really, REALLY bad ones. And to fix it the doc takes a long metal rod, opens the ear canal and inserts a wick. It’s so PAINFUL. Also, my ears swell completely shut and I can’t hear and I’m trapped all alone inside my head with my thoughts and that’s never a good thing.
Nausea, hands down. It makes me long for the sweet release of death.
I’m jumping aboard the nausea/stomach bug bandwagon. I have a reasonable pain threshold, but chronic digestive unease is the worst thing.