This morning I coughed so hard I started to retch. Last night, I was bent over the toilet hacking up goo, and all my left-side intercostal muscles went into spasm and I couldn't stand up for about two minutes. I was sort of propped over the toilet meeping in distress until the spasm eased.
The 2nd year med student in me says "my g-d man, you have pertussis!"
But that's only the 2nd year med student in me.
See, we 2nd year med students know enough medicine to spot all kinds of diagnostic patterns, but don't have enough (read: any) experience to assign relative likelihoods to all the possibilities.
On the other hand, most people's pertussis vaccinations have worn off by their mid to late 20s... Have you been around any kids who wouldn't have been vaccinated or could have exposed you to pertussis? (AKA "whooping cough")
Seriously, I hope you feel better. I've had three different friends groups talk about a "creeping crud" that's striking them, and yours sounds by far the worst.
Well, I DO work with children -- I mean, that IS my job. I don't remember any of the students coughing in any noticable way.
But I wouldn't be able to tell unless it goes on over two weeks, right? I mean, it hasn't even been ONE week, yet, and a flu wouldn't typically be over yet, anyway.
Okay, on a brief read of the early stage symptoms of pertussis, I guess my symptoms are VAGUELY in range of what it COULD be, so it's not impossible. But, I'd say, on the "hoofbeats usually mean horses" theory, "some random flu-like-thing" is still the way to go.
In any case, at this stage, would I be treating "some random flu-like-thing" any different than pertussis?
If it's whooping cough, I'm missing Arisia for sure. It will very suck, but it shouldn't be dangerous.
I rather hope that it's not, since I rather hope that I'll be fine in another three days -- and that codine will help.
And, if not, well, this will suck muchly. *shrug* And I'll get through it.
Oh, and just to add to the joy... My version of this started with a week of a runny nose, followed by 4+ weeks of the cough. No nausea, no aches and pains, presumably no fever, but I never felt sick enough to check. But the cough was definitely in the cough-til-you-vomit range, to say nothing of the times when I'd start to cough and every muscle in my body'd lock up. Hard to breathe in at times like that! The cough was also psychic. I was sleeping sitting up because the cough was least awful that way. I'd be sitting there reading or watching TV, not coughing for once(!), and the moment I had the thought "Maybe I'll go to sleep", I'd start to cough uncontrollably. Don't know if Codeine would have helped; I can't take it. But the "good" news is that I've had the TDAP vaccine within the year, so I shouldn't have been susceptible to pertussis. So, since I've had the most effective vaccine available, and got the crud anyway, presumably it's not pertussis.
I've never looked into the communicable period of whooping cough, but I've spoken with several infectious disease specialists about upper respiratory viruses in general. All of them have said that as long as you're coughing or your nose is running, you can spread the disease.
*Goes to CDC website*
Hmm. The CDC says here that whooping cough is most communicable from about a week and a half before the onset of the cough to 3 weeks after the cough starts. It also says that some people remain infectious for much longer periods.
I wish I could go to Arisa, but it's not a good idea at this point in time. Not only am I still coughing, but I also am avoiding crowds because I need to avoid catching any other bugs until after my surgery. While coughing my head off one night, it occurred to me that it was much better to get this over with before acquiring an abdominal incision than after.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-08 05:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-08 06:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-08 08:54 pm (UTC)But that's only the 2nd year med student in me.
See, we 2nd year med students know enough medicine to spot all kinds of diagnostic patterns, but don't have enough (read: any) experience to assign relative likelihoods to all the possibilities.
On the other hand, most people's pertussis vaccinations have worn off by their mid to late 20s... Have you been around any kids who wouldn't have been vaccinated or could have exposed you to pertussis? (AKA "whooping cough")
Seriously, I hope you feel better. I've had three different friends groups talk about a "creeping crud" that's striking them, and yours sounds by far the worst.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-08 09:35 pm (UTC)But I wouldn't be able to tell unless it goes on over two weeks, right? I mean, it hasn't even been ONE week, yet, and a flu wouldn't typically be over yet, anyway.
Okay, on a brief read of the early stage symptoms of pertussis, I guess my symptoms are VAGUELY in range of what it COULD be, so it's not impossible. But, I'd say, on the "hoofbeats usually mean horses" theory, "some random flu-like-thing" is still the way to go.
In any case, at this stage, would I be treating "some random flu-like-thing" any different than pertussis?
If it's whooping cough, I'm missing Arisia for sure. It will very suck, but it shouldn't be dangerous.
I rather hope that it's not, since I rather hope that I'll be fine in another three days -- and that codine will help.
And, if not, well, this will suck muchly. *shrug* And I'll get through it.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-08 09:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-08 10:45 pm (UTC)I hope to see you, at least briefly, at Arisia. Get well!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-08 10:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-09 03:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-09 04:14 am (UTC)Like, maybe, this weekend for Arisia, maybe?
Oh -- and Arisia is this weekend. Wanna go for at least one day? Lis and I are going, health permitting.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-09 04:51 am (UTC)*Goes to CDC website*
Hmm. The CDC says here that whooping cough is most communicable from about a week and a half before the onset of the cough to 3 weeks after the cough starts. It also says that some people remain infectious for much longer periods.
I wish I could go to Arisa, but it's not a good idea at this point in time. Not only am I still coughing, but I also am avoiding crowds because I need to avoid catching any other bugs until after my surgery. While coughing my head off one night, it occurred to me that it was much better to get this over with before acquiring an abdominal incision than after.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-09 05:15 am (UTC)