So I picked up some vicious GI bug. Two bouts of puking so hard that I get petechial hemmorhages and three days of dehydration thanks to rapid intestinal evacuation has me feeling pretty low. I can understand why my GI tract is trying to get rid of everything inside of it. I can understand why I’ve been spiking a fever.
But why, with a GI bug, did my muscles and joints ache like I’d been slammed with the flu (which, while everyone might call what I’ve got the stomach flu, I know bears no resemblance to the virus referred to as influenza). And why, a day into my recovery, am I so tired that I have to take a three hour nap after eating breakfast?
I’d take a WAG and say the pain is due to mild inflammation due to immune system ‘overload.’ So many immune system cells getting backed up in joints may have caused a bit of inflammation, which led to the pain.
You’re probably exhausted from trying to fight off the fever, as well as dehydration from your barf-fest. I’d say take it easy and drink lots of fluid.
Please know that I’m basing this off a basic anatomy course.
The immune reaction sets up an inflammatory cascade. This can be stated in much more complex terms.
Incidentally, SARS presents with muscle aches, fatigue, and headaches for the first three days. About on third of cases have severe diarrhea. Then a high fever and breathing difficulties begin. Take care if you have been exposed or recently travelled to Asia!
Um . . . no recent travel to Asia, and unless the tourists coming to the state park near my town are getting really exotic, I really doubt I’ve been exposed.
Still, I could always go in to see my doc and cough up a lung on him tomorrow. Great April Fool’s joke.
Yeah, we doctors love that sort of carefree mischief.
As an example, interleukin-1 (Il-1) is an inflammatory agent active in autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.
The SARS comment was not meant to be worrisome, but if you had flu like symptoms FOLLOWED IN TWO TO THREE DAYS by increasing breathing difficulties, this is something that must be considered. Still, the flu is usually the flu.
