# Least Favorite Illness symptoms **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 10, 2004, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-illness-symptoms/259188 "2004-08-10T13:07:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-illness-symptoms/259188/41 "2004-08-12T15:36:14Z")
> [@pugluvr](#): > > All of the above nastiness, I agree, is pretty bad. I’ll add to the list a personal least favorite: really bad chills, you know, those bone-wracking, aching chills that make you feel like you will never feel warm again. Nothing warms you up, not electric blanks, not hot baths, nada. However, once when I had a bad case of chills during a flu, it was a sweltering August day, so I put on a swimsuit and went and laid out on the baking hot patio concrete. That was the only time I ever managed to warm myself up during a chill. Boy, did it feel good! However, when I returned to work, I’m sure everyone thought I had been faking it, since I sported an impressive sunburn . . . What I do when this strikes me is go out to the car and turn on the heater full blast. It WILL get me warmed up, eventually. In the winter, I’ll turn on a space heater and make a sort of enclosed area so that the heat is reflected back to me. The shaking chills are my first symptom of a cellulitis attack, quickly followed by vomiting. If I can get warmed up, and then start taking an oral antibiotic and keep it down, then the course of the illness will pass in a matter of days, rather than taking a couple of weeks. My doctor has written a prescription for the oral antibiotic for me to keep handy, so that I don’t have to go to the ER when this stuff happens. She knows that I know the symptoms, and it’s better if I can start the medicine as soon as I know that I’m sick. As for sore throats, most of the time I gargle with the old salt water solution. Half a teaspoon of table salt in 4 to 6 ounces of moderately warm water. It’s good for congestion, too. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-illness-symptoms/259188/42 "2004-08-12T16:08:54Z")
I hate achy skin like **CongoDwarf**. Like he said, my hair hurts. Sore throats SUCK. I’ve never really minded puking or diarrhea. I associate them with feeling better afterwards. It’s kind of like I’m expelling the evil. I really hate puking diarrhea, though. MOUTHWASH! ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-illness-symptoms/259188/43 "2004-08-12T21:40:44Z")
I now have cramps and a cold. The cold’s better, though. I was so stuffed up a few days ago that I tried nasal irrigation. It helped, but not a whole lot. The alternative was lancing my sinuses. Right through my face. I thought about it. It was bad congestion. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-illness-symptoms/259188/44 "2004-08-12T21:43:50Z")
Err, death? ---
**Author:** ![Airblairxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Airblairxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airblairxxx)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-illness-symptoms/259188/45 "2004-08-12T22:20:36Z")
I hate . . . Stomach pain. We’re not talking churning stomach, or upset stomach, or “think I’m gonna barf” stomach. We’re talking “Alien”-type stomach infestations here. Blinding hot “When the hell did I swallow a nuclear reactor?” pain. At least with nausea or diarrhea, you know it’s coming out somewhere sooner or later. But with stomach pain, it just sits there as you’re doubled over on the toilet, head in a wastebasket, cold sweat breaking out all over even though you’re naked (hey, I’m anal about my bedclothes, sue me) and it’s freezing. I HATE that. I shouldn’t be thinking about this 2 hours before my vacation starts . . . ---
**Author:** ![moi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@moi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moi)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-illness-symptoms/259188/46 "2004-08-13T03:43:22Z")
I’ve found that most symptoms that I’ve had to deal with on a few occasions I can grow to tolerate. So, things like terrible headaches, sore throats, vomitting, and cramps all go on that list. They don’t make me happy, I’m not very pleasant to deal with, but I know I can soldier on through. The reoccurring symptom that I **just can’t take** is itchy skin. Last fall, I had some undiagnosable skin condition that nearly drove me mad. Just recently, I had a similar (allergic?) reaction to some bug bites and couldn’t believe the misery. I take cold showers, I take hot shows. I put a sheet in the freezer for half and hour and then wrap myself in it. I rub my terrible spots with ice cubes…but all of this just offers temporary relief (anywhere from 3 to 30 minutes). Sooner or later, the itching returns and, with it, the insanity…Arrgh! ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2004, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-illness-symptoms/259188/47 "2004-08-13T14:41:17Z")
Anybody know any good home or OTC remedies for aggressively clogged ears? The pressure is a real nuisance… ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-illness-symptoms/259188/48 "2004-08-14T00:14:01Z")
I have a sinus infection! It sucks a lot! My head feels like its going to explode. Well, now at least I have prescription meds. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-illness-symptoms/259188/49 "2004-08-14T00:30:36Z")
You know that wicked burn when you pee? No? You mean you never…? Hey, where ya goin’? Hey, come back! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-favorite-illness-symptoms/259188.md?page=2)