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.
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.
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 . . .
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!