(no subject)

[randomdreams]

I caught a cold several days ago, and for two or three days it was just sniffling and a sore throat, and it felt like I was getting better.
Thursday night I went to bed and at about midnight, I got so much worse, and in a way I never have before: my lungs started filling with junk. It was like a slow asthma attack. I felt like I was breathing through a garden hose, and had to actively struggle to breathe. After a few minutes I'd start hearing rattling noises and after about ten minutes my breathing sounded like an old man slurping coffee, and then I'd cough explosively and everything would be mostly okay again. That's not a way to get a good night's sleep. At some point I got up with the idea of finding some antihistamines and found that I couldn't walk straight and everything I picked up, I dropped.
Soooo I stayed home from work yesterday and slept the entire day, as best I could.
But whatever that was, it appears to have finished, so now I'm upright again, I can walk and if I'm careful I can turn my head without falling over.
At some point I got an IR thermometer, mostly for cooking. It said my temperature was 102-104, and pretty consistently 103. I may have talked about this before, but that does weird things to my brain. I'm curious what the rest of you experience in your brains. When I'm not talking (and oftentimes even when I am) I am constantly thinking a narrative: "the word for now in japanese is ima but the word for today is kyoo. I should get a quote on powder coating the risers for the deck railing project. Maybe the problem with the new silicon at work is that the voltage ripple is too low for the comparator to trigger." That kind of thing. Yesterday, that narrative went more like: "parachute nosecone blergh lego glasses why temperature book" and it was difficult for me to form good sentences. The nouns went all weird and wriggly.
But today I'm up and building nice long complex sentences so I think I'm going to be okay.

Comments

[shalpacafarm]

This sounds like a hantavirus-like cytokines storm almost https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine_release_syndrome

[randomdreams]

...I do hang out with a lot of mouse poop, but it's all domestic mice, to my knowledge.

[amaebi]

I'll join in remote diagnosis: it sounds like pneumonia or pneumonitis.

If resting doesn't seem to improve matters, well, that's what was conclusive for me.

Would you please go see a doctor?

[randomdreams]

Pneumonia or a virus inducing asthma were my two leading prognoses. I'm a lot better right now. If things don't get better yet by tomorrow, I'll head over to the urgent care up the street.

[elusis]

I was going to say "sounds like pneumonia" as well, and also "I don't know if N is cross with you for not going to the doctor, but I sure am!"

[fbhjr]

Glad you're feeling somewhat better.
Hope it's fully gone soon!

[randomdreams]

you and me both!

[acelightning]

When something like that happened to me, it turned out I was having an episode of congestive heart failure, with accompanying atrial fibrillation. You should see a doctor ASAP, preferably in a hospital.

[randomdreams]

Eeeeeep!
I am unusually aware of what my heart is doing. I could wire myself up to my EKG, but I'm 95% sure it's not atrial fibrillation, from online descriptions.

As discussed above, if I don't start steadily improving very soon I'll go to an urgent care and see what they have to say. I have gotten way better since Thursday night.

[acelightning]

I figured I'd be able to tell if/when something was wrong with my heart. But in this case, I just couldn't breathe - I couldn't suck in enough air to satisfy my need for oxygen. And I know that's a classic sign of congestive heart failure, but why on earth would I have heart failure (there's a complicated story in there). The atrial fibrillation made my blood pressure change randomly, and one of the higher pressure spikes gave me a hemorrhagic stroke. But I'm on a few meds for heart failure and atrial fibrillation. (And the stroke left me with balance problems and a total inability to do arithmetic). You really need a more comprehensive exam than what you'll get in Urgent Care.

[alton_love]

O.o

I'm going to run with the theory that you have seen a doctor by now. Or we'll all chase you until you run.

That was your brain in a slow boil inside your skull. Thus your brain was not braining. At 104 you start to do real damage.

*foot tapping*

Which is secondary to drowning in phlem. You know, that whole 1918 everybody dead from Flu? Jim Henson didnt go to the Doc & now we have wrong sounding Muppets! Wrong MUPPETS and crappy Muppet movies!

*glare*

Which I point out because I care about you and I cant stand wrong sounding sucky Muppets.

*glare*

Stop spreading plague!!

There's plague in this country. You might get by but others may not. You dont want that.

Go get checked. Come back with a report card.

*long distance hug*

[randomdreams]

Colorado is the leading state for plague deaths! Really!
It isn't plague. I know the symptoms of bubonic and pneumonic plague. (I don't know them for septicemic plague, but that's virtually always the next step on one of the above.

I'm guessing I got a secondary bacterial infection that was heading towards pneumonia but didn't manage to make it all the way there. Or the virus managed to set off my asthma in an unexpected way. Apparently that's quite common. When I look at medical discussions of asthma induced by colds, they regularly mention pneumonia being the result.

Currently I'm not running a fever, and haven't been all day, with sporadic testing.

I should have gone to urgent care thursday night. I was too mentally gone to realize that at the time, though. Sleeping (or trying to) seemed like a way better option.

[alton_love]

Plague is also a term used for illness that effects masses of peeps. My point being that yall dont want to spread something that sounds potentially serious/FATAL to others.

No stressing me! I was just in the ER!

Yes, you should/ have gone to ER and yes, i grok brain not braining. I'm wildly relieved you DID go.
My college friend hit his head. His brain wasnt braining well when he decided to sleep it off. He died. It was bad. That was last month. You're not allowed to do that.

Roshi has spoken!

Dont make me get the furry hat! Cuz I'll use it. You know I'll use it.

[alton_love]

Ok, i might have also meant black plague. But my second point is still pretty good. You dont want to be responsible for other people getting sick. Nor do I.

[basefinder]

Dang, glad you're doing better now, but that is a lot of fever.

[altamira16]

I would read the James Joyce tribute novel that you are going to write.

[rhiannonstone]

I lose/jumble (spoken) nouns when I'm under extreme physical or mental stress. It's pretty distressing. I imagine it's the same for you when it happens in your mental dialogue, too.

I'm glad you're feeling better, and hope the upward trend continues!

[zyzyly]

I tend to have gentle hallucinations when my temp gets above 102 for any length of time. The last time was in Thailand, and it kind of freaked Malida out. She wanted to go out and get me antibiotics, but I told her she couldn't leave the house until the roosters started crowing.

Take care of yourself--go see a real doctor!