This is Monday’s post, which I didn’t complete until Tuesday. There should be two Tuesday posts. Or at least, that was the plan. I have just spent the evening wheezing and feeling sorry for myself, so I am now posting the Monday post on Wednesday morning. I may well continue to write the real Tuesday post on Wednesday too. Catching up can be very complicated.
I have a cough. It became a little worse on Saturday night, stabilised for Sunday, then worsened again today. It’s an intermittent dry cough. So far I’ve hovered on the point of having a sore throat but avoided it. I have, however, had a few periods when my head or my neck have felt quite sore, and today I pulled a muscle in the abdomen with the effort of coughing. This was annoying as I was trying to keep everything as gentle as possible, to avoid this.
I’m beginning to think that this might be the “Victorian” disease also known as the “100 day cough”. Though it is delighting the doomsayers that write tabloid headlines it’s just Whooping Cough, as it used to be known in my childhood. As I’m not under six months, or pregnant (despite appearances) I’m unlikely to be in danger, even if I am infected.
But it is most likely that I simply have a cough. I’m prone to coughs in winter. I’m also prone, as we all are if we aren’t careful, to fall victim to cyberchondria or other faulty self-diagnosis. The one I find most interesting is Medical Students’ Disease or Second Year Syndrome. This is where medical students, despite being warned abut the condition, start to believe they have the disease they are studying in class.
I have a tendency not to go to the doctor for a cough if I can help it. They tend to find other faults, or investigate me for things i don’t have. I’m not fond of either. As a result, it’s been about five years since I’ve been to the doctor for a cough. It eventually clears on its own, and life is a lot simpler without a doctor fussing round. They mean well but they are paid for finding stuff wrong with me, and they try their hardest to do their job.
The other side of the coin.
I know what you mean about seeing a doctor. I went a few months ago with a simple complaint and I have ended up having more and more tests ever since. I thought that I might go with my sore knee but have decided against it until I start falling over.
Lots of expensive red wine is good for a cough. It doesn’t cure it, but you don’t care.
Sometimes the old cures are the best . . . 🙂
Feel better!!
I am!
I know this continued. Have you tried Trump’s cure?
Get well soon. I would suggest a nice glass of lemon, honey and whisky .
Yes, I’ve been dreaming of that. Strange . . .
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Back seventy years ago we lived in the Bush about twenty miles from town and a trip into town for a cough wouldn’t have been the go. So one day,mother, had a very sore throat and she decided to gargle with neat Dettol. It fixed the cough but for about ten days she couldn’t taste anything. She said mashed potato and soft ice cream tasted the same.
Dettol is a useful thing, but I hate to think what it is like taken neat. 🙂 I always used to dilute it to gargle. I used to use it in the bath too. Personal grooming has never been an interest of mine . . .
I looked up Dettol and its says the American equivalent is Lysol! I can’t imagine using that to gargle.
Hope you feel better soon!
I know of Lysol but don’t think it’s been available here for years. didn’t know it was linked to Dettol. ;-(