I had a bad run

For the most part I’m a pretty healthy guy, even though I don’t really take care of myself. I mean, I eat well and I’m atheletic, but I don’t go out of my way to eat vitamins, proper foods, regular exercise etc.

Perhaps now I am paying the price.

It all started in January when I became sicker than a dog for no apparent reason. I mean, I had the flu to the power of 10 cubed! And it just wouldn’t go away. I could barely get to and from work without dizzy spells, hot and cold flashes…you name the symptom, I had it. I was so weak I went right to bed when I got home from work and had no appetite whatsoever. Stayed in bed until I had to drag my ass into work.

Then after about 10 days of that, I developed a cough that would knock a horse over. Mostly at night. I couldn’t sleep for about two weeks. Nothing would quell this lung spitting hack. Even my Chinese GF and all her wisdom and potions, including modern pharmacy medications, wouldn’t do a thing. And this all happened while my superflu was subsiding.

I know you’re asking: why didn’t I go see a doctor? :loco:

The answer is, usually I self-medicate. You know, let it run its course and it will pass…blah blah yadda yadda. The truth is, when one ailment was passing, a new one would just be coming on.

Let me explain:

I was taking every medication in the book for this heart leaping cough when outta nowhere I somehow sprained my lower back. And make no mistake, I could not move an inch without superhuman effort. Just getting out of bed and going to the washroom took all my effort. In addition, the cough I had was excruciating on my back sprain. I swear I was gonna check myself in to the hospital and just give up. :help:

Finally I went to the clinic (where I was diagnosed with the backsprain), and was given an injection for the pain and umpteen sets of painkillers for the next few weeks. It finally passed, only to leave me with this staggering cough, which was actually getting a little better.

Believe me, anything was better than hacking my lungs out every other minute of the day and night.

So off I go to relax in the Philippines for 10 days or so over the CNY, thinking if anything could cure what ails me, my favorite little beach getaway was it! Sure enough, after a few days in my verion of paradise, my cough was almost non-existant and I was in great spirits. Beautiful beaches, sexy women, cheap beer and no garbage trucks or speaker trucks. Hey, no stress whatsoever.

Then guess what…

I wake up one morning about six days after I get there and my eye is a little sore and kinda’ red. I wear contacts so this is nothing new. Usually just a mild infection and if dealt with right away, it goes away in 24 hours. So I visit the island clinic, a good one by the way, and the doc gives me some eye drops and that’s it. It did start clearing up right away.

Then, a day later it’s getting worse. I’m wearing my glasses now and really can’t figure out why this is happening, so back to the doc and she says it’s mild conjunctivitis, and gives me different eye drops.

Nope…it gets worse. Within a few days, my eye is almost completely bloodshot and swelling. Great! And on my holidays too. What could be better? By this time the doc is baffled. And she sends her assistant off to the mainland, about three hours by boat, to get this super strong medication she figures will cure it.

Nope. It just got a little worse, if possible, then spread to the other eye. Oh joy. :noway:

At this point I had to leave the island and go to Manila, where the specialist just gave me more eye drops. These only reduced the swelling in my eye. Didn’t reduce the red, bloodshot effect. Nice.

So I finally get back to Taiwan and ya know what the doctor says here? Sub-conjunctive hemmorhage. Yep. One of the capillaries in my eye burst. Must have been a late bloomer because it sure took its sweet time to fully affect my eye. She said it was the result of high blood pressure.

Sheesh! :s I’ve never had a problem with high blood pressure! It’s taken all of two weeks under the supervision of my doctor to heal. It first became red on Feb. 14.

So after almost six weeks of bad health for one reason or another, things are FINALLY getting back to normal, except I can’t wear my contact lenses for a while yet and I’m just not the same peson when I’m wearing my glasses. :unamused:

It hasn’t been a total bummer. I mean, I more or less continued my life as I would had I been totally healthy. Never missed a day of work. Even my holiday wasn’t that bad despite my eye blowing up. And I have to say that my gal has been fantastic throughout this whole ordeal.

Like I said in the top of this post, I have been healthy most of my adult life and never had to deal with so much ill-health at one time, so maybe I was due. And I’ve had my health check here like everyone else and no apparent viruses turned up. Because I was having thoughts about my immune system.

To say I was exasperated by this is an understatement. I suppose it’s time to look into a more healthy lifestyle.

That would be mistake no. 1. Not advisable from your own point of view, nor from that of other people at your workplace, not to mention fellow passengers on public transport, if you use it.

[quote]So I finally get back to Taiwan and ya know what the doctor says here? Sub-conjunctive hemmorhage. Yep. One of the capillaries in my eye burst. Must have been a late bloomer because it sure took its sweet time to fully affect my eye. She said it was the result of high blood pressure.

Sheesh! I’ve never had a problem with high blood pressure! It’s taken all of two weeks under the supervision of my doctor to heal. It first became red on Feb. 14.[/quote]
This was most likely a result of the coughing, i.e. the rising blood pressure during that (not general high blood pressure). I had this some years back, coughed so strong at night that the white in my eye filled with blood the next day. Doc gave some drops to prevent an infection but said it would otherwise do no harm and it would go away by itself (which it did). Looked certainly odd but didn’t hurt or anything.

Just to add to my diatribe about my “Bad Run,” I am now almost 100% healthy after almost two months of anxious moments. If you had read my OP, you may have picked up on my fears that something, namely a virus, had affected my immunity system and that was the cause of the sudden switch from normal health to extremely bad health.

Nope! :astonished:

Just got my health check done for my new job and all tests came back negative. So this is extremely good news for my aspiring hyphchondria.

Cheers :sunglasses: