Left side. Me too.
Mine was really loud then I got the ear syringed out. It took another week and it settled down. I have a lunch bell now sound now instead of a firealarm.
There is a clinic in London that can reverse the damage. They do something to get the damaged hairs that send a constant signal (the ringing) to sit back in place. (this from memory of a program a few years ago, I’ve not searched the topic)
I’ve had something that has given me ulcerated gums, followed by swollen salivary glands and then a bloated painful stomach. Anyone else had these symptoms?
You were only crook (meaning sick in Australian English) for 2 days? Would you still say that was a flu? Are you completely better now?
I just have a mild head cold, a pulled neck tendon, lower back pain and sore feet. Definitely not a flu.
Likewise. Now I don’t feel so bad. 
The unfortunate bit is, I had to be almost over it before I could concentrate enough to post about it. It took me five tries to get my DSL connection started last night. Well, maybe the late strikes will take some comfort.
Definitely not an ear infection – I know what those are like from many, many experiences – and not vascular, since if it were, I’d be dead alreaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…
I doubt it’s bird flu – most likely the mainlanders are testing a short-term debilitant biowarfare agent to incapacitate Taiwan before the invasion on October 5th. Oh. Bugger. Forget you heard that.
Yeah, I had something too. I had ulcers and I felt like I was another person, probably MaPoSqiud.
I felt like another person last night. But it wasn’t Maposquid. It was someone else altogether more attractive. She wasn’t interested, unfortunately.
[quote]http://www.niaid.nih.gov/factsheets/flu.htm
Flu
OVERVIEW
Influenza, or flu, is a respiratory infection caused by a variety of flu viruses. The most familiar aspect of the flu is the way it can “knock you off your feet” as it sweeps through entire communities.
The flu differs in several ways from the common cold, a respiratory infection also caused by viruses. For example, people with colds rarely get fevers or headaches or suffer from the extreme exhaustion that flu viruses cause.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 10 to 20 percent of Americans come down with the flu during each flu season, which typically lasts from November to March. Children are two to three times more likely than adults to get sick with the flu, and children frequently spread the virus to others. Although most people recover from the illness, CDC estimates that in the United States more than 100,000 people are hospitalized and about 36,000 people die from the flu and its complications every year.
FLU OUTBREAKS
Flu outbreaks usually begin suddenly and occur mainly in the late fall and winter. The disease spreads through communities creating an epidemic. During the epidemic, the number of cases peaks in about 3 weeks and subsides after another 3 or 4 weeks. Half of the population of a community may be affected. Because schools are an excellent place for flu viruses to attack and spread, families with school-age children have more infections than other families, with an average of one-third of the family members infected each year.
IMPORTANCE OF FLU
Besides the rapid start of the outbreaks and the large numbers of people affected, the flu is an important disease because it can cause serious complications. Most people who get the flu get better within a week (although they may have a lingering cough and tire easily for a while longer). For elderly people, newborn babies, and people with certain chronic illnesses, however, the flu and its complications can be life-threatening.
TRANSMISSION
You can get the flu if someone around you who has the flu coughs or sneezes. You can get the flu simply by touching a surface like a telephone or door knob that has been contaminated by a touch from someone who has the flu. The viruses can pass through the air and enter your body through your nose or mouth. If you’ve touched a contaminated surface, they can pass from your hand to your nose or mouth.
You are at greatest risk of getting infected in highly populated areas, such as in crowded living conditions and in schools.
SYMPTOMS
If you get infected by the flu virus, you will usually feel symptoms 1 to 4 days later. You can spread the flu to others before your symptoms start and for another 3 to 4 days after your symptoms appear. The symptoms start very quickly and may include
Body aches
Chills
Dry cough
Fever
Headache
Sore throat
Stuffy nose
Typically, the fever begins to decline on the second or third day of the illness. The flu almost never causes symptoms in the stomach and intestines. The illness that some call “stomach flu” is not influenza.
DIAGNOSIS
Usually, health care providers diagnose the flu on the basis of whether it is epidemic in the community and whether the person’s complaints fit the current pattern of symptoms. Health care providers rarely use laboratory tests to identify the virus during an epidemic. Health officials, however, monitor certain U.S. health clinics and do laboratory tests to determine which type of flu virus is responsible for the epidemic.
PREVENTION
Flu Vaccine
The main way to keep from getting flu is to get a yearly flu vaccine. You can get the vaccine at your doctor’s office or a local clinic, and in many communities at workplaces, supermarkets, and drugstores. You must get the vaccine every year because it changes.
Scientists make a different vaccine every year because the strains of flu viruses change from year to year. Nine to 10 months before the flu season begins, they prepare a new vaccine made from inactivated (killed) flu viruses. Because the viruses are killed, they cannot cause infection. The vaccine preparation is based on the strains of the flu viruses that are in circulation at the time. It includes those A and B viruses (see section below on types of flu viruses) expected to circulate the following winter.
Sometimes, an unpredicted new strain may appear after the vaccine has been made and distributed to doctor’s offices and clinics. Because of this, even if you do get the flu vaccine, you still may get infected. If you do get infected, however, the disease usually is milder because the vaccine still will give you some protection.
Until recently, you could get the flu vaccine only as an injection (shot). In 2003, however, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a nasal spray flu vaccine called FluMist, which you can get from your health care provider. FDA approved it for use in healthy people aged 5 to 49 years.
You should not use FluMist if
You have certain lung conditions, including asthma, or heart conditions
You have metabolic disorders such as diabetes or kidney dysfunction
You have an immunodeficiency disease or are on immunosuppressive treatment
You have had Guillain-Barr
I had exactly the same symptoms over the weekend, ended up spending most of it in bed… feeling more lively today. Off to China tomorrow so I will see what other strains I can pickup while I am there.
Standard bedroom injuries there. 
I’ve got this ulcer sitting in the corner of my mouth. (apologies to my fans, no lip action today) Got two teachers off sick today. Poor buggers kept talking with sick kids at the school.
The symptoms here sound very much like the symptoms I’ve been experiencing for a week…
sore throat
feeling hot (but no fever)
headache
intestinal irritation
earache or ringing in ears
tightness or pain in upper chest
occasional dizziness
any or all of the above in varying combinations
OK, so I went to a clinic last week and was given all kinds of medicine for the symptoms but nothing to treat the cause…
I asked the doctor about antibiotics… he said it was a virus and therefore antibiotics were no good.
:s
But did he give me anti-viral drugs? Of course not.
Considering the very real threat iof bird flu, I would suggest that if you have these symptoms, go to a doctor forthwith…
If he tells you it’s a virus, get the anitviral drugs…
if the doctor won’t give them to you, go to a pharmacist and buy them yourself… They will be expesnive, but worth it.
Even if you have not had any flu symptoms, the WHO is recommending that you get the seasonal flu shots to protect against other flus.
If one doctor won’t give you the shot, go somewhere else.
That way, if you do get the flu, you and the doctors will have reason to suspect that what you have is bird flu and will treat you accordingly.
The WHO and the Center for Disease Control in Taiwan say that the key to treating bird flu is to catch it early enough.
In too many cases in SE Asia, it has not been caught early enough and the effectiveness of anti-viral drugs has been underwhelming.
And may I add just one more thing?
If you have any kind of throat infection, there is only one kind of moutwash / oral anitseptic that has been proven effective: Original Listerine. It’s a fact. Taste Awful. Really works.
In short, if you have these symptoms… get thee to a pharmacy!
I am sick as a dog 
Started with a sore throat 4 days ago.
Moved to my nose and head.
Now it’s in my chest.
I had to leave work cause my voice is going. Coughing like I have T.B. I’ll head to a clinic later today.
Just got back from Tai Da hospital.
Acute Phanyngitus
Shit
Taking lots of medicine
Must sleeeep…zzzzz