The Not So "Common Cold"

As a paramedic when I came down with the “common cold” I felt pretty comfortable it would run its course and I would be over it in a week or ten days at the most. Week one went by and I wasn’t feeling much better, so I went to the CDC website to see if there was a particular cold virus this year that was stronger than usual. No unusual cold viruses were being reported by them, so I attributed the lingering symptoms to my hectic schedule and lack of sleep. No sense running to the doctor. There is no cure for the common cold.



Halfway into week two my eyes started drooling pus from the corners of them. I suspected it was a symptom of my cold and still having no desire to seek medical attention I Googled conjunctivitis and Google health told me that if it was a viral conjunctivitis as a result of a cold it would clear up on its own in a few days. Forty-eight hours later my eyes were cleared up which reiterated my cold theory. Bacterial conjunctivitis would have needed an antibiotic to clear up and mine had resolved on its own so I was clearly infected by a virus.



Week three saw the hacking cough worsen and sinus congestion that made my head want to explode continued. I also had a recurrence of fever which I hadn’t had since week one. Family and friends were urging me to go to the doctor, but still I resisted. Diagnosis of pneumonia and bronchitis were being thrown around by all my medical friends, yet I insisted it was just a cold. Pneumonia would have affected my breathing and I was breathing fine, though after three weeks of mouth breathing my lips were in pretty rough shape. I was starting to waver a little on the bronchitis, so I snuck a quick peek at Wikipedia to see if bronchitis usually was associated with a fever. Fever and cough were symptoms, but it also reported that ninety percent of bronchitis cases were viral, so once again I decided to tough it out. No sense in insulting my body with an ineffective antibiotic when I had a viral infection.



I tried zinc with no luck and vitamin C was out for me due to my IBS. I tried some other home remedies suggested online without much success. I went through a couple of boxes of cold medicine, enough tissues to paper a ballroom, and cough medicine was becoming my drink of necessity not choice. Yet week four rolled around and I was still feeling crappy.



Thanksgiving weekend was here, yet I felt so bad I couldn’t even fathom the thought of a two hour drive to Machiasport, so I spent the first day of my Thanksgiving holiday alone on my couch with tissues and taking shots of cough medicine much more frequently than the recommended four hours. Even the thought of my famous day after turkey sandwich couldn’t overcome the misery this damn cold was inflicting on me. I had suffered through the junky eyes, the hacking cough, chapped lips, head the size of a watermelon and a nose raw clear to the nerve endings, but when it hit my ear I started singing a different tune regarding medical attention.



I had developed some pressure in my ear late Friday night and then all of a sudden I had an excruciating pain in my right ear. The next thing I knew pus and blood were literally running out of my ear. Now this isn’t something we spent a lot of time learning about in paramedic school, so this time I shamelessly (easy to say, as I was all alone) went to the web for information. Adult ear infection sites were fairly easy to find and reading through the sites it became obvious I had perforated my ear drum due to infection. Webmd.com strongly suggested seeking medical attention if you had the “above listed symptoms”, which I did. Saturday morning saw me bright and early at walk in care where I was diagnosed with multiple infections, including an upper respiratory infection, a sinus infection and bilateral ear infections.



Needless to say after three days of medication (yes it was bacterial and I did need an antibiotic) I felt much better though a little meeker. Like a lawyer defending themselves has an idiot for a client, the paramedic who tries to self diagnosis herself is a lousy paramedic with a fool for a patient.