Ambrosia Software Web Board: Worst illness of my life - Ambrosia Software Web Board

So last Saturday myself and a group of friends had a party. The following Monday, I spoke with my girlfriend and she taked about being really sick with a sore and swollen throat. At the time my throat was dry and tender and I had assumed it was just dehydration or something, but later that night this thing kicked in full force.

I've spent essentially all week with a sore, swollen and bleeding (yes, BLEEDING) throat, an on and off fever that got as high as 103.5°F, nausea, body aches, swollen lymph nodes everywhere and various other symptoms that I won't go into. When I went to see the doctor, we ruled out strep or mono. In fact, he was worried that it might be the dreaded H5N1 (also known as the Bird Flu) and i spent about 36 hours in isolation. Fortunately, this wasn't the case.

What was really disturbing was how quickly and assuredly this thing spread; within 2 days, 6 of my friends had it and 4 of them spent some time in the hospital, including my girlfriend who thankfully is now recovering.

Anyway, most of us are better now but I've been hearing about other friends coming down with it. Now, with the amount of travel and interaction in today's society, nasty illnesses can spread like wildfire. So if you feel like you might be getting a sore throat, maybe you ought to call in sick and skip the parties that night.

Hmm, that is rather worrying to read. I've had a really sore throat these past few days, very dry and extremelly painful, swallowing, drinking anything hurts like hell. Add to that sore joints, stiff bones, a weakness in the knees, head aches and a sort of light headiness/dizzyness it's sucked all round. Most of that has calmed down now, but the throat remains...

Perhaps I'll be staying home for a few days!

That actually sound more like Rhematic Fever (advanced strep throat) and it's usually cleared up by antibiotics. In my case, antibiotics didn't do a damn thing.

Anyway, it sounds like a good case for taking a sick day. And if it's anything like what I had, you are or will be on a liquid diet for a while, and after a week you really start to miss solids.

Yeah, finishing off my soup dinner as we speak! Been so for the past few days.

Trying my best to keep liquids up and so forth, but it hurts like hell!

And boy could I murder a burger right about now...

Fortunately, I've managed to avoid any major illnesses (or even injuries) in my life, but I do know that every time I return to the US from Australia, I come down with a cold or the flu. Something in this country makes me sick...

I had a sore throat a week or so ago. It developed into a mild cold, some of which I still have now. Even though it's not as bad as your illness, I still hate colds.

I'm glad you're feeling better though, Sarg. Can't imagine this place without you (never mind the fact that I can remember times that you were never around).

That's an interesting bug-the likes of which I seriously doubt I've encountered before. I'll try to keep this in mind.

we've got a pretty nasty flu strain going around here right now as well. nearly everybody i know is sick or recovering, as well as myself.