shawnbuddy
Member
Yeah, you're still young and strong. You're tune'll change in your thirties, believe me. I used to shrug off the flu no big deal, too, but now I've been down for two weeks with a common cold.
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As an adult who lives alone what do you do when you get really sick?
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Yeah, you're still young and strong. You're tune'll change in your thirties, believe me. I used to shrug off the flu no big deal, too, but now I've been down for two weeks with a common cold.
Count Dookkake
Member
Rely on exes.
Walter White Walker
Member
Adult up and deal with it.
Unless you have some major pre-existing health issues you'll have to be northward of 70 before a common flue or other respiratory infection is going to be dangerous enough for you to have to go to the ER to get checked out. People's health and immune systems don't just drop off a cliff after 30. Sure, if you feel worse than usual and develop trouble breathing, go. That could be pneumonia. But for your average seasonal infections with fever, fatigue, muscle pain and mild respiratory symptoms like coughing, there's nothing a doctor can do for you that you can't do for yourself. You'll just waste hours in an ER waiting room and risk both infecting others or catching something else from other people.
EDIT: and yeah, colds and other viral infections can last for weeks if you're unlucky. The mean time before you stop caughing when you have bronchitis is about 3 weeks, but some people can feel bad for over a month. Still nothing to be done about it though.
IISANDERII
Member
I actually called 911 a few weeks ago. Had really awful strep throat and couldn't even keep water down, became so dehydrated that it felt like I wasn't getting enough oxygen to my body. Extremities were becoming numb.
Ambulance came, took me to hospital, 10min wait and 2 IV bags later, felt like a new man. But not before getting big bruises on my arm because I was so dehydrated the nurse couldn't locate a vein and kept stabbing me.
I was released in less than 3hrs and took an Über home. The ambulance ride would end up costing $50.
I had this happen once, Instacart and Grubhub. The Instacart drivers over here are pretty willing to go out of their way if you let them know.
For Whole Foods, I would just enter a custom item to make sure they called me to let me know what soups and stuff they had.
For Costco, or any place with a pharmacy, I did the same thing. I had a driver grab me pseudoephedrine along with some other stuff. YMMV however, as I'm guessing them providing some of that stuff is probably not super legal.
For Whole Foods, I would just enter a custom item to make sure they called me to let me know what soups and stuff they had.
For Costco, or any place with a pharmacy, I did the same thing. I had a driver grab me pseudoephedrine along with some other stuff. YMMV however, as I'm guessing them providing some of that stuff is probably not super legal.
oneils
Member
Dude back spasms when living alone are the worst. Uh good luck!
Your thirties? Are you kidding me? The way you talk you sound like you're 80 years old.
A flu is still a flu in your thirties and a doctor realistically can't do shit to fix it for you. But I see my point has already been adressed a few posts above.
Fried Food
Banned
I remember one time I felt really bad and had to go to rite aid to get stuff. Some lady tried to cut me off to the cashier line and I felt so ready to demolish her lol
Flu/Colds arent the problem when you're single if you prepare a bit. It's the surgeries and getting sliced open that can be a problem.
Had a double hernia surgery a few years ago, and flew my mom out to give me a hand. She volunteered to be there and help out a bit, and if she hadn't, I'd have been fucked for a few days. Felt like it was impossible to move at all, so no way I could have cooked my own food or gotten my own water.
Friends are always an option, I guess, just hate asking for favors like that from a friend. It's shitty.
Had a double hernia surgery a few years ago, and flew my mom out to give me a hand. She volunteered to be there and help out a bit, and if she hadn't, I'd have been fucked for a few days. Felt like it was impossible to move at all, so no way I could have cooked my own food or gotten my own water.
Friends are always an option, I guess, just hate asking for favors like that from a friend. It's shitty.
T
Transhuman
Unconfirmed Member
Anyone too weak to make their own soup belongs in a nursing home.
shawnbuddy
Member
Yes, the ER is overkill unless you're really sick, but there's no reason not to go to your regular doctor. Theyre the experts, they'll assess you and tell of what treatments you need.
Nose Master
Member
How often do people get this severely ill? I'm 31 and I don't think I've ever been sick to the point where I couldn't run to a Walgreen and grab some Gatorade.
pokeystaples
Banned
I've had the same best friends since I was 12. I'm good until both of them die.
AcademicSaucer
Member
Plan ahead.
The treatment should be common sense. Rest, fluids and painkillers if necessary.
If you're extraordinarily sick you might visit a physician after a few days. But to show up at the first sign of a simple flu is a waste of everyone's time.
I assume the OP is talking about being sick enough not to be able to go to work or school, in which case yeah I might want medicine and justification for missing work/school.
shawnbuddy
Member
You've been lucky. The only time I've been so sick with the flu I ouldn't get around or get out of bed I was a child, but I've had bacterial colitis and gallbladder disease incidents I would not have survived without people there to help me.
Hale-XF11
Member
This. I try to keep a supply of everything I would need in case of a cold or flu during the colder months.
I also keep a stock of canned goods, especially soup, in case I'm too sick and tired to cook anything.
It's very rare that I get sick and not have everything I need to help me get through it.
shawnbuddy
Member
This is also what I assume. It's not "the first sign" sick it's "oh God am I going to die alone in my apartment?" sick. Then you see a doctor.
Personally, since my 30s, every bad cold comes with a sinus and ear infection for me. Every goddamn time. I go to the doctor to get antibiotics for those secondary infections.
Recently had a really bad stomach thing that lasted nearly two weeks. After the 5th day of throwing up every 30 minutes, my husband hauled my ass to the hospital.
Can't imagine what would have happened if I lived alone. I likely would have just died. That shit was hardcore.
The hospital gave me fluids and a bunch of anti-nausea meds, and it eventually stopped.
Can't imagine what would have happened if I lived alone. I likely would have just died. That shit was hardcore.
The hospital gave me fluids and a bunch of anti-nausea meds, and it eventually stopped.
Still no point, and I say that as a doctor. There are no meaningful treatments for colds or flus until you're at the point where you're more or less dying from it, and even then it's mostly supportive therapy. The only thing remotely useful for seasonal flu and the like are OTC painkillers and nasal sprays, neither of which you need a doctor's advice to pick and choose between unless you have some other health issues. Cough medicines are either borderline hoaxes or rarely worth the side effects.
Look, I don't want to come off as disrespectful or numb to the fact that people who are ill want help. I understand that people without a medical degree obviousy won't be as able to differentiate between a mild and a serious infection as I am. But you really, really don't need and genuiney shouldn't routinely go to the doctor for conditions like common flus or stomach bugs. We can't help you with those. With the latter, we might even show you the door because that shit's dangerous to the older people you're going to share a waiting room with. Just stay home if you're not feeling so bad that you're worried about it being dangerous.
EDIT: sure, sinus infections and ear infections should be examined by a doctor because, as you say, those can be treated with antibiotics. But you came off as suggesting that people should routinely get a doctors examination when they feel ill, no matter how mild it looks like.
GiantBombGamer
Member
Thanks! Yeah they are pretty debilitating when they hit bad, which thankfully is only twice a year since I started yoga and got off the steroid injection/pain pill treadmill which was getting me nowhere.
Mr. Giggles
Member
Pull up your boot straps
Dougieflesh
Member
Bring a pillow with you to your bathroom and get ready to camp out there for the next 12+ hours
rokkerkory
Member
You'll be fine in the long run. Just deal with it and try to have some plans for next time.
GoldenCrow
Member
Walk to the local shops, online shopping, takeouts, taxis. If its really bad then call somebody.
Apparently many people here do not tend to get the flu very badly. Outside of my gallbladder attacks ( which were admittedly a whole different level of pain and suffering that resulted in emergency surgery) the worst sickness I have ever endured is the kinda flu where you can't stop puking and your body loses all ability to do anything. Like I'm legit being propped up by the toilet and I'm only gonna make it back to my room with outside assistance or by very slow crawling. Then when you do get to bed you go in and out of consciousness for hours and waves of sweating and shivering wash over your body. A week later your emerge several lbs lighter and weak as all hell but thankful to be alive. I get the flu once every 3 years or so and every single time it damn near ends me.
Regular seasonal colds are annoying and sometimes mildly debilitating but survivable on my own. I am so fucking fortunate to have housemates and an upstairs landlord to help me when truly ill though, I worry for those who have no one.
Regular seasonal colds are annoying and sometimes mildly debilitating but survivable on my own. I am so fucking fortunate to have housemates and an upstairs landlord to help me when truly ill though, I worry for those who have no one.
Thats why you should be drinking plenty of fluids. You know the same thing your mom and doctor have been telling you your entire life.
Well this is a coincidence. I am going through this exact scenario as I type this. I just stock up on painkillers benadryl and vitamins. Eat various canned soup flavors all day as I lie in bed, NeoGAF/youtube when awake and turn down invites to beach parties
while hoping you will feel better soon.
while hoping you will feel better soon.Sure, and when that happens you should head to a hospital. Had to do so myself once. What I'm arguing against is the idea that you should routinely get a doctors consultation whenever you get a mild flu or stomach bug, which is something a lot of people actually tend to do. That's both unnecessary and risks infecting other people on the way.
I've had back spasms so bad where I would literally have starved to death if they hadn't unclenched after a couple of hours. Random places in the apartment like the living room doorway and you can't even crawl to the phone.
Agony. Paralysis. Helplessness.
LegitMcfalls
Member
Just got to get your ass up and get the supplys you need yourself. If its a serious illness were you physically cant, then it comes in handy to have love ones and friends.
itwasTuesday
He wasn't alone.
walk it off
quickwhips
Member
Always have one Gatorade, night quill and day quill in stock. Also bread and regular saltine crackers this will get food in your stomach if needed and can't eat drink anything else.
What do you call a mild flu ? When I say I have the flu I mean being practically bed-ridden for 4-5 days while puking my guts out and wondering if I can even make it to the bathroom without passing out.
I don't think I'm bothering doctors too much, I've been living here for 7 years and I've seen the general practitioner there a grand total of 3 times (flu, sciatica, and needed a medical certificate for a knee dislocation).
I have an auto immune disease weakens my immune system and am on medications for it which also further weakens it. A cold to most people is an annoyance, a cold to me is a week on the couch barely able to move and unable to keep food down. The flu could land me in the hospital. I get sick often and easily. If someone around me is sick, 100% I will get it. My husband get a cold from work and I get it 1000% worse. That's just how it is for me. When I am not sick, I'm able and fine.
GiantBombGamer
Member
That pretty much sums it up. Thank goodness for GAF, or these hours on the floor wouldve been more agonizing. I am quite hungry. Going to make an attempt at movement in 20 mins.
Most people seem to have an intuitive grasp on what's genuinely dangerous and what's merely torturous, but if we're talking about warning signs from a medical perspective: anything that has enough of respiratory impact that you feel like you can't breath right, consistent fevers above 39C/102F (especially if they don't respond to OTC painkillers), severe dehydration with things like lowered or absent urine production and obviously if you actually do faint. Apart from that, most people generally seem to have a pretty good grasp on whether or not something is severe enough that it scares them.
And no, I don't think you bother your doctor too much. I'm thinking more of the people who go to their doctor because they've had a nasty caugh for 3-4 days or because they think we can prescribe something that makes them recover faster (generally speaking; for flu, we can't)
Earthbound64
Banned
Well hey. Normally any of these "Same Day delivery service" things aren't available in my area (northern Connecticut), but I hadn't heard of Instacart before, so I decided to check them out, and apparently they just recently added service in my area. I decided to try it out to see how it went. Had options for delivery from Big Y Grocery, Costco, and Petco. I ordered some stuff from Big Y at 12:30PM, and they were here before 2PM. This is excellent. Thank you so much for mentioning them
Autoimmune diseases suck. I have three kids in school so they are always dragging stuff home. Like I said upthread, I got a stomach bug that lasted for two damned weeks. Everyone else had some mild tummy irritation and I was puking every 30 minutes. Husband had to drag me to the hospital.
Which meds are you on? I'm on humira.
Thriftweed
Member
Stock up on over the counter medication and tea bags in advance and you'll be fine.
