A week of disorders

[TSmith17]

Funny that the topic only lets you choose 1 option, because there would be about 3 or 4 that I could choose. I am a 17 year old male and have no health conditions except for a few allergies that bother my nose. During Monday (the day after the superbowl) I noticed that my left eye was producing a slimy green mucus during the day, and excessively. On Tuesday I basically just said I got pink-eye so I drove to the doctor and he prescribed me some eye drops (Toradex). So took those all day, and took them the follow day Wednesday (both days I did not go to school) but on Wednesday night I started getting bold headaches. While I was getting these headaches I felt this sort of electric like shocks go through my body (this has been happening for years, and usually does when I'm lightheaded like I was then) and in spite of this my headaches hurt tremendously by itself. I took ibuprofen to help relieve the pain while I had these headaches. These kept going on Thursday (by this time my eyes were getting better) and that was the only problem I had for Thursday. On Friday my headaches were mostly gone so I attended some of my important academic classes at school but I was starting to pick up a cough. So now on friday night, here I am at home sick as a dog coughing hard, little bit of sneezing, and there was a lot of flem (the gross yellow stuff). For the cough I was taking Benylin to help my sore throat. So on Saturday I wake up and I feel like crap. I got a sore throat, I'm coughing all the time, and I got all this flem inside me. I fight through it during the day and then at night my ear starts to hurt. So I wake up in the middle of the night and my ear is just pounding as the pain had escalated tremendously. I took some more ibuprofen to try and relieve the pain of my ear and I got a hot water bag (IDK what it's supposed to be called) and heated it up and used it like a pillow on my ear. I removed it as it was uncomfortable and I fell asleep fine. Wake up on sunday and my ear is not hurting, but high pitched voices (like my mom and grandma) sound funny and has sort of like an elastic drum ring to it. So I wasn't worrying about it too much but then my mom decided to give me these drops that are for ear and eye (polysporin) and it ended that funny sound to high pitched noises but now my ear really started to ache. It felt like it needed to pop (like when you are going up a mountain) but couldn't and it had enormous pressure (quick note, I still have my sore throat & cough). So for the rest of the day it was just pounding and pounding and now here I am at 2 in the morning, I got school in 6 and a half hours (I'm obviously not going though) and my ear is just pounding and I can't go to sleep. I took some more polysporin because it eased the pain a little bit last time I used it but this time my ear is still throbbing in pain. I have just had the worst week so far from eye infection to drastic headaches to sore throat & cough to ear infection. This sort of thing never happens to me and I am rarely ill even from just the common cold. I'm going to go see a doctor about my ear tomorrow but I just do not know what to do. So I guess I need to put a question in here, that was more of a rant because I've had a ****** week so here it is: I'm starting to question whether my immune system is starting to weaken or whether an infection is spreading to various parts of my body, so which one of these would you think it is or is there another possible reason? Bad luck maybe?

Also something I wanted to mention that was very strange was that right on this phase of my week (sore throat & ear aches) they seem to come and go like a teeter-totter. If my ear is pounding with pain then my throat feels a bit better (physically, it doesn't just feel better because the ear hurts more, I swallow and it is nice and smooth compared to the coarseness and roughness it usually is). When my ear mellows down a bit my throat gets all coarse again and I start coughing a lot. I was just surprised at the physical difference in the feeling of my throat.

Anyways if someone could get back to me about this that would be great because I'm a little bit worried that there is something wrong with my immune system.

[geminigirl1963]

GREAT news on both you feeling better and your dad being out of the hospital!!  I'm so glad you're both doing better :)

Best of luck catching up on your schoolwork - I'm sure it all seems overhwhelming right now with so much of it to do, but Im sure you'll do fine.

Hoping the next time you post, both you and your dad will be back 100% feeling wonderfully!

Your friend,
Robyn

[TSmith17]

I am doing fine, floor hockey again today but I took it easy. My dad is out of the hospital as well. I still have a slight cough but there is barely any mucus when I blow my nose, I would say I am going to be 100% by Thursday. Now that I am healed I need to focus on my school work as I am behind due to only being there 3 times in the last 3 weeks!

I still need to find out that foam thing I will do that tonight and next time I post I should have it for you.

Trevor

[geminigirl1963]

Hi Trevor!

So glad to hear that you had a good day and both you and your dad seem to be feeling at least somewhat better.

Try to take it as easy as possible - don't overexert yourself if possible (even in floor hockey!) - your body will take some time to fully recover and for you to build all your strength back up again.  You may still have a few days where you feel better than others, but you definitely seem to be on the road to recovery now, so I'm very happy about that.

Please keep me posted on how both you and your dad are doing and do not hesitate to let me know if there's anything else I might be able to help with.

Your friend from the States,
Robyn

[TSmith17]

Hello Robyn, I have had a good day, aside from low energy at one point of the day because I tried too hard in P.E. (We were playing floor hockey which is my absolute favourite!) but other than that it was good. Mild coughing and mucus as before but it is getting even milder. I visited my dad again today and he got moved out of the emergency section of the hospital (because they were so crammed) and now he actually has a room and a TV. So he is doing a lot better now and they are still running tests on him. Thank you for your support through this whole ordeal and if I do need somebody to talk to I would feel very comfortable doing so with you.

Thanks for letting me know about the flu, I feel as if I should know more about this knowing I took Biology 11 and 12 but we all tend to forget most of the things we learn in our courses am I not correct!

Mattress topper still no answer, asked my mom again today and she just said she needs to get the box out of the closet but I will just go do it myself after school tomorrow it is the least I can do for you for all of your support.

So I had a good day and school and I am continuing to feel better, I cannot believe the day is finally here! I will keep you posted and will get back to you about the mattress.

Your friend from "Canadia",
Trevor

[geminigirl1963]

I'm sorry to hear about your dad and hope that whatever news your mom has for you is not as bad as you fear.  Even at my age, I can't even imagine losing a parent, so I definitely cannot fathom what you must be going through knowing that your dad might not be with you for a long time to come.  If you ever want/need to talk about any of that also, please feel free - I certainly won't be able to give you an personal experience about it because (fortunately), I've never been through it, but I'd be more than happy to lend an "ear" if you needed to talk to someone and don't feel like you can talk to your mom or grandma.

It sounds like you're feeling a bit better - I'm glad.  Yes, you are right - influenza IS a virus, however, there are so many different strains of influenza and other viruses that it's virtually impossible for us to basically become immune to them all.  That's why there's no vaccine for things such as the common cold.  I know there is a vaccine for the flu, but even with teh flu, there are many different strains of it, so even if you get the flu shot, you could still become sick with a different strain than what was covered with the vaccine.  Partly you are correct - our immune system does FIGHT against the virus/illness, but an actual immunity is not created - that's why you can get the flu EVERY year or even several times a year.  Unlike many of the diseases that we either (typically) only get once (such as chickenpox or measles), our bodies don't ever fully become immune against viruses.

Also, even if you start out with a virus, it's still quite possible for it to go into a bacterial infection - and I THINK that might be what's been going on with you.  You probably DID start off with having the flu (influenza), but then developed a sinus infection which may or may not have also infected your ear (a sinus infection itself can cause ear pain, etc.)  Even if you did not develop a secondary infection (which is an infection that develops after an initial illness), people's bodies differ, so it could just simply take your body longer to fight off the virus than it might someone else's body.  Another thing to keep in mind is that when we are under stress - as you obviously have been with your dad's health problems - it can make our immune systems extra sensitive and make it harder for our bodies to heal from anything - so even if you haven't developed a secondary infection, just the stress that you've been experiencing could be one reason why it's taking longer for you to get over the initial virus.

No rush on the info on the mattress topper - just whenever you and your mom have a chance.  I have such a horrible time sleeping and I know my mattress is partly to blame, I'm always searching for possible helpful things.

I hope you have a great day at school and continue to feel better.  Keep me posted!

Your friend from "the States",
Robyn

[TSmith17]

So now I'm home right now and got some time, my dad is doing fine except there will be some news for me I'm nervous about. My mom was on the phone with my dads best friend talking about him when we got home from the hospital and I asked her what it was and she said we will talk later. So I have no idea what it is, I already know he is only supposed to live another 5 years (I overheard my grandma talking with him one time) so I am trying to mentally prepare myself hoping that it is nothing worse. He is in the hospital again tonight so I will go visit him tomorrow again.

Now about me, today again was very mild with my flu symptoms. Just a cough a few times, and some mucus and phlegm. I'm going to school tomorrow so I am just praying that they do not repress again and I'm still puzzled as to why they did it anyways. Influenza is a virus right? So I thought the immune system creates an immunity against it which is how it gets healed. I don't know why it got worse usually thats a bacterial thing right? Maybe I am completely wrong but it doesn't matter we will just see how I'm feeling after school tomorrow.

Also I never forgot about the bed thing I asked my mom and she couldn't remember she needed to get the box but she was busy at the moment. Now she is watching the Oscars so I will not bother her but I will get back to you tomorrow, I remember it costed about $150 Canadian so it should be similar seeing how our dollars are almost equal right now.

I will keep you posted, goodnight.