So bored of being sick

[andrewducker]

It's been 4 days now since I came down with Norovirus and I am very very bored of having no energy.

Thankfully, the V part of D&V never hit me, but for the first three days I couldn't put any food in without it coming back out again half an hour later, which is rather faster than the body's transit systems like.

Gideon came down with it a few days earlier than me, with the vomiting taking him out of action on Tuesday night. Sophia managed to last as long as I did before coming down with things herself. They've both been about as well behaved as you can ask for from small sick children. Jane has either not been hit by it quite as badly, or is so used to chronic lack of energy that she's managed to look after all of us at different points and keep us all going. I am so incredibly grateful to her.

Today I have managed to actually eat food and have it stay inside of me, but this has had the knock-on effect that it completely knocks me out about half an hour after I take my first bite. This one has been a strange version of norovirus for me in any case - I've felt incredibly energy-depleted and there was one night where I basically passed out in the hallway outside the bathroom in the middle of the night. But it's very odd that I was shovelling food into my mouth like someone who hadn't eaten anything in days and then suddenly found myself going "Must stop eating and lie down on the nearest available soft surface", and was asleep 5 minutes later. And then, when I woke up, I felt like my brain hadn't woken up again properly - I had pins and needles on my scalp, which isn't something I've really felt before. I actually went and checked with the pulse oximeter to make sure that I was getting enough oxygen into my blood (it was 96%).

All of which is to say that despite feeling like a total shirker, I am not going in to work tomorrow either, because naps under desks are not something that office policy allows for, but I do feel like I'm on a slow upward incline, and am looking forward to being able to resuming normality as soon as I can.

Comments

[symbioid]

Women are amazing powerhouses.

Hope you and the rest of the family can recover quickly.

[andrewducker]

Turns out she was running a few days behind me. Alas.

And thank you!

[agoodwinsmith]

Oh yeah. Passing out in the hallway is not a sign that you are ready to return to work. Also: I am sure your coworkers would be just as glad if you kept these jolly little germs to yourself.

[andrewducker]

I'm sure they are!

[vivdunstan]

So sorry you're all dealing with this!

I'm wondering if it might be Covid though, with all the extra symptoms. Covid can often take a very gastric form, though it's not so well recognised.

Please stay at home until at least 48 hours after you've last vomited or had diarrhoea. That's the NHS advice. Don't spread the bugs :)

Good luck!

[andrewducker]

Had Covid 6 weeks ago. This is very different to that.

And I will.

[channelpenguin]

Maybe they both interact.

Or maybe one CAN get COVID twice in 6 weeks.

Norovirus is usually over in 24hrs? (Or is that just a me thing?). But you'll still be run down from the COVID probably.

I understand the appetite and the sleep. It's healing. I lost 3.5kg in 3-4 days the one time I had COVID (I NEVER lose my appetite, so I was eating normally). The body does a LOT of work to deal with some illnesses. (That was March of 23. To this day, I never gained the weight back. At 55kg, I can't really afford that to happen again).

In any case, get well soon.

[mountainkiss]

I was wondering this. I think all covids are different from all other covids and this doesn’t sound like a classic gastro.

[andrewducker]

In what sense? It feels very similar to previous attacks of norovirus that have come home from nursery, and very little like the multiple previous Covids I've gone through.

[mountainkiss]

Initially lack of V and then everything from “This one has been a strange version of norovirus for me in any case” to the end of the paragraph.

[andrewducker]

Aaah. The strangeness has mostly been the knocking me out so hard when I eat - but I've been assured that that's common when your digestive tract has been thoroughly messed up.

It might be that it's hit me harder because I'm already exhausted, and was hit by Covid a few weeks ago. Seems very unlikely that it would *be* Covid though. Which has never really felt like this. (Covid does affect my stomach, but then all flu-like things do, as they trigger my IBS)

[mountainkiss]

I am not strongly attached to this hypothesis. But (1) I’ve had covid three times and they have all been unrecognisably different illnesses, and (2) more and more friends have been reporting D&V variants of covid this year. So I did wonder.

[andrewducker]

Seems unlikely we'll ever know. So many things going all of the time. And the children bringing them all home from school/nursery.

[mountainkiss]

All very true, unless one tests religiously. And not necessarily even then.

[andrewducker]

Oh! And I don't tend to get the V bit of D&V since the IBS started, for some reason. Things seem to start off lower in the first place. Bodies are weird.

[bearshorty]

I hope you and your family will feel better soon. Don't push to go back to work - rest is a must in recovery!

[andrewducker]

Thank you, I am!

[cosmolinguist]

I totally appreciate the impatience to feel better, but please rest a lot. If covid has taught us anything, it's that rushing and pushing ourselves can be really detrimental.

[andrewducker]

I have totally taken today off, and am now (at 3:30) starting to feel better enough that I may even get the kids from school myself.

[gingicat]

Wishing you rapid recovery.

[andrewducker]

Thank you!

[threemeninaboat]

I'm so sorry you are all ill. Get well soon!

[andrewducker]

Thank you!

[anna_wing]

I hope that you recover quickly!

[andrewducker]

Thank you!

[myka]

oof - that was some time ago - hope you're feeling better now!

[anef]

I am very behind on reading DW - I hope you are feeling better by now. Being sick yourself with sick children sounds commpletely horrendous!

[andrewducker]

I was so very very relieved that we had a second toilet put in!