For me, I typically get an extremely sore, dry throat on the first day, before anything else happens. The sensation is unique--I cannot possibly confuse it with "just a sore throat". It's in the back back, deep in the nose-throat juncture (I think this is called the pharynx) and it feels like the surface is made of concrete, and swallowing is mildly painful. Sometimes, like this time, it is accompanied by an occasional dry, raspy cough.
By the second day, the aches start, and the cough worsens. Usually by nightfall, the fever begins.
This month, I bought my first, uh, human thermometer? (I've had "probe thermometers", "meat thermometers", I know what are "candy" or "deep fry" thermometers. The packaging says "fever thermometer", which I guess makes sense!)
The cough was still mostly dry; but tiny droplets of liquid would shoot up and hit my throat, and it would feel like a dozen tiny, sharp splinters in my throat.
This was my first fever alone, as I moved out earlier this year. I have several house-mates, but tried to confine myself to my room to minimise the chance of spreading the illness.
In the evening, I started feeling extremely cold. I didn't realise what was going on at first, I just pulled on a sweater and wore the hood. My concentration must have been off because I didn't put the aching and chills together and realise that probably meant fever. The whole night was a bit of a delirious mess.
I remember pacing around my room, afraid of absolutely everything! It's hard to describe it in words now, but I think this is accurate: I was afraid to do anything, including nothing. Occasionally, I would crumple up and start crying and shaking. My joints hurt, my skin was extremely sensitive, everything seemed to hurt.
Eventually, two sensible neurons must have fired together in that mess of a brain, and I started texting a sensible friend, who convinced me to get a thermometer. I gave money to a housemate with a car and asked her to buy me a thermometer from the pharmacy down the street. (Ah, another reason I like this neighbourhood!!) My appearance must have given her a fright: doubled over, sweating, shaking, crying and barely able to speak.
By the time she got back, the worst of the fever had passed, I think. The temperature I got was somewhere mid-low 37 C, maybe 37.3 C.
Myro was able to come by to comfort and help me through this. We put on Disney's Brave and I relaxed enough to sleep. I'm not sure if I had sweats that night.
The cough worsened. The doctor had given me a prescription for antibiotics (since we thought it might be Strep throat), but the development of cough made me think it wasn't, so I played on the safe side and didn't take them. He also prescribed a benzydamine gargle (0.15%). ... I found it to be ineffective at numbing my throat. It didn't get as far down or as far up as I needed. So I also got a Cepacol throat spray, which had worked for me in the past. It numbs where I need it, and it's effective on contact. The effect doesn't last very long, but it's all I need. And the combination cherry and aspartame-y flavour is abhorrent. (The artificial sweeteners are actually acesulfame and neotame.) But I still prefer it to the gargle.
On Christmas Eve, my brother delivered a care package from my folks, which included my favourite Chinese cough medicine, one of whose primary constituents is loquat, and instant mangosteen drink cubes. A beverage from dried mangosteen rind, boiled in water, is sometimes drunk to sooth inflammation. And even the instant drink cubes taste pretty good!
The loquat syrup is used as an expectorant. After taking one spoonful the night I received it, I was coughing out phlegm more often than not. Yay!
From here, it's a bit dull, so I'll use a handy-dandy chart below.
In summary...
| 19 Dec | Woke up with sore throat, occasional dry cough |
| 20 Dec | Morning: occasional dry cough, sore throat throughout day. Afternoon: dry cough worsen, aches begin. Evening: dry cough, aches worsen, chills begin. Night: cough, aches, chills, fever. Overnight: night sweats. |
| 21 Dec | General malaise and sore throat throughout day. Morning: dry cough and a bit of phlegm, aches. Afternoon: aches lessen, cough begins to bring up thick, green phlegm. Hot/cold flashes, sweats. Night sweats. |
| 24 Dec | Expectorant coughs, sore throat. Take cough syrup for the first time. Night sweats. |
| 26 Dec | Weakness. Coughs lessening in frequency, but coughing fits last about as long. Starting to feel better! |
| 27 Dec | Feeling stronger. Able to leave house. Swollen lymph node near neck. Coughs continue to lessen in frequency and duration; still thick green phlegm. |
| 28 Dec | Feeling stronger. Able to leave house. Swollen lymph node makes swallowing extremely uncomfortable! Coughs continue to lessen in frequency and duration. |
| 29 Dec | ... |
...will continue to update as events unfold.
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