Do you get the flu a week before everyone else? Do you always have a cold or an allergy or a sinus infection or strep throat? Do you stay home and baby yourself at the first sign of a sore throat, or do you keep going to work like a brave little soldier, spreading your germs around for everyone to share?

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1999

Answers

I prefer to save my sick days for when I healthy, but I'm a huge whiny baby. And since I'm a huge, whiny baby I'm NOT going to suffer at work. I want to suffer in my pajamas, in my bed, watching bad TV. Which I think is quite noble, since 9 times out of 10 I get sick after someone in my office has been a good little solider and showed up at work sneezing, coughing and leaking on everyone.

I also have this wonderful little habit of getting deathly ill the first week of a new job. It's a great ice breaker with co-workers: "Gosh, I've never seen anyone look so BAD in my life." Gee, thanks. Glad to be here!

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1999

I only get sick every winter when I work in offices and have to ride the f-ing Muni every day (which, now that that dirtbag has been re-elected, will not improve for the *next* four years). So yeah, I've had the flu for the past week and it's been hell.

I stayed home for three days last week, was sick all weekend, then forced myself back into the office on Monday, but now it's Wednesday and I am still not *really* well. Such is life.

All my boss said was "Did you get a flu shot this year?" No, I didn't, and I probably never will, because most of the people who get those shots seem to get the flu *anyway*.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1999

I usually get sick, but I'm not the first one to do so, thank god. Actually I truly think I get fewer colds (and this is confirmed by the independent observations of Pat) since I started taking megadoses of vitamin C. Four 1000 mg pills twice a day.

I always get a flu shot and sometimes I get flu and sometimes I don't. Last year I did and it was no fun. But we get them free here at work and I've never had a bad reaction to them, so what the heck.

If I'm really sick, I stay home. I'm a big baby and make no excuses for it. It kind of depends on what I'm doing - if I have to actually think and reason, no point in even trying to work. If I'm doing some automatic pilot task like reformatting all the messages in a book, and I feel like going in, I will. There's a factor in being sick when you get so bored at home that going in actually seems like a fun idea.

You're contagious even before you start having symptoms, so those germs are gonna get spread no matter what you do. They're clever; that's how they've survived all this time. Washing your hands frequently is the best way to avoid them.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1999

I feel bad because you got sick, like you might have got it from me. But then I remembered you were already feeling something coming on a couple of days before the Gathering. And that's how this latest spooge started for me -- I was sick a couple of days; it went away; it came back and bit me in the butt. I'm still not well. They say the cough lingers for around a month. Oh, great, now I can look forward to peeing my pants during these extreme cough attacks. Anyway, I have two words for you: Salt Water. Gargle. Several times a day. Salt water alters the pH of the mucous membranes, making them less hospitable to whatever is trying to grow there. Do it. Now. My mother has spoken (and if you let her, she'll send you the bill!)

Sunshyn

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1999

I know this is really a weird situation for me, but in the past, I had this thing for wanting to take vitamins, and I would for about a week, and then the novelty of doing something good for myself would wear off, so I'd end up not taking them anymore.

My step-mom would always try to shove vitamin C down my throat all the time to "keep me from getting sick". The funny thing is, every blessed time I would take vitamin c, I'd come down with a horrible cold. Every....time. These colds would last anywhere from two weeks to a month. I came to resent vitamin C after I finally noticed a pattern. Two or three days after I'd began taking it, just because there was a flu-bug going around, I, myself, would get terribly sick and I could never figure out why, nor could I figure out what relation vitamin C had to do with my getting sick.

Then I tried testing myself. When no one else in the world was experiencing cold symptoms, I'd randomly take vitamin C....Boom! ...sick as a dog.

I don't know if it's all in my head after noticing such patterns (subconsciously making myself get a cold), or the vitamin worked underlying viruses out of me everytime.

Weird, no?

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1999

I don't get sick before everyone else, but I always get what's going around in a mild, really long-lasting form. Usually I spend three or four weeks during fluy season dragging my sorry ass around the office while the normal people get sick for four days (and get to stay home for two). I finally got a genuine flu this fall, and it was so much better to get it over with quickly. Of course, it was on the weekend that we were moving -- but I have to admit that hauling heavy boxes and sweating seemed to ease the symptoms.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1999

I got sick every month over the winter when I lived in Indiana. It was awful; you've never seen such snot. I got to be pretty good at whipping up herbal concoctions, much to the dismay of my roommate who really really didn't like the odor of boiled-down licorice root (hey, she didn't have to drink the sludge!). I especially liked boiling up lavender, echinachea and other herbs and dumping them in my bath water; I was a big believer in the long, toxin-withdrawing soak.

Out here in California, I don't get sick as much (knock on wood), although I *did* find myself with severe sinus problems during October when all those fires were going on. Actually, I guess I get sick in my gut more than in my sinuses out here. That and insomnia, which is probably due to a faster pace of life, traffic and other stresses that come from living in a city, are the banes of my existence right now. Heather

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1999

Used to get sick every winter when my thyroid was down and out for the count, hence I couldn't rely on my ordinarily cast-iron immune system.

For the past 2 years though, it's been slacking off again, so that I get sick once early in the winter and then don't get sick again until my annual random August bout of the flu, brought on by too much time spent in air-conditioned rooms.

Last year Sabs and I were knocked flat for about 3 weeks due to a particularly nasty strain that we caught on the plane to Europe.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1999

Oh and I forgot -- I always stay home. I don't care if I have stuff to do at work, or even enough sick days. My health is not something I'm willing to jeopardize just to keep the economic wheels turning.

I used to go to school when I had colds, but I always stayed home if I had a fever. I could study with a stuffy nose, but not when vageuly hallucinatory.

The way I see it, I'm operating at 50% capacity or less when ill, hence am highly unlikely to get any work done at a satisfactory level.

Furthermore, I've found that the best cure for my illnesses is rest. I can dose up to my heart's content on things that treat the symptoms, but the only way to get the bug out of my body is to give my immune system a hand by sleeping/resting and drinking lots of water. I learned that the hard way, because I used to push myself to go into work even when I felt poorly. All that ever wound up happening is that I would be sicker for longer. If I go home and stay home and sleep it off, I can be back at work in full health and working condition in a shorter time than if I try to go in and push myself.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1999

well, i must say that i've just returned from a job interview where i spent the entire day wiping my nose, attempting to dissuade the snot from running down my face. all disgusting looks aside, the wiping action i'm sure was much better than had it (the snot) actually finished the trip that it began. the cold was passed on by my sister who swore that it was only a sinus infection. i think she only told me this so that i would stay with her during the weekend while her husband was away. sneaky little brat. anyway, i had something similar a year ago, but it was accompanied by a raging 104 degree temperature. i'll gladly take a hacking cough, runny nose and sore throat (which allowed me only 3 hours of sleep the night before my interview, having been stranded because of fog only one airport away from my destination) over a debilitating fever. let's just see if i get that job. i would say that i'm not holding my breath but really, the stuffed up nose is leaving me with no other alternative.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1999

I don't usually get every little whatsit that comes down the pike -- I get a brief, spectacular fever (well over 100 degrees F, bugs crawling in the curtains, usually at night) and that takes care of it.

But yes, every winter I get at least one horrible, ghastly, knock-me-flat disease. It usually comes with a hideous cough that lasts for weeks (a relic of the Idiocy of Smoking -- I quit seven years ago, but the memory remains).

I tried to get the free office flu shot this year. But at the door they handed me a warning page that asked, among other things, if I had a sensitivity to thimerosal. When thimerosal was in contact solutions, it ended by making my eyes swell to approximately golf-ball size in a severe allergic reaction, so I thought it was probably wiser to take my chances with influenza.

-- Anonymous, December 15, 1999

I get the flu -- the inevitable, citywide flu -- pretty much just as it starts hitting critical mass here. Now, I really RESENT it because I work at home, and make particular efforts to stay away from flu hotspots (planes, bank line-ups, subways, nightclubs, grungy diners -- hey, most of them just seem like flu hotspots, but what do I know?) and even manage not to get the inevitable cold K. takes home from the office but, BAM! Inevitably, right around the middle of January, it happens: the cold that turns into an achey, feverish, sleep-killing flu. I lie there, miserable, demanding orange juice and ginger beer and Evian water, re-reading the same damn magazines (the worst part of being sick is that I can't make my three times a week trips to the magazine store) and cursing -- CURSING!! -- the sloppy asshole who coughed near me on the streetcar, or the waiter who showed up for work KNOWING he was sick (Damn that minimum wage plus tips, no sick pay, no benefits!), or the busload of sniffling, shouting kids and their close, nasty schoolkid in winter funky goddamn smell.

I am no bloody joy to be around when I'm sick.

(Anticipating the inevitable as I write this...)

-- Anonymous, December 16, 1999

"only a sinus infection"? For me, a sinus infection is what a cold turns into if I don't take care of it, and is much worse than a cold.

Hope you get the job, though.

-- Anonymous, December 16, 1999

I very rarely get sick (knock on wood) and have taken very few sick days in my 12 years here even though I have "unlimited" sick leave. I don't believe in using a sick day unless I am sick. I always have at least 8 fruits & veggies every day, take a multi plus Vit. E & C, and most importantly, try to get 8 hours of sleep. If I don't get enough sleep I come unraveled in every way. I suffer from insomnia too, like Heather, but I don't think she inherited it from me. I slept like a baby at her age. Mine is "middle-age" insomnia, but I take a Tylenol PM when I go to bed and when I wake up at 3 or 4 (bathroom call), I take valerian. And I don't want to know if this is bad or not. I wash my hands a lot at work because there are a couple of people here who are always sick, I mean always. I try to keep my distance without being obvious.

-- Anonymous, December 16, 1999

If you have children that go out in public with a horde of other children, you can bet your sweet bippy that you will be sick in the winter at least 2-3 times.

Children bring joy, hugs, laughter and sickness into your home. That's why I have 3.

-- Anonymous, December 17, 1999

Every January I get a really bad sinus infection. It drains into my stomach and migrates back and forth for weeks. It happens to be going on right now, and I haven't had anything but warm Gatorade for five days now.

-- Anonymous, February 24, 2000

Wow, am I sick. I had to go into the hospital for a while and have an IV stuck in my arm. Dehydration is fun. The good news is that my kidneys still work, I don't have cancer, AIDS, or heart problems. My lungs are clear and I'm not pregnant. Bloodwork says that's ok. I'm just sick. And I didn't know your pets could catch some of the same things you do. I guess I accidentally killed my sons' hamster. Poor little thing.

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2000