[Palestrina]

Water does not have to be cold, drink it warm or room temp. Tea also counts as fluid as does coffee and juice. Just drink! You sound very dehydrated and that surely affects digestion poorly.

As for the doctor, sometimes there is no diagnosis, a cold is just a cold. You can't diagnose a cold and there is no cure for it either, this is common knowledge. Unless you have strep throat there is nothing your doc can do for you.

I've heard terrible things about NS, I hope you go of it sooner rather than later.

[TheLibrarian]

Originally Posted by Palestrina

As for the doctor, sometimes there is no diagnosis, a cold is just a cold. You can't diagnose a cold and there is no cure for it either, this is common knowledge.

I know it is common knowledge. But I do not have common cold symptoms, that's what irks me. I'm still sick over a week later; I can't sleep at night because of it. I don't, and have never, sneezed. I didn't have a low grade fever - mine was 102.1 before I stopped checking it.

My symptoms more commonly match the following:

• Fever* or feeling feverish/chills
• Cough
• Sore throat
• Runny or stuffy nose
• Muscle or body aches
• Headaches
• Fatigue (tiredness)
• Some people may have vomiting and diarrhea, though this is more common in children than adults.

That is the CDC's description of the flu. And my symptoms sounded so much like the flu that my doctor ordered a flu test; he's never done that before. The nurse came back in, this time wearing a mask, and right before shoving the swab up my nose, said, "This will feel like it's going into your brain but it's not". I have anxiety and, even if I didn't, I don't think a nurse should be giving someone graphic descriptions of something like that...

In went the swab, I jumped a bit, said it hurt, she jumped and seemed to pull it out on accident. Even at the time I thought, "I dunno...that seemed off..." But she didn't ask to try again, she laughed, and left. Test came up negative.

It has now been over a week and I am still trying to force up phlegm, my chest is congested, my throat is sore, etc. I paid $25, and am being sent a bill for 20% of the visit - again - and I'm still sick. I could have saved the money.

In addition to the office visit fee, based on those tests, he decided to start me on rapid strep meds until he knew whether it was rapid strep or not. My pharmacy incorrectly refused to accept my insurance, so the medication cost $50. I now have to initiate a reimbursement from my insurance and we all know how lovely insurance companies are. When I called Monday to ask the results of the second rapid strep test, they were negative, so I have a bottle of rapid strep meds that I've been ordered to stop taking. The whole process was a cluster and I didn't used to have this much trouble.

[SPA411]

coffee and a couple of prunes a day do the trick for me.

[ReNew Me]

Actually, not everyone's bowels are stimulated by coffee, believe it or not, only something like 25% of the population.

At this point, Librarian, you need a stimulant laxative. More fiber is just going to ... umm, run into the existing clog. Get something like Ex-Lax, seriously. Don't take it all the time, obviously, but desperate times and all that.

In the future, you should try taking a daily fiber supplement (like Miralax or even just plain psyllium) with adequate water and adding in a magnesium supplement (one of the "trates" like magnesium citrate, as opposed to magnesium oxide, about 400 mg at night). Fiber + water will provide bulk, magnesium should keep things moving along naturally. If things speed up too much, reduce the magnesium to every other day or so.

The problem you're describing is constipation as a result of low motility, which can often be caused by consuming something (food, medicine) that doesn't agree with your system. I had it a lot before I gave up gluten.

[TheLibrarian]

Thanks ReNew_Me! I took a laxative this morning, should be, uh, feeling better by 1am, if not sooner... I'll add Miralax and Magnesium Citrate to prevent this from happening in the future.