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LIVING AND LOVING IT: Tormented by a vicious cycle of flu

Looks like it is the flu season. Our house is suffering from it. Luckily, it is not very bad and despite the children coughing quite a bit during the night, all is going on normally. Lucky for them. The flu these days seems to hit me more than it does them. It first starts with a little itch in my throat. It’s funny because each time, the itch has started, I have wondered if I am getting a cough. But because the itch, at the beginning, usually lasts a few seconds and happens once or twice a day, I convince myself that it is no more than something I ate or inhaled that was struggling to find its way down my throat and that will go away.

And I am always wrong. Two days later and the itching is constant. That then progresses and within hours, my voice is hoarse and if I am unlucky, my voice will disappear altogether. The agony does not unfortunately end there.
The worst part is when my throat starts to hurt each time I swallow something. It is a most annoying and disturbing pain.

My imagination tends to run wild at such points and so I find myself wondering if the pain will ever go away, or if it will just get worse to a point that I cannot swallow anything. It gets worse at night (both the pain and my imagination).

My throat constricts. It hurts even more to swallow. And if I have flu, like I do now, my nose gets totally blocked and meals are just a nightmare because I can hardly taste what I am eating. I start to worry that I might not be able to breathe either through my nose or mouth.

I start to wonder if I should send a text message to close friends, relatives and workmates telling them that in case I do not wake up from my sleep, a blocked airway system might have something to do with it. I told you my imagination has a mind of its own.

So anyway, after two or three days of going through such irritation and annoyance, and after the hubby pretty much drags me to the clinic or pharmacy, I finally get some medication and within minutes literally, I am much better. You wonder why I did not seek help the minute I had figured out this was more than just an itch.

After a few days of medication, I am well and going about my merry business.
Until a few weeks later, I wake with a familiar itch in my throat. I convince myself it is nothing really and the cycle starts again. I cannot help but feel sorry for my poor body sometimes…