It’s pseudoephedrine or nothing (phenylephrine is useless!)

I had been so proud of myself, effectively staving off the attempts of 2 loved ones to infect me with their plague. I washed my hands, they washed their hands. They were good about only kissing me on the cheek. I was eating healthfully and drinking plenty. Alas, I succumbed on Christmas day.

Now, last year I had a rather awful bout of plague that lasted approximately a month. At the time, my physician had “re-educated” me to the fact that colds *used* to last 7-10 days. In these fast-paced times colds now last an average of 14 days. If I’m not feeling significantly better by the weekend I’m going in. I’ve had enough.

Granted, on the scale of cold-related annoyingness, this one scores comparatively low. I don’t think I have a fever. I don’t have a terribly runny nose. I coughed before bed the first few nights. My chest is clear. But my ears do pop. Occasionally my sinuses hurt. Biggest complaint: my ass is dragging. I feel like I could sleep for 3 days straight.

Per the suggestion of some MD friends (ahem, thank you for the free med advice!) I got myself some Sudafed PE right off the shelf. Little did I know that they kept the good stuff in the back! Off the shelf has phenylephrine as the active ingredient. I’m not sure what enzyme I need to metabolize this stuff, but I obviously don’t have it. It’s done nothing for me. [By the way, if any of you do happen to know why this wouldn’t work for me, I’d be interested to know without having to do any research on my own, of course].

Today, after much convincing by my coworker, I obtained the good shit. The pseudoephedrine they keep behind the counter. They had to copy down my license number and I had to sign a form and everything. I took some today and felt *much* better. I’m almost excited to see what tomorrow brings!

I also restocked on my NyQuil. Love that stuff, too. Aside from hard liquor it’s one of the few things that I can actually feel warming my esophagus and stomach as it goes down. Kinda creepy and kind of cool at the same time. Always makes me shiver when I drink it.

Any other cold remedies you recommend?

And so we begin again

December was pretty much a blur. Gifts were bought, sorted and wrapped. Trips were made to WI. We had all of F’s children for Christmas. It wasn’t perfect, but we all survived. We’ve watched lots of movies and new DVDs. We’ve been fighting colds. The drier broke and has since been fixed. A mountain of laundry was done. We had an amazing dinner for New Year’s Eve. We did not stay up to ring in the New Year, but did put on funny hats, blow horns and attempt to use indoor firecrackers (total let down). We’ve taken down the lights, and packed away all of the Christmas décor.

I could really use a nap right now.

I still have a few items to get for Christmas – a DVD for F that doesn’t come out until later this month, a scarf to match his pea coat, and table linens for my college roommate, K. We need to do a massive house cleaning – even I agree that things are getting pretty gross. I need to catch up with some friends that kind of fell to the wayside during all of this holiday hub-bub.

All in all I’m looking forward to getting back into our routine and getting over this cold.

Here’s hoping all of you had a great Christmas and are looking forward to a wonderful new year!