Because of his compromised immune system, we did get medical attention for him (the day before I got it) and all they said was to take paracetamol - available over the counter everywhere for less than three quid (less than five US dollars).
So when I got it, I also took the paracetamol - along with some Strepcil lozenges to ease the scratchy throat that plagued me on the first day and then the coughing that persisted. All the classic cold symptoms - coughing, sneezing, runny nose, headache.
Let's consult the calendar. He got it on the 22nd of July. I got it on the 25th. His symptoms were long gone by August 1. Mark's always told me that a cold has a shelf life of about 9 days. According to his mum, you were three days coming down with it, three days with it, and three days of it leaving. Seems to have worked in his case. But my symptoms didn't go but continued to be well controlled with the paracetamol and Strepcil lozenges. The fact that his cold lasted nine days and mine continues on is so not fair.
By the time we got home on the 10th I was out of paracetamol and Strepcil. And all my symptoms were somehow magnified. I thought I was going to cough up a lung, which made my head pound. I was going through a small packet of tissues on a daily basis because it seemed that the contents of my nose had to be emptied at least once an hour. My ears had been fine up until I got home and then they were plugged to where the only thing I could hear was my own voice. That's usually enough to make me stop talking.
Mark went to the pharmacy to get me some more paracetamol. You'd think that after being here for 15 years, he'd know you can't buy paracetamol here. Apparently the closest thing is acetaminophen. (The clue is "ceta" - but I think the similarity ends there.) It may be close but it's not the same because I took the paracetamol for two weeks with no consequences except for symptom relief. The acetaminophen upset my stomach. It's hard to decide which is worse, the sneezing or the upset stomach. By this time, it's Saturday and I decided to run down to CVS myself and see what might help. I bought some cough syrup - which actually worked pretty well - and some ear drops, which didn't work at all.
It doesn't matter whether I blame it on the cold or jet lag. I went to bed at 8:30 on Saturday evening and slept until 10:00 the next morning. And I was ready to go to bed early again on Sunday evening.
It was no way to live. I went to see the doctor yesterday. He asked if I'd tried any over the counter medications. "Yes. All of them."
Now I have antibiotics and steroids, as well as super extra strength cough syrup. I'm starting to feel better already.
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But I have to wonder why the paracetamol seemed to control the symptoms so well while the over the counter choices available to me here in the USA did not alleviate the symptoms (except for the cough syrup) and made me sick to my stomach. Is this part of a plot by BigPharma to make us buy their products?.(The drugs I bought yesterday were just under $50). I'd already spent $25 on OTC meds in the US compared to the $5 I spent in the UK to alleviate the same symptoms.
It makes me wonder.
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