How on earth do people get through the work day with a cold?

[Forgetaboutit]

I don’t know whether I get colds badly or whether I’m just bad at handling them and other people just get on with it!

I was reading a post the other day that was asking how ill you have to be to call in sick and pretty much everyone said they never stay off with a cold. I have a cold right now (although I’m on day 4 now and starting to feel a bit better) and I have felt the same as I always do with a cold. Sore throat, streaming nose, headache, body aches and chills, my eyes hurt so much that it’s hard to look at a screen or have any lights on, I have such intense pressure in my sinuses that my nose and cheeks hurt. Sometimes I can’t even get up. It’s not the flu though, it is definitely a cold. When other people get a cold, do you just get the sniffles, or do you have all these symptoms and just power through somehow?! And if so… WHY?

You can't expect people who are just mildly ill not to come into work though

vicks first defence spray is excellent at fending off a cold

I have an auto immune condition so my body goes into overdrive when I get a cold. My symptoms are always really ramped up and it verges more on feeling like the flu than the colds I remember from my childhood.

Paracetamol and Sudafed nasal spray help a bit.

Become self employed, that'll give you excellent motivation.

I think they have easy jobs and do them badly for the duration of the cold, or a minor cold that responds well to lemsip.

I also think the term cold covers everything from a tiny bit of sniffles, to fever, headaches, sinus pain and a secondary chest infection so it's not a useful term for deciding fitness to work..

No thanks

I grew up having many colds - and then horrific periods in late teens 20s - it gets to be your normal and you find ways to cope and when you can't you take the time off you need to recover.

Try and ward them off with Vit Magnesium and zinc vit pills - then you use what out there - I like Kleenex Balsam tissues contain an Aloe Vera, as end up with less roe nose - throat sweets -paracetamol - cold medication - olbas oil - vic - been quite impressed with Sambucol black elderberry formulas. Sometimes you get a virus that's so bad - you need time and rest and you'll just have to take it.

I'm currently coming out of a cold. It started off with a sore throat and a temperature. Then I spent days coughing and sneezing. Now I'm just bunged up. DH is about 2 days later than me. He was too ill to go out at the weekend.

The difference was that I've had my flu and COVID jabs but DH hasn't. I don't miss going to work with a cold.

If you have body aches and chills, it's possible you actually have a high temperature, in which case it is more than what people describe as 'just a cold'. When I have a cold, it really is just a head cold, that is annoying and slightly distracting, but not usually awful.

Also, you say it's definitely not the flu. But remember that, contrary to what is often thought/assumed, you can get mild and bad cases of flu, just as you can get mild and bad cases of colds. People often say that it isn't possible to get out of bed if you have the flu, to try to describe the difference between colds and flu. But this isn't actually medically true. You may have had a mild case of flu, particularly if you had a bit of a temperature.

Cold and flu tablets really do make a difference. Without them, I’d not be able to work with a heavy cold but with them it’s bearable.

Every cold I get goes straight to my chest and I am not prepared to inflict my coughing and hacking up gunk, complete with ghastly noises, every five minutes, on the whole office.
All that sneezing and snotting is anti social enough, plus the infection elements.

Really bad cold with immovable headache/sinus pain and aches etc then i call in sick.
Bad cold that can be managed with painkillers and decongestant, i work from home and stay in bed, do as much as i can with rests where possible, some things may get put on hold for a day or 2 while my head clears.
I make my managers aware and they are very flexible and supportive, i try and work earlier as find i feel worse late afternoon

Yes, I used to just "power through" as you put it. I tanked myself up on paracetamol, decongestants etc and sometimes made a flask of lemon and ginger, so I could sip that through the day.

I'm not sure if that was the wisest thing to do but it never occurred to me to take time off for a cold. I think it was how I was brought up, perhaps. My mother used to send me into school regardless, cold or not. Sometimes I could barely see because my eyelids were almost stuck together! I was given a couple of my dad's handkerchiefs or some strips of rag to blow my nose on, a handkerchief steeped in Penetrol and off I went. So I was sort of conditioned into that way of thinking, ie that one doesn't complain and should just carry on and not make a fuss.

Thankfully, nowadays I rarely get colds. I think my immune system is stronger now than it was 50 years ago!

Another vote for Sudafed. My husband has sinus issues and he finds the sinus pressure variety very useful for alleviating headaches and pain in his nose. Paracetamol, chicken-soup, hot lemon and honey and plenty of early nights don't hurt and may help.

I think it depends how robust each individual's immune system is. I get very, very ill with colds whilst others around me just seem to get the sniffles.

I do think that your upbringing and approach to illness as a child growing up has some effect. DH, the kids and I just dose up and carry on. The same and when I was a kid.
My DS's husband and kids are the complete opposite, take to their beds with a sniffle and cancel everything. It's a standing joke between us all.

I often say that I wish I could feel how ill they feel to see if it's different from what I feel with the same cold etc.

I mean there's colds and colds.

If you lose your voice and your job requires you to be able to speak there's not much point going in.

(Ex teacher here)

I agree there are levels of cold, and it depends what you’ve got.

I can cope with a mild cold, but if it’s the kind you describe a day off or two is definitely needed. If I have something really pressing I might struggle through but I don’t think you should martyr yourself.

That’s the thing - we never can, so for the most part we have to accept other people’s word for how they feel.

When I say I’d work with a mild/ middling cold, I mean I’d work from home - I wouldn’t inflict on others. But then I have that option and many don’t.

Depends how bad the cold is as well as what sort of job you have IMO.

There was another thread like this recently and one poster was making a point about how she never has time off sick and had recently worked through an awful cold. Then went on to say she has a WFH job and had a couple of naps in the working day to help get through it 😂

Same. We're lucky enough to be able to not inflict our germs on other people so we don't - I tell my team members to stay at home with any kind of minor illness, because why spread it around OR drag yourself into the office if you don't need to? But when I worked somewhere that WFH wasn't an option I would dose myself up on cold and flu meds or painkillers and wash my hands a lot and hope that was enough because they were arseholes about sick days and I needed my job.

Depends on the job and the cold. Working from home in an IT role where you can change gear a bit is different from having to run round a nursing ward or stand at the front of a lecture theatre presenting or checking livestock and ploughing.

Plus sometimes it's a bit of a sniffle but fine between sneezes - sometimes it's chills and fever, running nose and eyes, thumping headache, and a really foggy brain. All depends on what strains are circulating and one's own immune system.

I feel exactly the same.... currently battling an awful cold that turned into bronchitis and now on antibiotics... can't even get out of bed. Never had this before and I'm definitely off sick as no one gonna thank me for soldiering on and I Want to get better for December

I hate when people come into work with a cold because I know they'll make me sick too. I'd rather they call in sick or work from home. It's not like they're working at full capacity when they're sick anyway.

I’d phone in sick with those symptoms and go to bed.