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?

Drugs. From the time I hit senior school I had paracetamol and ibuprofen in my bag (for awful periods) and added Sudafed, throat sweets and tissues for colds. You just get on with things because you have to.

Normally with drugs but as I am currently pregnant that isnt an option.

I managed to barely survive last week with a dreadful cold with 2 days in office and 3 wfh. It wasnt easy but then I struggled with really bad morning sickness for about 16 weeks before so I was just used to working while feeling like crap.

I rarely seem to get a ‘normal’ cold anymore. They nearly always turn into horrendous sinus infections which always need antibiotics. More often than got I also get flu like symptoms- full on aches and fever. I am currently on my third cold since September- work in a primary school so don’t stand a chance.
i never get d&v when it’s doing the rounds though🤷🏻‍♀️

It sounds like the OP has something going on with their sinuses that means colds hit them harder than most. There will be a drug for that. Things like saline nasal sprays might help too.

Absolutely this. My classroom sounds like a dr’s waiting room at the moment. I have given up getting them to wash their hands every time they sneeze and cough or the whole class would be at the sink all day.
The best thing is when a small child sneezes directly int my face🤢🤧

I am a teacher and being off is such a ball ache that it's not worth it. I dose up on cold meds and go for it. I had laryngitis recently and my voice disappeared during the work day. I still stayed and taught the afternoon through miming😂 had the weekend to get a bit better and went back to it on Monday. If you stayed off with every cold your absence rate would be ridiculous.

Some people suffer more than others. I used to get dreadful colds that were almost like flu, with aches and pains, fever and tiredness. I don't know what changed, but now I get more 'normal' colds and they are more manageable.

It depends on the level of cold for me. The snivelly ones with the occasional sneeze or cough is manageable.
Anything involving a sinus or chest infection I stay home. I have asthma so I have to be careful anyway.
Incidentally OP, the cold you have may well be sinusitis.

You need to take OTC medication? 2 paracetamol, 4x a day, or something like lemsip max strength.
And yes you'll still feel a bit lousy but well thats life isnt it?

Sudafed, hot squash and my heated blanket. I do WFH though so not inflicting my snottiness on anyone else and I can wear my PJs and Oodie all day and feel mardy without anyone seeing me.

Ask Queen Camilla.

OP I'm the same as you. I have a history of autoimmunity and asthma and my immune system massively overreacts to viruses. Colds leave me bedridden. Covid wipes me out for months each time. I have not noticed any difference in the various strains, it's never mild for me (save strangely the very first strain, make it make sense) and end up in A&E or at the doctors with steroids and antibiotics for secondary chest infections each time. Lemsip does nothing for me with a cold until like days 4-6. Then I can need extended recovery period after. For added context I also suffer chronic fatigue and the wipe out is no joke. So I get you and commiserate 100%.

I'm super ugly with it too, not pretty and clean and contained. Ugly, messy, coughing and spitting out phlegm, ruddy peeling skin round the nose and cheeks from wiping constantly and covered in soggy tissues.

You sound like you really struggle. I'm fortunate, my colds are manageable with paracetamol, plenty of fluids and an anti histimine to dry up my nose. I just work from home in the warm and reschedule meetings, and do my solo and more routine tasks. If I had what you describe though I doubt I'd manage. I take vit D all year round and have a really good diet and I think it helps me fight things off.

Dose up on cold remedies. I use Olbas oil for congestion too.

Then plenty of fluids - warm or cold depending on how I feel.

Then just hope the kids are sympathetic (they usually are to be fair) 😂

It's easier battling through than it is to set cover.

I always go off work if I have a cold as I get usually them really bad on my chest where I’m struggling to breathe properly. I hate when people come into work with a cold and spread their germs everywhere

It could be flu. Flu can be everything from asymptomatic to death. Unless you test, you won't know if it's flu, covid, another corona virus or rhinovirus. Most colds are rhinoviruses or corona viruses of some sort.

Lemsip, coffee and lots of complaining.

I've always had really bad colds, my sinuses are badly affected. Sometimes I would have a day, or at most two, off work then just suck it up and go in. I take cold medication. Coughing doesn't keep me home - I can cough for weeks!

It's very difficult to WFH if you are in retail, and SSP won't pay the bills.

ADHD 5 year old and ADHD husband who are both chaotic and a needy baby means there is no such thing as a sick day. I just have to suck it up and get on with it. Having said that, colds are definitely worse lying down and being too warm and stuffy, getting fresh air helps a lot

It depends on how often you are ill- you can call in sick, but if you get the flu or another worse cold you will start to look like someone who takes too much time off sick- so it's a judgement call. I used to get my OH to do the chores at the weekend if I had powered through sickness at work in the week, and go to bed and sleep through most of the weekend-otherwise you feel awful the next week as well.

I always get very ill as I'm asthmatic.
I can't take cold and flu meds either. A lot of people can't 'dose up'.

Yep teachers are hard as nails when it comes to working with an illness! Also we tend to develop excellent immune systems.

DH mopes around "working from home" when he has a cold and I have very limited sympathy.

In my 20s colds were brutal things that could put me in bed for a week. As I've got older they've become much less severe and less frequent although the latter is probably because I WFH so have far less exposure to other people's germs. I absolutely could not have just pushed on through the bad ones but nowadays I'm more "it's only a cold" because they're much milder! Don't beat yourself up. Stay home and rest.