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?

I had a cold around a fortnight ago. As always, straight into my sinuses (head throbbing, cheek bones, jaw and teeeth aching). I also had the pleasure of a sore throat, my glands hurting all down my neck and the pressure behind my ear drums building up so much I was convinced that they would burst. Plus the usual sneezing, dripping nose etc.
I drank plenty of fluids, had plenty of hot baths, got lots of sleep and took lots of supplements to give me a boost. Most importantly though, I took Sinutab regularly. It made the difference between me being able to function and not. I’ve tried just about every decongestant going including Sudafed, but Sinutab is the only thing that works for me (consistently). I try not to use it too often though and never for more than 48 hours. Can’t recommend it enough.

This thread makes me want to jack in teaching and get a WFH job! WFH with a cold sounds positively delightful.

As a teacher, I'm always scared of picking something up because a) you're expected to come to work anyway and it's really hard to brave calling in sick, and b) teaching with a cold or similar illness is so utterly grim. I've had to leave the classroom to spit blood into the sink, trashing my throat while on antibiotics for tonsillitis, taught with a spiking fever, and while wearing plugs of rolled up loorool in my nose, all because parents feel pressure to send really quite poorly children to school. Luckily, we've had a change of leadership and out new HT is more sympathetic. But the fear remains.

This is so true and for anyone immunosuppressed they make life both miserable AND potentially more dangerous.

That's the problem with retail having to work when you're dying on your feet and if it's a physical job it takes longer to get better and passing it on to colleagues and customers.management don't care as long as job gets done.

I’ve never taken cold medication. Reading this I’m not sure entirely why. I grew up in a house where if your limb was hanging off you might earn a sniff of lavender oil, partly through hippy ideas and partly through neglect.

I quite happily take medication when I need it for other things so it’s not like I object to it. Im reading through this in some surprise as I guess I thought there was no “cure” for a cold (other than onions as my mum would have said) and maybe I have interpreted that to mean there is nothing that can be done about it.

To answer the actual question, I just go to work and I take tissues, there is really no choice, no sick pay and no WFH so I haven’t taken a sick day in 19 years. That’s not being a hero, that’s because I’ve never had a job that pays sick pay and I am the breadwinner, that’s having zero choice.

@PufferFish I've never heard of anyone else having aching teeth/gums from a cold, I stopped mentioning it because my partner thought I was weird!
Any time I get ill with a cold like virus I find my teeth ache and my gums are super sensitive, then it spreads to my ears and throat. It's one of the worst parts of a cold for me and yet no one else ever knew what I was talking about!

try taking tumeric tablets or a teaspoon of tumeric with honey daily guarantee youll stop getting colds

I sympathise OP, I get colds just like you’ve described. I get mild ones too but boy I’ve had some stinkers. I’ve had to battle through in a very in the spotlight, on show sort of job involving a lot of talking, standing up and concentration. God the standing up and looking down at notes and papers with a streaming nose is hellish, as is the lightheadedness from forcing out your voice for lengthy periods with a bad throat/chest. It has been very borderline sometimes but somehow I did it. I recommend dosing up on paracetamol and ibuprofen alternately as a pp suggested.

So you are not alone, and there are definitely some colds which are heavier than others. If your job has any flexibility, could you start earlier and finish earlier, as ime the afternoon is worse. But if you need to take a day off and can, then do so. I just couldn’t. The only time I had a day off for illness was when I lost my voice and was able to ask my clerk early enough to keep me out of court the next day.

Canadian Sudafed. I buy some every time I go. It has active ingredients that are banned in my jurisdiction. I got through an important four day business trip with the aid of this stuff, made it home, and developed pneumonia. It doesn't cure the cold, just masks it. Infrared nose laser treatments help too.

When I’m feeling as bad as you describe, which isn’t with every cold, depending on how busy work is, I would WFH, spend the morning handing off or tying up loose ends that need immediate attention, then let those who need to know that I’m taking the rest of the day off.. then I would just sleep. A good rest helps you recover so much faster. Then I’d plough on ahead for the rest of the cold with medication:

The above was before I had a toddler. I don’t think I can ever take an hour off, let alone an afternoon, to sleep,

Oh I get this too.. everything hurts, all bones, all joints.. it’s like being hit by a train,, but then , for me anyway, it clears up after a day or so, and I’m always surprised at how much better I suddenly feel.

I hope you feel better soon OP 💐

This just isn’t true. A cold is a virus and there are many different viruses which make people feel varying degrees of crap. I’ve had colds where I’ve been ok and just medicate myself through and colds where I’ve been really poorly and have had to take a day or two off work. I’ve had colds that last a couple of days and ones that have lasted longer and have come with exhaustion, terrible sore throat, no voice etc.

Also my previous work was freezing cold. Customers stood outside by the doors, chatting away - keeping the doors open.

Working in a cold environment- doesn’t help with colds - developing and recovering

I can't believe the normalisation of sickness in the workplace. You are completely reasonable to stay home when sick. The MSM is not reporting the findings of the Covid Enquiry. It should be. We should ALL be doing our utmost NOT TO SPREAD INFECTION. That means staying home when you are sick. Doubly so with school-age children (despite the Govt's bonkers insistence on attendance of sick children). Schools are incubators of infection. So, sadly, are hospitals. IF YOU ARE SICK, STAY HOME. Do us all a favour.

How many sick days are you taking if you are going off for a cold?
I think I spend about 3 weeks of the year having colds, I can’t just not go to work for that.

I’m a teacher - usually have a good immune system and shake off colds quickly (just dose myself up with paracetomol and olbus oil on tissues!)

This week I’ve stayed at home for the past two days as I felt so rough. Day 1 I felt awful - spent the day in bed in multiple layers and still freezing cold. Today I feel a bit better but have slept on and off all day. There is no way I could have coped teaching this week. Normally I’d catch up on paperwork and emails at home, but haven’t even managed to do that.

hoping to feel more normal by Monday

Every cold I have lasts at least a week, sometimes two, one had me coughing for two months. I used to get three colds every winter. Do you think my employers would have been impressed with my taking so much time off every winter? Not to mention that I would have come back to a mountain of work after sitting at home feeling okay, but still with cold symptoms. Everyone gets colds, it's okay to stay home if you aren't feeling up to work, but STAYING HOME WHEN SICK is just not necessary for a cold. You are being ridiculous.

Yes, I know what you mean. I just meant that in everyday language we tend to use flu for when we have pains all over the body and may need to go to bed and colds for when it's mainly in the head, but a head cold can obviously be bad enough that people need to stay home.
My point is that there is no shame in calling in sick for a cold - I think some people feel they have to call it flu to take sick leave.

Like @Forgetaboutit I've always had terrible colds, with streaming eyes, massive sneezing and a stinging nose. If I did go into work I'd usually be sent home as I look so awful, and my streamin, pink, puffy eyes actually stop me being able to see properly.

I'd love to know why I get colds like this, if my family have them at the same time they seem to get a much milder version.
I agree that drugs can work, but is there much point in taking them so that you can go to work and spread it about?

I tend to agree. I sometimes get a day or two of feeling fatigued and those days could be taken to rest whereas the other 10 days of the cold I'm fine to be out and about. As you say coughs can sometimes linger much longer and we can't stop everything unfortunately.

Fortunately, being self-employed, I don't get colds very often - but when I do, they're real horrors. If you've got germs, please keep them to yourself!

I got a week long job screening from Monday for various jobs for a company. Venue is the city centre and means the bus! People are now coughing without covering up their mouths.

If I get any of the roles, will be driving as it’s in an industrial estate.

In some jobs ( mine) having time off for anything is really awkward
unless planned way in advance, so time off for a cold is generally frowned upon.
id be expected to take meds and carry on
and yes i work with medically vulnerable people at times.

That's bad. I'd say get a doctor's note, but I suppose it takes too long to get an appointment in the UK.