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?

In my job we book 6 months ahead. So often I’ll arrive 2/3 Jan to be greeted with ‘when is your summer holiday?/ what time are you having off in the summer ?’ Because by then we’re already booking July and August
so people who’ve waited six months to see me won’t want to be re arranged just because I have a cold
my boss almost got sued because his pregnant wife got rushed to hospital and he to drop everything and go. Apparently ( according to a patient) he should ‘arrange things better so appointments are kept’
I generally just pop the nurofens and carry on

There are different levels of a cold I think.

I used to get quite bad ones like you describe every time I got one (maybe twice a year) and would take time off or really struggle through the work day, come home feeling worse and fall into bed at 5pm.

For some reason the past few years whenever I get a cold it's so mild that I can just carry on. This week I had a bit of a runny nose, mild sore throat and mild tickly cough. But I haven't felt ill at all, no temperature, no chills, no stuffed up head feeling etc etc

I feel your pain, OP. I often get colds where I'm able to 'crack on' but every now and then they floor me. I spent the whole day yesterday with a temperature, shivering, headache, the lot. I'm a special needs TA and there is absolutely no way I can do my job feeling like this. So today I'm off. I'm wheezing, coughing, it wouldnt be fair on my colleagues and the vulnerable children we have and I couldn't do my job at all feeling like this.

Some people seem to have a cold every other week during winter and can carry on without too much hassle.

I very rarely get a cold, 1, maybe 2 a year maximum, but when I do it absolutely knocks me off my feet for 36hrs. Like you it's not flu, but a very very heavy head cold with aches and pains that makes it very difficult to move around and function.

It feels like we all have the same dose of illness, but some peoples' bodies let it out bit by bit every few days, and others like mine let it out all at once 🤣