I am due to start work in four and a half hours...

[jorahmormont]

...and I haven't slept. In the last 72 hours, I've had 9 hours sleep. I've got a cough that has lingered for weeks now and even though it doesn't feel like a usual chest infection, it doesn't feel like a usual dry cough either. My chest hurts and it feels heavy, like there's someone sitting on it. It hurts all in my shoulders and back too :(

I know this isn't AIBU but I'm not BU to call in sick, am I? If I worked in a usual office I'd go in and just make sure I was doing infection control etc but without outing myself too much I work in a role where life and death situations can be involved and I can't just interrupt it to have a coughing fit. That's on top of the sleep deprivation and general feeling grim.

Am I being a wimp? Do I try and woman up and get through it (it's only a 10 hour shift but I can't even type right at the moment) or do I admit defeat, call in sick and see the GP tomorrow?

You're not being unreasonable at all. That sounds rotten and I'd think it'd be perfectly reasonable to stay home even if you were in an office, simply because of that little sleep, but you definitely should if life and death situations are involved. Not least, the more you're stressing about getting some sleep before tomorrow, the less likely you are to actually get any.

Curl up with a hot drink and a good book, let yourself drift off to sleep naturally, and get yourself down to the GP tomorrow. Hope you feel better soon

Yanbu
Call in sick, see the gp
Wish you better ASAP

Ps, just realized that someone saying "drift off to sleep naturally" would have made me murderous if someone had said that to me when I've been sleep deprived before. Scratch that bit. What I meant to say was you're not being a wimp at all, and I hope you get some sleep soon!