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I caught a cold, a flu, or some neologism that starts with a 'C'...I have no idea

Saturday evening I came home rather late, perhaps 1am or so. I felt fine. Sunday morning, I was feeling off and had "that feeling." I had to tough it out until after an 11am in-person meeting which did not take long. Then I began feeling worse and worse. Then the typical sneezing starts, runny nose, congestion, headache and this time (I've had this before) a fever. Trust me, when it's 35 (86F) outside, I'm not running A/C, and I'm shivering, I've got a fever. I've understood this since before I was 10.

So I did what I always do when a fever strikes. I go to bed. Always. I closed off the bedroom, put on the A/C (22...71.6F...my "sleep number"). I got under the covers and just kinda enjoyed the light shivering. I slept on an off and wasn't getting cold sweats, so it must have been only a few degrees elevation. I got up after a couple of hours but was still cold as f...In Thailand. I had to turn off the fans and close the doors that pass fresh air through the place.

I was sapped for energy. A proper wet rag. No motivation, no focus. By about 4.30pm I was ready for the bed again, and this time it was for 14 hours. It's funny when you have a fever. Far from feeling hot under pajamas, sheets, blankets and a comforter—as is always depicted in TV and film—I've always slept bare skin in skivvies so that I can get a proper chill when I want one, especially since I have the A/C unit blowing right on me. Toss those covers off for 10 minutes until good and cold.

On day 2 the fever was gone or mostly gone, but then the symptoms gathered together in earnest to make me miserable (congestion, runny nose, sneezing, coughing) Also, whole body ache. I used 3 things primarily:

• Vitamin D (10K IU daily)
• NAC (N-acetylcysteine) (1,200 - 1,600 mg 2-4 x per day)
• L-Arginine (3-5 grams 1-2 x daily as needed)

The thing about arginine is that for best effect you need to take it on an empty stomach and not with any food. Then it's not competing with any other amino for entry into the cells. If you have some respiratory illness and find it difficult to cough from way on down, take 5g of arginine, wait until its vasodilation properties kick in and find yourself coughing up phlegm from the nether regions of your lungs. NAC works similarly in these respiratory applications because it breaks up mucus, liquifies it. Easy to sneeze and cough out. And the FDA might be backing off about banning it.

While I'm on the issue of sneezing, let 'er rip. Find a safe space, or outside but I mean no holds barred. Ladies, you know who I'm talking to. This is what coughing and sneezing are for. Expel all that mucus and phlegm crap, including viruses and bacteria contained within. Another reason why masks are fucktarded. No, don't do it in someone's face, but all lady-like muffling does is keep it inside where your body has determined it does not belong. So day two was pretty much hell and I need to mop my floors. Day 3, yesterday, was markedly better and today, day 4, the symptoms are nearly gone.

...We got a break in the weather where it's been raining for a week and in the last few days, almost 24/7 drizzle, which I hate. I love the big rains that get it over in 30 minutes and the sun comes out. So there's a 2-3 hour window with bright sunshine and I went down to the pool. Spent from 12.05 to 13.05, full skin exposure and I felt great. I still do, 3 hours later.

...One last thing. Friends ask, was it the 'C' word? Don't know, don't care. Felt just like the dozens of respiratory infections in my life; and when I was young and I was pretty miserable, mom sometimes took me to Dr. Berger, the family pediatrician. He was already pretty old in the 1960s. He didn't diagnose with TESTING TESTING TESTING!!! He did what docs did. He does an examination by listening to your breathing, has you cough, feels your lymph nodes, asks you questions...pretty standard stuff, I imagine. In the end, "probably just a cold or mild flu. Here's some medicine to help with the symptoms. He'll be fine, but if it gets worse, bring him back." That never happened.

The bottom line is that I do not understand this obsession with knowing which form of respiratory virus you have. If it feels like a cold or mild flu, just treat symptoms like we always did. ...In one measure of longed-for sanity in Thailand today, they will only be reporting "cases" resulting in hospitalization—as it ought to have been globally since the start.

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