Flu Symptoms Linger Longer Than Expected This Holiday Season

What did Santa bring you for Christmas this year? I didn't get visions of sugar plum fairies, instead I had fever dreams and a two-week cough. The flu is raging in Connecticut, here's what I went through.

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Did you go to any holiday parties this season? I did, and I was around people who were coughing. This is when I believe I caught this year's strain of influenza. Stupidly enough, I skipped the flu shot when it came out a couple of months ago, and now I have to remember to do it annually, because this year it got me. Monday, December 23 was our last day of work, and I noticed towards the end of our shift that I had a persistent cough. It starts with a little tickle in your throat, but by the time I got home mid-afternoon, my head was swimming in congestion.

The first 48 hours of the onset were the worst, I had a bad headache, my lungs were hitching with every breath, and then my nose started to run and plug up. I can always really tell when I'm sick when my hands and feet won't warm up, and that dull ache starts behind my eyes. This flu attacks every system and wow, does it linger.

From my lungs initially, the infection spread into my nose and sinuses. I had chills for the first three days, and the crackle in my chest started. I'm 2 weeks and a day into the flu as of today, and I still wake up with a whistling nose and chest. The gunk is like spackle, it does not loosen, and I've been taking Muccinex 12-hour tabs this whole time. Lethargic and confused was the best way to describe the first 10 days, and then slowly my energy has returned. Stay inside and away from your neighbors, this is a bad year.