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“Malaise” my shiny white hiney

11 Comments

Went to the doctor. He said that the cough didn’t sound bacterial (not wet enough), my O2 levels were fine, BP 113/73, temperature a little bit subnormal, and there was only the barest touch of a wheeze in my breathing.

Okay, so I’m not having heart troubles, pulmonary embolisms, pneumonia, or anything else serious

“Malaise.” That’s his diagnosis. More rest, lots of fluids, and vitamins.

I’m not a guy who WANTS to be sick, nor do I WANT to have a pile of antibiotics or other otics/istamines/oids/whatevers packed into me. I just want to not get light-headed after a flight of stairs, and to sleep through the night. “Malaise” sounds WAAAY too much like “hypochondria” for my tastes.

*sigh*

I’ll go to bed on time. I’ll drink lots of fluids. I’ll take my vitamins. And at 8:40am I’m flying to Chicago for a day-trip presentation (6.5 hours in the air, .9 hours in taxis, 1.6 hours commuting to the airport, all for 90 minutes of my “schtick”) and by gum, I’m going to FEEL GOOD DOING IT.

–Howard

11 thoughts on ““Malaise” my shiny white hiney”

  1. speaking with no medical credentials whatsoever, I’d advise ya to hit the gym for a few minutes every AM and see if that doesn’t improve your situation 😉

      3. if your gym is geographically convenient to your work, it’s sometimes feasible to skip lunch a couple times a week. I used to do this all the time when my work was four blocks from the gym, then just scarf a sandwich at my desk when I got back. Your two cents may of course vary. =)

  2. “Malaise.” That’s his diagnosis. More rest, lots of fluids, and vitamins.

    Well, that’s what you get when your doctor is Jimmy Carter.

  3. Stupid doctors

    That sounds like a case of “I don’t know what it is, but I don’t want to sound like an idiot”. Both my mother and I have fairly unusual illnesses and it took both of us YEARS to find doctors who would take the time to actually figure out what was going on.

    Mom’s getting treatment, and I’ve been completely cured, so it worked out eventually. But everytime I hear someone say their doctor said they just “needed to want to get better” I’ve wanted to scream.

    1. Re: Stupid doctors

      I had Whooping Cough at the age of 35. I think I got it from my neice, who brought it home from school and never developed the whoop….it took 4 weeks to diagnose (can’t be ~ you don’t catch W C at 35!) and another 2 off afterwards to get over and even now I can no longer hack and hawk up phlegm (info overload – I know. But I’ve ALWAYS been bronchial to a nauseating degree) ~ what happens is a *hack* *hack* *haaaaaawk* ~ *hiccough**hiccough*.

      God help any kid that gets Whooping Cough. You cough and then can’t, CAN’T breathe in…I was swallowing swallowing swallowing to get reset to breathe, with the consequence that I got magnificent cases of the burps as well. But at least I had an idea what was going on and what to do. To be a toddler with it must be terrifying.

    1. Re: You probably already looked into it…

      Okay, so the list of things that can have “malaise” as a symptom run the gamut, and include AIDS, congestive heart failure, flu, and colon cancer.

      Thanks for the cheerful link. 😉

      1. Re: You probably already looked into it…

        Just fulfilling my purpose in life 😉

        Chaos, panic, mayhem – my job here is done.

        Actually, I hope you get well soon. Take care.

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