Be well and prosper
There’s something of a cycle of plague within my circle of friends. We keep on getting sick. And passing the germs back and forth, allowing it to mutate into a whole other animal altogether. The end result is that we are a bunch of cranks with a whole hoard of tea and Airbourne by our side at all times.
Being that another leg of the circle of germ warfare has recently instituted itself, it seemed timely to add another item to our arsenal.
Dry winter air can contribute to uncomfortable dryness and irritation of the nose, throat, lips, and skin - my own skin is currently resembling aged parchment, and my lips are feeling distinctly unkissable.
The Honeywell Hut-102M is a sleek, compact humidifier that is perfect for a bedroom that is even as tightly packed as mine. I haven’t had one since I was a kid (humidity is not the friend of the frizzy-haired), but recent aforementioned weathered conditions have made me reconsider.
You can use a humidifier three seasons of the year to keep you skin hydrated and youthful looking.
Honeywell has been kind enough to offer five of these humidifiers to lucky Alytude readers. To have your chance to win one, please tell me the tale of your worst winter bug ever. Do you have experience with a season plague of your own? Deadline February 25.
Points and Prizes Keyword: DRY worth 25 points good through 02/24/08.
Fun fact! Aly Walansky wrote this story just for you on February 18th, 2008 |
February 18th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Tell me the tale of your worst winter bug ever.
- I believe the worst winter bug I’ve ever had happened just two months ago! I’m one of those people that, as I always say, “Never gets sick.” Of course, when I was little, there were those few days of a runny nose or a cough. I’ve never had a winter bug, lost my voice or had to stay home sick. Well, two months ago, I got sick. It was pretty bad, I would wake up in the middle of the night and just stare at the ceiling because I was so nauseous. I used up a lot of toilet paper because my nose kept on running, I had so many Halls to help with my cough and I took quite a few medications. Eventually, I lost my voice, and that was an interesting experience for me, haha. It was only for a day or so, thank goodness!
February 19th, 2008 at 12:16 am
My worst winter bug ever was the year of my daughter’s first year in daycare. Of course, I was tired from working full time and having a little baby to take care of, but being exposed to those kid germs is killer. The worst was when I had a bad case of flu topped off with pink eye. At least we will all have a nice, healthy immune system!!
February 19th, 2008 at 4:03 am
My winter plague is exactly that. EVERY year, I manage to catch some viral strain of cold or flu. No matter how diligent I try to be with my arsenal of airborne, sudafed pe, tylenol cold & cough, 3 types of throat lozenges, hand sanitizer, antibacterial soap, antibacterial tissues (though, I’ve switched to the lotion ones to soothe my sore, cracked nose), and routine hand washes after every sniffle, sneeze, and cough that crosses my path, it still never fails that I catch a bug. The resulting symptoms are a runny nose, fingers that crack until they bleed, and a cough that can put even the most affluent chain-smoker to shame, all of which last a MINIMUM of a month!
Two years ago, I suffered the worst bout ever. I was helping to plan my friend’s Quarter Century Karaoke Bash, complete with VFW hall rental, pins with her face to bedeck the lapels of all guests, vegetarian delights to tickle her tastebuds, and invitations that spanned across many states. I was miserable and, yet, I continued to plan and push myself to the brink. I ended up bedridden post-party. Just as I thought I was on the mend, I’d relapse. After two months of deep, bronchial busting coughs and a fear of pneumonia, my mom pulled out the heavy hitters (azithromycin), an offer I couldn’t refuse. That was the ticket! I was healed. However, I haven’t been the same since and, now, it’s almost a game to see exactly when each January the next phase of the plague will hit.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
I have never had a flu shot, ever. I never have had the flu, well never that is till this year. I went to work feeling alittle under the weather, I was thining a double dose of echinacea would do the trick, my hubby was home in bed sick as a dog with a fever so I was thinking that if I dope myself up i can bypass the germies. WRONG! I was working at my desk, as I am doing now, heh, and then it h it me like a ton of bricks. I thought I was going to die. I felt the fever coming and went to the restroom and didnt know what to do first, sit on it or bend over it!!! I made it to the docs, coughing and spewing germies all over the place and refused to believe that I was in the grips of the flu, no way was I going to let up on the sucker. i told the doc that it must be something that I ate, as he is taking my temp which is registering 104.2. yes it was the canned tuna from the other night. Doc just looks at me, hads me a bag full of drugs which I say that I am not going to take because oh Jess doesnt take medications…. LOL I get to the car.. suck down some cough syrup with codiene and make it home to crash on the couch. I told the hubby that he needed to get his butt to the doc’s… I woke up a few hours later and look outside to see it snowing…
After 2 days i felt better, I knew it wasnt the flu, it had to have been that tuna, and I am still thinking it as I am marking on my calendar, “get flu shot” in the month for November.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
I get my flu shots and got my pneumonia shot faithfully lol and yes I got pneumonia! The doctor swore it didn’t give me pneumonia but as I told him I’d never had pneumonia until I had the shot for it….coincidence I think not! He did swear that the pneumonia it gave me was not as bad as if I hadn’t had the shot, Okayyy if you say so. For a week I felt like my lung was being drug out through my ribs, when I’d cough I was sure the expression cough a lung out might be a real possibility. Thankfully I was able to talk the doctor out of putting me in the hospital with promises of going in if I got any worse. I survived, at times not sure that was a good thing lol with both lungs intact!
February 19th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
The Meghan Plague of 2004. It was so bad that I bought hardcore nasal spray and it couldn’t break through. I tried every cure imaginable, from medically approved Cosmos, to hair frizzing humidifiers to high intensity nasal spray, but I could not breath. Finally after 7 days and 7 sleepness nights air started to pass through my nose once again, but then the voice went. I now could breathe but not speak. Did I mention I was responsible for the tissue shortage of 2004.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Win a free humidifer at SheKnows.com’s Alytude…
Everyone has some sort of winter plague brewing this time of year…it’s time to pull out the big guns….
February 20th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
Last February, I had suffered from terrible headaches for nearly everyday of the first half of the month. Finally, one night as I surfed the internet with yet another headache, my vision became blurry and I couldn’t read the words on the page. I thought it was simply because it was late and I had been on the computer too long, and went to sleep. Unfortunately, the headache continued through the entire night and ibuprofen wasn’t working. As I walked down the hallway to get some water, I was in so much pain I collapsed on the floor and had tobe taken to the E.R. They immediately placed me on an IV and gave me several doses of morphine (I HATE needles!), and ran me through a CT scan and MRI. They then decided to give me a spinal tap, thinking I had meningtis. Since I avoid needles like the plague, they literally had to hold me down to do the procedure; which they had to do twice because I still couldn’t stay still. Ultimately, they ended up realizing I had been having severe migraines (after a day of hell at the hospital), sent me home, and I ws on the couch for a week. I missed a major philosophy exam which hurt my overall semester grade for the class; which the prof would not excuse. Thankfully, my migraines are not fairly managable, but I will never forget the worst winter week of my life.
February 20th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
4 years ago I thought I was gonna die from the flu. I had been super diligent and had my annual flu shot, but apparently I caught a milder version of it. Thankfully I had the flu shot, cause I’m not sure I would have survived anything worse. I had a fever of 104 and bone shaking chills for 3 days. I was hallucinating. I thought for sure that there was a Neon (the k-car of the 90’s) in my living room. I could see it plain as day. Then the cough started. I couldn’t lie down and I couldn’t walk around I was miserable. When I finally drug myself to the dr.’s office he said it sounded like I had a mac truck in my chest. Super icky!!! I ended up missing 2 weeks of work and it was 2 months before I had my strength back. I am a hand washing freak and super paranoid that I will get this sick again.
February 20th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I had the flu so badly a couple of years ago that I thought I would die. I can REALLY see why old people can die from this since it just knocks you out as a younger person, so imagine if you’re not the strongest to begin with! It took me WEEKS to feel like I was back to normal. I was weak and tired - just could not get back to doing everyday things let alone anything extra.
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:22 pm
my winter plague comes in a bit of a different form than the normal congestion and sinus pressure. each year, the dry air of winter brings with it my three month long nosebleed season. they don’t need to be triggered by any contact, nor do they require that i be awake. i’ve ruined about a half dozen sets of sheets by waking up with my face in a pool. without getting too graphic, they also don’t care what i’m doing, or how hard it is for me to stop what i’m doing, or who is directly under me when it starts. it would be an understatement to say that it kinda ruins the mood.
February 23rd, 2008 at 9:26 am
I can remember, with vivid clarity, the year I got the flu. I honestly thought I was on the verge of death. No amount of medicine could cure the pandimonium my body was undergoing.
My body was under the impression it had been steamrolled. I laid in my chair, with my steamrolled body, and prayed for death. My back was pratically broken from dry heaving.
That was a few years ago. I have not had it since and I live in deathful fear of contracting the flu again.
Enter my husband.
This man picks up every germ, every miniscule particle of bacteria, and his body converts it into sickness. If a kid in Boston has a stomach virus one afternoon, you can believe that the wind will blow some of the virus to my tiny town in Arkansas and my husband will wake up with it.
So far, I have not contracted the illnesses that have plagued him. I hope to continue this tradtion.
February 23rd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
This past November I experienced the fiercest bug I had ever had the misfortune of catching. It began with a sore throat which mutated into a searing full-face pain and stuffy nose which then brought on a mind-numbing headache which then invited the intermittent eye blurring and ear pain. Now this not only hung on for a record six weeks but I was also run right into the ground by this horrific contagion. I was fully incapacitated and quite often bedridden. This was the worst cold, flu, or plague I’ve ever known. Absolute hell.
March 24th, 2008 at 12:17 am
symptoms bad breath runny nose…
I don\’t understand it….