8 days is a long time to feel so bad. Should you call your doctor? Hope you improve so you can enjoy the holidays.

I'm there with you, Ann. I caught a cold last Monday, and cannot sleep at night from the coughing. Finally went to the Dr. today and got some antibiotics and codeine cough syrup. I would suggest making an appointment.

I hope you feel better but I have had the experience of not knowing I had pneumonia. Not walking pneumonia but life-threatening pneumonia. It is hard to diagnose yourself with this. Don't want to scare you but just sharing my experience.

Ann, unless you'd been burning the candle at both ends 7 days straight, spending day 8 of a 'cold' in bed doesn't sound right. Flu shots are an enormous help, but not a guarantee...maybe call your doctor? Have you taken your temperature?

Thanks for all the responses. I guess I should have offered a little more information. First, I don't seem to have any chest congestion and am just having a little cough every now and then. Most of the congestion seems to be concentrated in my throat area, if that makes sense. I can breathe through my nose and actually smell. The main congested area seems to be about from the ears to the throat...in that area. I have been running a low grade fever. I haven't missed a day's work, as the world would have to be at an end for that to be acceptable with my boss. I just took it easy over the weekend and during the week after I got home last week. I'm thinking this may be some sort of sinus infection and I guess I'll have to make an appointment. My insurance is lousy and I know between the visit and the meds, I'll be broke!!!

Must be this Florida weather, I have a sore throat for 3 days now, is that how yours started? Hope everyone feels better soon.

Your thought that it may be a sinus infection sounds right.

A cough syrup with expectorant, blue formula Mucinex or the herb mullein (lobo gordo) can thin the mucus so that the infection can clear up faster.

Saline nasal spray or rinsing with a neti pot can also help a lot.

Mine started on December 3rd and I still have a bit hanging on. It started with a scratchy throat. Still have a drippy nose and occassional coughing fit. My neti pot has helped. I'm having oral surgery tomorrow and hope to make it thru that okay. they wanted me last week, but I told them I wanted to be healthy before my surgery. Right now I'd call this healthy, or at least as healthy as I can be for now.
Kathy G in MI

Still should get checked out. Z-Pac could get the germie trails broken. When I feel like I am starting down, I try to drink that Vit C Engern (sp) either tangerine or rasberry. Seems to help me.

Yep, I have had a cough for 2-plus weeks, sore throat for the first week and a half, and still have stopped up ears. I am almost finished with the antibiotic but am wondering if I need to go back to the MD because the cough and ears are not any better. When I saw the MD after the first week, she said that after a week, even if it was a virus to begin with, it probably settled in my sinuses (I have chornic sinus infections that she is used to seeing) and "morphed" into something that needed meds. I am supposed to go back in the next day or so if I am not better.

Please don't take this the wrong way but I can't imagine someone's job being so important that he or she continues to go to work when they are obviously ill. Some people have compromised immune systems and prefer not to be subjected to your germs. For those who say that their boss demands that they be at work--I just don't get it.

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Many employers are like that. Don't come to work and you don't have a job! My neighbor just lost her job after falling on the job and now there is a lawsuit. She has never missed a day of work since she's been there. The job only cares about getting the job done not that you can't work because your sick or hurt.
just my 2 cents.

I agree. Most companies offer sick days but I've found, in my experience, it's usually frowned upon if you actually take them! The solution these days seems to be working at home if you're sick, though of course not everyone can do that.

I'm sure there are companies who still care about their employees and want them to recover but in my 8 years of job experience, I don't think I've ever seen a coworker actually take a sick day where they don't do any work. I know I haven't - I've always done the full 8 hours from home even when I'm really ill. Managers will tell you to take them but it's easy to pick up on the cues that there may be repercussions, especially when they start talking about who is going to cover your work, everyone else's workload, etc. It's sad. I've picked up my share of bugs from people who come to work sick.

I hope you feel better!

I've had many colds, and I usually spend only one or two days in bed. Eight days sounds like too much. Please get to a doctor.

Believe me, if there was a way I could have stayed at home, I would have gladly done so. Boss's wife was one of the people here in the office and she never indicated in any way that I be offered the opportunity to go home. I work for a small company with very few benefits. There is no such thing as a "sick day" and the only rule that seems to apply is "no work...no pay." I would have been more than happy to take a couple of days off with no pay, even though it would have been a crunch for me, but that option was neither mentioned or offered. I apologized to my co-workers and am sure they understood, as the situation would have been the same if they had been the sick one.

Ann, it's been over 8 years since you posted this thread. Just wondering how the outcome was? I've got a cold and cough that has been hanging on for a week. I've heard that the flu season 2019-20 is a rough one. I am going to give mine a little more time. I dont work by the way.

My cold lasted a month, I heard many others have had it a long time too.