what's happening to me?

[gib65]

It started sometime before December. I came down with some mild cold symptoms. Then, as soon as I thought I was getting over it, I got the stomach flew for the first week of December. The first night I was puking all night. The next day I was okay (i.e. I could function). Then, on the third day, I started getting stomach cramps and extremely frequent diarhea. The stomach cramps peeked in the middle of the day (they got pretty bad) and then over the next 24 hours or so I slowly started to feel better. For about a week, things started to look better for me until I started coming down with more cold symptoms. They still haven't left. Just yesterday, I started getting mild symptoms of pink eye in one eye. Today, I definitely have it in both eyes, and I'm feeling miserable, like I've just caught the cold virus all over again.

 

In my familly, my wife suffered from terrible cold symptoms for about 2 or 3 days in the week before December. She got over it fairly quickly and hasn't suffered from anything since. My daughter (2 years old) has had major cold symptoms for about the past month, and was throwing up around the same time I had the stomach flew. About two weeks ago, it looked like she had pink eye in her right eye. Today, she's getting better but still has a runny nose and a cough.

 

So based on this description, what do you think is happening to me (or any of my family members)? It's obviously more than your typical cold virus. It seems to come back repeatedly with a vengence; as soon as I think I'm over it, it comes back and in different forms. Is it one virus that happens to be prone to frequent mutation? Is it several viruses at once? Is it one virus that so happens to manifest different symptoms at different times?

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Is it possible you and your family are allergic to something in your house or in the environment? (It'd be funny if you were all allergic to the Christmas tree...) Allergies would produce the cold symptoms and the conjunctivitis. Combine this with a bout of flu at the start of the month and it'd be consistent with your symptoms.

 

You might try some over-the-counter allergy medicines and see if that does anything. Otherwise, I'd suggest seeing a doctor...

[gib65]

Is it possible you and your family are allergic to something in your house or in the environment? (It'd be funny if you were all allergic to the Christmas tree...) Allergies would produce the cold symptoms and the conjunctivitis. Combine this with a bout of flu at the start of the month and it'd be consistent with your symptoms.

 

You might try some over-the-counter allergy medicines and see if that does anything. Otherwise, I'd suggest seeing a doctor...

 

We've had the tree for a while now and I've never reacted to it on Previous Christmases. The medication I got for the pink eye was sold out in 2 out of 3 pharmacies; that coupled with the fact that in the doctor's waiting room was a kid also with pink eye tells me that its something going around.

 

I'm pretty sure it's an extremely versatile virus or several viruses going around at once (in the latter case, it could also have started with an extremely versatile virus that tends to mutate frequently and therefore ends up being several viruses going around simultaneously). I just wanted to know more about viruses to see if this line of thinking is plausible.

[emmalawson]

Being into medical science, this looks pretty strange and a rare case. But will be back to normal soon.

[Mrs Zeta]

This is not an allergy, it is a viral infection. It is not rare either. I would guess that at least 50% of all people visiting their general doctor have similar symptoms. In general terms, doctors suggest symptomatic treatment with fluids, analgesics, etc. But symptoms frequently return on and off for several weeks.