Saturday, January 8, 2011

Flu Efficiency

I declare myself eligible for a very high Flu Efficiency rating. Yes, that's "flu" and not "fuel."

Fibromyalgia, which I've endured since the 1980's when it was still called "fibrositis," feels exactly like having a low-grade flu that never clears up. So when I woke up yesterday at 3:30 AM with intensified body aches, I figured it was a fibro flare-up.

Changed my mind midway through the "What the Hell Did I Eat with Wheat" inventory. A swift descent into chills and fever tipped me off. Do I rock as a diagnostician or what? I took two Tylenol, drank lots of water, put on more layers and curled up into a shivering ball of misery.

At 7:30 AM, I awoke drenched in sweat because the fever had broken along with morning, so I removed a few layers and went back to sleep. By 10:00 AM, I was recapping this adventure to a West-coast based healthcare colleague who said, with what seemed like admiration, this meant my immune system was working well.

I think she was admiring the wrong thing. Isn't slamming through the flu in four hours a sign of efficiency?