Online diagnosis

[NotAllThere]

You'll walk into the NHS doctors. ...
And you'll think "I'm glad the average GP is on a £200K salary now."

I'm not on the NHS, it's private, and he's not a GP, he's a pulmonary system specialist, so £400K is more like it. I couldn't see my GP - he's got 'flu.

It probably is viral. But until I start bleeding from every orifice, I won't worry about Ebola. And I won't take a week off work unless it is something that serious.

[NotAllThere]

Without doing something seriously invasive, it's impossible to find out what the bug causing the problems actually is. So they took some of my blood, and sent it a couple of floors down to the on-site lab. It came back up again ten minutes later, with results that suggest that while the original infection is viral, I've picked up a bacterial infection - hence the recent fevers and general feeling of fatigue.

From the work that's been done in this sicky season, the local medical peeps have worked out which antibiotic is most likely to be effective against whatever bacterial bug is causing me trouble. So I've got 7 days of that, and codeine for the cough.

It's nice to have 1st world medical facilities. I do wonder how you lot in the UK manage.

Meanwhile, one of the permie guys has got me a nice bottle of Vodka from Poland, and I've checked the interactions guide, so I'll be working with some "alternative" medicine.

[HairyArsedBloke]

I see the doctor this afternoon, but what will he say (poll on its way). I've had a cough since 31st December. I don't smoke. The cough is slightly productive, sometimes tickly. I'm getting feverish every now and then, but most of the time feel ok. Over recent days I've been feeling short of breath. I experience mild pain in my chest when I cough.

Heart probs - you are going to die.

[BrilloPad]

Heart probs - you are going to die.

You know when I asked you to post here more often? I have changed my mind.......

[Sysman]

It probably is viral. But until I start bleeding from every orifice, I won't worry about Ebola. And I won't take a week off work unless it is something that serious.

Not bubonic plague either:

Bubonic plague symptoms can occur within two to six days of being infected by the bacteria Yersinia pestis. If left untreated, symptoms, such as vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, can progress rapidly to septicemic plague. Approximately 10 to 20 percent of people with bubonic plague symptoms will also develop symptoms in the lungs. This is called pneumonic plague, and is often fatal.

Nope, not that.

[NotAllThere]

Heart probs - you are going to die.

Thank-you for your concern. Anyway - that's true of all of us. We all die by our heart being unable to continue beating.

The pain was on the right side, and my heart is on the left.

I'm so glad I posted this question. It's reaffirmed my opinion of CUK posters.