I did move to Idaho. That really happened. November was a flurry of unpacking. December was bouncing between starting to meet people and travel. I had plans. I had resolutions. I started a meetup group.
I got whooping cough.
Whooping Cough or Pertussis is part of the vaccinations you should be getting in childhood. As of 2005 it was added to the tetanus booster for adults, which you should get at least once as an adult but may need more often, at least every 10 years.
My last booster was in 2012.
Whooping Cough though has never been eradicated and is so contagious that the only way to stop is to make sure every single person is vaccinated. Every one. With anti-vaxxers and nations with out access this has not happened. So you can still get it.
I thought I had a mild chest cold. And it was getting better. Then, a few Sundays ago about three weeks after I first got sick, I wasn’t able to draw in a breath.
This is a disease that most people think only a child can get. It can kill small children or people with breathing issues. It makes you prone to infection. The PA I saw (who, I will say probably shouldn’t be allowed to treat women, but whatever, I saw the warning signs and played his game so I could get treatment.) did not want to run the test for whooping cough and told me would not officially diagnose me but basically told me I would have the cough for a long time and to call back if I still couldn’t sleep after the first round was done (1 z-pack of antibiotics, 1 bottle of codeine for at night, and benzonatate pearls for during the day). That week was me laying there trying to breathe and trying to find info on the internet. After the first week they renewed the benzonatate but took another week to renew the codeine and told me no more. I can breathe now so that’s fine but the stuff is helping me sleep, otherwise I’m up all night.
Most of the websites I found only talked about children. Or they were anti-vaxxers saying it’s fine (it’s not, don’t listen to them. These fuckers are insane. If my child got this I would be beyond reason with worry).
So I want to talk about what happened to me and what things you need to watch for as an adult.
- You can’t go out in public until you’ve finished your antibiotics
You are contagious. You will need to do a lot of laundry and stay away from everyone. If you live with others they should stay separated from you. You know how at the end of the Velveteen Rabbit they burned all the kids stuff to make sure no one got the disease he did? That’s this kind of thing but luckily we have bleach and laundry so we don’t have to burn everything we own.
2. This cough will push all the liquids from your body.
Even after you finish the antibiotics you can continue to cough for another month up to a year. This cough is only barely controlled by OTC medications (I’m taking mega hits of DayQuil and NyQuil Severe with vapo cool. Don’t do this, it is very bad for you).
It is a dry cough and you’ll feel like you are choking. The whoop may or may not happen but that’s the sound you make when trying to breathe after coughing.
You will cry tears. This is a good sign. It means you’re not dehydrated. Do Not let yourself get dehydrated, I recommend hot drinks, and popcicles, even if you can’t eat.
Your mouth will fill with saliva.
Blood vessels may burst. This happened in my face, across my nose and around my lips.
Your nose may run when you cough. You may have bloody nose. I had a bloody nose for about two weeks.
You may be incontinent. Get pads, get diapers. Trust me. It may be bad enough that you will need to change your clothes several times a day. Often when I felt a coughing fit would come on, I would run to the toilet and just cough there until it finished.
Eat small meals, and not frequently. You may vomit. I still cannot each large meals, and I’m only eating about twice a day, otherwise I vomit when a coughing fit starts.
3. Things to watch for.
Your body is tearing itself a part and because of this you a prone to more infections. You need to watch for things that may need further medical attention:
- Broken Ribs
- Hernia
- Blood in Urination
- Fever
- Pneumonia
- Sinus infections
- Strep
- Blue Lips
You need to go to a doctor if these things happen or you think they are happening.
There are three stages. The I think I have cold phase, the oh god I can’t breathe phase, and the I’m fine until I start coughing and then I need to lay here for a few hours phase. I’m in stage 3.
I don’t know when I’ll be better. I can’t talk for longer than a minute or two without breaking into cough. And I’m so tired. I slept through the entire night for the first time last night, but I’ve already had one fit today that has completely exhausted me. I’m typing this to stay awake.
I’m going to try to get out and start meeting people again later this month. I feel like I’ve already missed a bunch of things (quiet a few events that I had wanted to go to, I can’t). My biggest worry is that I won’t be near a toilette and need it.
What I have found is stillness. Staying very still means less chance of coughing, means staying warm, means just concentrating on breathing. So yeah, lots of meditation getting done.
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