43 years old but feel about 129 - toughness factor men vs women

[Saab2000]

Woke up this morning with big trouble at both ends. And I was schedule to take the Flight Engineer exam in Richmond so I can sit sideways on a Boeing 727 at FedEx if they hire me. I had to cancel. Could barely make the phone call.

I digress.

My ex wife used to call me out when I got sick. Big tough guy with a high tolerance for pain. Somewhat successful bike racer in my youth. Airline guy. Not a pussy. At least I keep telling myself that.

But when I get sick, I feel like I'm going to die. I once got it so bad when I lived in Europe that the thought actually through my head that if the house started on fire I might literally have a hard time getting out before it burned down. Really, really weak. Whispering for her to bring me a glass of water, crawling to the bathroom.

Does this happen to anyone else? I've had this a few times over the years. I don't know if it's food poisoning or some strain of influenza. But in a day I'll be better. I'm already feeling a bit better.

Anyone else get this? Where you become so weak you can barely move.

Women give birth to children. I can't imagine what that's like and so I wonder if women are just tougher than we are when it comes right down to it. I'm the biggest baby ever when I get sick.

[steve garro]

Anyone else get this? Where you become so weak you can barely move.

Women give birth to children. I can't imagine what that's like

to awnser your Q's: yes, about once a week if i'm lucky. All week if I'm not. I did have 3.5 liters of urine in my pariteneal cavity so I know just a little about the second, but having been on intensive steroid treatments I can only imagine that the 9-month hormonal chaos would be totally hard to bear. PS - I'm 43 too, but only feel 80. - Garro.

[corko]

Yes once...... real flu. Not the common cold that most call flu but real influenza .......left me feeling like that.

I'm surprised you don't suffer from lots of exotic ilnesses given your job (all those strange bugs flying around in a sealed environment)

Hope it doesn't last long...

[Brandon White]

Saab - you're not alone. I too think I have a high tolerance for pain, but if I'm sick, forget it. I'm useless to the world. My wife, on the other hand, will deal with it and barely complain. We aren't the only ones though, I have other male friends who experience the same thing - down for the count when a virus comes along.

As for the stomach issue - I've had something similar twice this year - once it lasted 2 days and recently 5 days and felt like someone was punching me in the stomach every hour on the hour. Last year I think I got samonella poisoning while in Switzerland and spent the last two days of my vacation (at the final stage of the TdF), the flight home, and the following 4 days crapping my brains out and I lost about 12 lbs - but I barely talked during that time and didn't want to move for fear of upsetting my stomach again.

As for women ... my wife claims that the laser tooth whitening (zoom) hurts far more than giving birth. Go figure.

edit:
I forgot ... I had Dengue Fever while in Brazil last October and while I worked through it (sat at my computer staring at lines of code and writing emails), I barely moved or talked or ate through that as well. I may have milked that for a little extra though ...

[Saab2000]

Yes once...... real flu. Not the common cold that most call flu but real influenza .......left me feeling like that.

I'm surprised you don't suffer from lots of exotic ilnesses given your job (all those strange bugs flying around in a sealed environment)

Hope it doesn't last long...

This is a point of great contention in the airlines. The airlines do next to nothing to clean the flight decks of the airplanes. The flight attendant union at my carrier once commissioned a study to find out what illnesses are present in airplanes. It's unbelievable. But I think modern shopping malls and restaurants are the same way.

I actually believe that exposure to all that does improve our resistance. And there are studies to back that up, especially with children.

But air on an airplane is incredibly dry and that must also help with the transmission of diseases. The standard procedure is to use a couple of handy wipes to clean the throttles and yoke and some of the buttons in the flight deck.

[benji]

It sucks to be old (I'm 45). I'm on my 4th day of lethargy. Don't know what I have. I don't bounce back like I used to. Oh, well, just accept it and ride on.

[rabo]

Having worked with many people after total knee replacements ( recovery of which is very painful), I would say that most women deal better with pain. the older they are, the better seem to handle pain.
Completely unscientific statement but that is my experience.
Some women say " those man are just wimps" to which I counter " you women don't have any feelings".
I know there is no objective "pain signal" just a signal of the noci sensors that your brain can process / label. But a lot of women do a better job with it.
Example : 83 y/o female has total hip and total knee 6 weeks apart , and tells me she got to hurry up (the rehab) because she wants to be back in her store in 6 weeks.

[airedale]

So sick you can barely crawl to the bathroom but you can still muster up the strength to get to the computer and check vsalon.

That in my books is hard!

[Saab2000]

So sick you can barely crawl to the bathroom but you can still muster up the strength to get to the computer and check vsalon.

That in my books is hard!

I had it off for a while while I dozed. But I moved out to the couch here at my crashpad in VA Beach. I can at least sit up straight now. Six hours ago I was in bad shape, on the bathroom floor, waiting for the next shot.... Now I'm able to walk to the bathroom. But I ache all over. But it's getting better. Now I feel about 121 years old, which is better than 129....

[davids]

It sucks to be old (I'm 45). I'm on my 4th day of lethargy. Don't know what I have. I don't bounce back like I used to. Oh, well, just accept it and ride on.

Yeah.

I prefer aging to the alternative.

[Saab2000]

I now have a raging headache and a fever, making me think this is not simple food poisoning. Took two Tylenols and ate an entire Saltine cracker. Yup, the whole thing.

[bikinchris]

I don't get weak when I get the flu. But I do use Cold Eeze at the first signal of sickness.
And while I do have a high pain tolerence, I can't stand the sight of blood. Once I was using a razor knife, and sliced my thumb open. I was alone in the house and went to the bathroom to wash it off and bandage it, but woke up on the floor. Twice.

[Fixed]

i hope you feel better
you know saab 2000 is a cover he really is james bond imho
cheers

[jscott]

Anecdotally, compared to people around me, I seem to get fewer cold symptoms when sick but I definitely feel sapped. If I ride when I feel like that, I ride like an old man. It sucks. I suppose it will suck more when I actually am an old man.

Happened this weekend at the otherwise excellent bandit snow cross we had on Saturday. No runny nose, no cough, and also no watts. At least I can say that one of the guys lapping me is headed to U23 worlds...

[andys]

I now have a raging headache and a fever, making me think this is not simple food poisoning. Took two Tylenols and ate an entire Saltine cracker. Yup, the whole thing.

This is a bad year for bugs. I had the flu last week and still draining off. A young woman in my office has friggin pneumonia. People are hoarse coughing all around me.

I push it hard, 3 kids, 48 years old, heavy job but when I go down, its like BOOM. My wife paces herself, and does not let up on me even when I'm down. Pisses me off actually. I think when you are sick you should be able to crawl under your rock and be left alone.

[R.Liverman]

Any chance it's related to diet? It always amazes me how complex the human body is and how small things can affect its operation. A good friend (baker by trade) spent years trying to find out why she would get sick and finally worked out that she had celiac disease.

Personally if I have any dairy at all when I'm hungover I get violently ill. Feels similar to when I've had the flu: cold sweats, nausea, vomiting. It's not pretty, but I'm hoping to use it as an excuse or a chance to escape captors some day.

get well

[gt6267a]

i have heard ATM finger pads and touch screens are some of the most amazing surfaces for studying a wide array of items most of us would rather never associate.

when sick, the gf is pathetisad. i ussually get a few things done and its not so bad.

[gt6267a]

Cash machines 'as dirty as toilets' - Telegraph

Dr Richard Hastings added: ''Public telephones can be a real hot spot for germs and grime.

''Not only are they handled by different people each day, but the handsets are then held close to people's nose and mouth.

''All it takes is for one person to have a cold or bug and this would get passed on to everyone else who uses the phone.

''But it's ironic that while people perceive chip and pin pads to be the least dirtiest, our swabbing experiments have actually shown them to be dirtier than public lavatories.''

[EricKeller]

In my youth, I had a higher tolerance for pain if I was causing it myself, i.e. pushing it on a bike. If I didn't cause the pain, I was and am a wimp. Now I have trouble pushing myself on the bike too. I guess as you get older you learn that pain is bad.