...are happening in my throat. Since about Thursday, I have had what felt like the onset of a cold. For me that usually means a dry feeling scratchy throat. "Crap," I thought, "What a way to spend a week. Hacking up my lungs and not being able to breathe."

I do however look at the bright side of such things; For one I always seem to loose 5 pounds due to all the "involuntary crunches" I perform, and second, it tends to clean out my lungs, so I always feel I can breathe better after the illness has run it's course.

So I go about my daily routine, going to work and such, but by the end of day two, (Friday night) something was off. I had nasal congestion, and a bit of a cough, though nothing major. That sore throat was getting progressively worse, and it began to hurt to swallow. Also the pain was spreading out into my neck and shoulders. By Saturday, every joint in my body was causing me agony, I had a migraine, and these in turn were completely draining my energy. At this point it no longer just hurt to swallow, it was notably difficult.

As I was small talking with regular customers, they asking how I was, me saying I was fine, but a little under the weather, they asking what was wrong, I telling them my symptoms, many saying it's "been going around." Some however gave concerned looks and said quite matter-of-factly, "Dude, sounds like you got Strep throat."

Could it be? Naw, It's probably just a cold, still worth looking into. I told my wife what the customers said and she said to tell her my symptoms, as she had strep throat 3 times as a kid. (My wife, it should be noted, has a horrible immune system. Where most people have veritable swat teams of macrophages roaming their bodies, she got stuck with the immunological equivalent of Barney Fife, siting out in his rocking chair asking the bacterial criminals to kindly not J-walk across her arteries.) She told me she was fairly sure I did not have it, and to quit worrying about it. (we could still go the doctor just to be safe though.)

Another day goes by, and I'm not feeling better. I get up in the middle of the night half because I couldn't sleep, and half to pee, and while up I figure out a way to focus light with my shaving mirror into the back of my throat, so I can see whats going on back there.

Little. White. Pustules. EVERYWHERE.




I run to my computer and look up strep throat. Symptoms include: Pain or tightness in the throat, accompanied by pain and/or difficulty swallowing. Pain and/or stiffness in the joints. Occasionally accompanied by moderate to severe headache. Fever Common, but not always present. How it Presents in Patient: Red, inflamed tissues, especially on the tonsils where the presence of white "drainage channels" is prominent.

I double checked this morning in better light.

BINGO.

I have facking strep throat!

Sorry about that, man. I vaguely recall seeing my sister go through that same illness back in our early childhood, and it seemed almost unbearable for her to my memory. We'll pray that you will be healed soon enough.

Well at least you found it early. Anything that affects the throat is a pain in the butt. Go get medicine.

And get off the internet before you infect us all!

(get well soon, hope it doesnt last too long)

What scares me is that according to what I read streptococcus has a nasty little ability to confuse your T-cells using some sort of weird oxygen conversion mechanism so that they leave the bacteria alone. (T-cells notify of intruders, Macrophages destroy them)

If left unchecked, it can cause all sorts of nasty side effects, from Rheumatic Fever to Meningitis.

On a weirder note, I found in my research there is a strain of strep that is actually harmless. They use it to make Swiss Cheese. (it's what makes the holes.)

OIC, here, this should help

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003NSSUH6/

I've been passing a kidney stone the past few days... also very fun.

Definitely go to the doctor - strep is contagious, so even if you feel like you can handle it without getting meds, you're still being a dick by potentially passing it onto everyone. And Lantis, ouch. I've never had a kidney stone but I've heard that they're... unpleasant, to say the least.