What's The Sickest You've Ever Been?

For me, it has to be when I had chicken pox. Yes, usually chicken pox is just an annoying and itchy childhood ailment. However, for anyone over 13 it's very serious. You can even die. My fiance, at 20, has never had it.

I was so sick, I missed a month of school. I ran 105 degree fever, had blisters so bad down my throat that I couldn't swallow, and was so sick that one day I slept for 17 hours straight. It affected my kidneys and liver to such an extent that my eyes turned yellow. I developed a bladder infection, and the blistering on my hands got so bad that I couldn't bend my fingers. By the time I was well enough to return to school I had lost 20 lbs and was so weak that for the last month of school I wasn't able to participate in PE (not that I cared).

Now, as the result of having an illness that most people consider to be just an annoyance, I have asthma, a heart murmur, and nerve deafness.

I would like to mention something very interesting that my doctor (at the time I had chicken pox) told my mom, and that I'v heard other medical experts say. The common misconception is that a vaccine will completely stop you from getting an illness, and usually that's true. However, there are many cases of people who were vaccinated against measles, mumps, chicken pox, and even whooping cough who have still managed to catch these illnesses...the vaccines prevent them from getting as sick as they would if they weren't vaccinated though. Anyone who goes over to Africa to do relief work might pick up these illnesses if they go to an area where there is an outbreak. This fact doesn't mean not to get your vaccines, it just means that if there is an outbreak you still could get these illnesses.

I had Scarlet Fever when I was little....don't remember how old I was exactly, sometwhere around 4-5. I know I was taking awful medicine for months. I had sores all over, but I remember the ones on the tops and backs of my knees and on the bottoms of my feet. Mom had to carry me everywhere - and this was at Christmas! The fever was so bad that my permanent teeth are discolored because of it.

Probably about 10 years ago, when I had a perforated (sp) ulcer. I remember for about a month I couldn't eat anything except those liquid diet meals. I felt really awful. I had pains in my stomach that would never go away. I know I should have done something about it, but I just kept thinking it would get better. Anyway one night as I was drinking my Slim Fast, I felt like knives had ripped open my insides, and it became painful just to move. I finally told my sister that I think I need to go to the hospital. As it turned out my ulcer had perforated and I had poison and infection in my system. I had to have immediate surgery to save my life. I was in the ICU and on life support for 3 weeks. I had pnemonia (sp) from all of the poison going into my system after surgery. They didn't think I was going to make it, but I did.

I have never been the same, though. My vocal cords were somewhat distroyed by the tubes and I now have a deeper more raspy voice than before, my lungs aren't as strong as before, and my body just doesn't feel anywhere near as strong.

When I was 18 years old, I had typhoid fever. I was sick for two months, my mom always sleep with me during the night cause my body temperature was 104 degrees farenheit. She stayed up all night and did not even go to work, cause she had to sleep during the day. I went to three doctors, I did not want to stay at the hospital, we just called our doctor when I got really bad. I was taking medicine that was horrible, I can't remember the name, but anyway, the medicine I was taking was, it increase my white blood cells. I almost die, my doctor gave me a medicine, and he told my mom, "If this medicine is not gonna work, you better bring her in the hospital in the city." After few days, I was fine. I lose weight, my weight was 81.4 lbs.

After 2 months, I got nervous breakdown, the doctor said, I wasn't fully recovered and I went back to school after two weeks of having typhoid fever. I stopped going to school, I quit one semester in college. While I was recovering, I thought I will get better, I got Kidney stone, it was so hard, I cry when it hurts and they took me to the hospital. I took a medicine for my kidney, and I was fine (I still have it once in a while). I was fine for a while, then I got a fever again, cause I have a tonsilitis, my parents want me to go to the doctor to have it removed, but I am scared. Every month, I have fever and tonsilitis, it's like I am having a period

Now I got better, it's just my tonsilitis and fever, and I gained weight, when I send pictures to my family they said, I got fat, and people say here that I am so skinny. It started with typhoid fever and I always get sick since then.

The sickest I've ever been would have to be 96 when I was put in the hospital for kidney failure. Fever of 105+ and heart paplatations. I have been fighting constant UTI's since then and still haven't gotten them all cleared up. Had another one last week Oh well at least I am still alive and breathing. It could be a lot worse.

Originally Posted by blondiecat

The sickest I've ever been would have to be 96 when I was put in the hospital for kidney failure. Fever of 105+ and heart paplatations. I have been fighting constant UTI's since then and still haven't gotten them all cleared up. Had another one last week

Oh well at least I am still alive and breathing. It could be a lot worse.

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If you are drinking so much milk, try to stop drinking milk, too much calcium cause UTI. What you can do, take an alkseltzer, and drink cranberry juice, it works for me

I am going through my sickest phase ever. A week ago I had tonsillitis, sinusitis and flu. I went to the ent for an exam and to make an appointment to remove my tonsils, I have had five episodes of tonsillitis in the last two months. He did the exam, peered up my nose and all that. I did have a scratchy throat before I went to see him, so something was already starting.

By lunchtime I couldn't breathe through my nose and by dinnertime I was pretty much out for the count. Only now am I starting to breathe through my nose again and swallowing isn't the end of the world anymore. My gp was very surprised when I came to see him the following morning and very quickly prescribed lots and lots of antibiotics...

I think that the ent's equipment wasn't sterilised properly before he used them on me. I am not saying that it is necessarily his fault, he might have assumed that it was taken care of by his staff and it wasn't. But one thing is for sure...no one will ever stick any instruments up my nose again without me seeing that it has been sterilised!

When i was 16 years old i had my appendix removed

Originally Posted by JakkieS

I am going through my sickest phase ever. A week ago I had tonsillitis, sinusitis and flu. I went to the ent for an exam and to make an appointment to remove my tonsils, I have had five episodes of tonsillitis in the last two months. He did the exam, peered up my nose and all that. I did have a scratchy throat before I went to see him, so something was already starting.

By lunchtime I couldn't breathe through my nose and by dinnertime I was pretty much out for the count. Only now am I starting to breathe through my nose again and swallowing isn't the end of the world anymore. My gp was very surprised when I came to see him the following morning and very quickly prescribed lots and lots of antibiotics...

I think that the ent's equipment wasn't sterilised properly before he used them on me. I am not saying that it is necessarily his fault, he might have assumed that it was taken care of by his staff and it wasn't. But one thing is for sure...no one will ever stick any instruments up my nose again without me seeing that it has been sterilised!

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Jakkie-
If you don't mind me asking how old are you? I just had my tonsils removed 2 years ago at 22, and I was about to say that is the sickest I have ever been.

First I want to say I went through a period of several years where I developed either bronchitis or pneumonia at least twice a year.

The sickest I have ever been was about 10 years ago when I developed double pneumonia. The antibiotics the doctor prescribed (and which had worked previously) didn't seem to be helping, so after several days I was also given a penicillian shot. I got a lot weaker than usual from the double pneumonia and lost 2 full weeks of work. I had to go back to the doctor every 2 or 3 days for a recheck, and after 10 days of being on antibiotics I still had pneumonia, so the medication was prescribed for another 10 days. Even after I had finally recovered, it still took a couple of months to regain all my strength.

Probably the time I was the sickest I don't remember because I was so young. my mom has told me that when I was about 18 months old I got the flu so bad that I would not stop vomiting. The doctor gave me Thorazine (yes, the stuff they give schizophrenics!) and it knocked me out for 2 days straight. I slept for 48 hours. When I woke up, the first thing I said was
". . . And they never saw the wolf again" From Little Red Riding Hood (my favorite book at that time.) My mother swears on her grave that I started talking in full sentences from that moment on. (I had been talking but only in bits and pieces.)

Ruptured appendix (misdiagnosed) at age 18. I nearly died. Ended up with an illeostomy for 3 months while my intestines healed.

Then to add insult to injury. . . . I have had small bowel obstructions for the past 20 years from the adhesions caused by my previous abdominal surgeries. . . . these are no fun - hospitalized twice with Naso-Gastric tubes.

Squirtle ~ I am 28 and I have been too terrified to have them taken out, I am very afraid of anaesthetic (had a bad experience once). But it is getting really bad lately, so next week friday is the day they come out....

I have never had a serious illness, only the childhood diseases, but I have had mono, when I was in college.

Yes, mono. How could I forget?? I was in bed for a month.

I have had pneumonia twice and 10 years ago I had gangarine of the gall bladder. I was in hospital for three months and it was a miracle I made it. i would not like to have that again.

Ectopic (tubal) pregnancy in 1986 that took 6 weeks to diagnose. They thought I had miscarried, and after bleeding for 6 weeks, put me in the hospital to scope me and found the real problem. A week in the hospital on IV's as I was totally anemic and fever of 105. They told me that I could have died. What added to my stress and lowered my immunity was the day I supposedly miscarried, my dad was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and given 3 months to live. I laid in the hospital crying cause I couldn't go see my dad who was dieing 2000 miles away.

Originally Posted by JakkieS

Squirtle ~ I am 28 and I have been too terrified to have them taken out, I am very afraid of anaesthetic (had a bad experience once). But it is getting really bad lately, so next week friday is the day they come out....

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I was terrified of it also. I did not get any sleep 3 days before the surgery was scheduled and about had a nervous breakdown on the way. I really freaked out and it took the lady like 15 minutes to get my iv in because I kept pulling my arm away, but not on purpose it just happened . The surgery wasn't bad at all, afterwards it hurts. It took 2 weeks before I could eat or drink and I lost 17 pounds. My bones were sticking out Great weight loss plan! Now I am so glad I had them out I don't get tonsilitis anymore (duh!) and only occasionally get strep throat.

Oh my goodness you guys!!! Take better care of yourselves please! Thankfully I have never been so sick I needed to stay in the hospital. I mean, I've been in the hospital for surgeries and stuff, but not for an illness. I have seen a lot of it though in my profession, and unfortunately a lot of it could have been prevented.

It's a toss up...there is when I was 21, and developed strep throat, high fever and a full body rash...I peeled from my head to my toes and my nails developed a ridge that took a while to grow out of. I had a "pistol" of a doctor at that time who felt he was the be all, end all (can you tell we had a few run ins near the end of my seeing him?) who 1) bet me I didn't have strep (and then didn't pay up his bet) 2) refused to agree I had Scarlet Fever telling me I had strep with fever and rash (well duh, that is what Scarlet Fever is). I wasn't a nurse or in nursing school yet at that time, but was smart enough to do my own research. I remember lying in bed with my heart pounding as if I'd just run up a flight of stairs. After a course of antibiotics, I again developed a full body rash and peeled from head to toe. The second dose of antibiotics took care of things.

Last year, I had a very bad bronchitis possibly pnemonia (for the second time). I could not lie down, could not eat, I was coughing so hard I'd throw up (mucous)...never had experienced doing that. My husband finally found me a cough syrup that worked for longer than 2-3 hours, and I slept sitting up with lots of pillows in my easy chair. I finally went to see the dr. , and got some antibiotics. This year has been the first in 3+ years that I did not have pneumonia or pleuritis at the end of Winter.