The current flu in Cyprus

I didn't escape. I suppose it was too much to hope for, having looked after Tim with the flu last week.

Yesterday I felt really grim... I didn't do anything, other than read, and a few things on the computer. Tim cooked, tidied up, and generally looked after me.

I took lots of Vitamin C.

I went to bed at about 8pm, with paracetamol for the general headache/neckache/sore throat, and yet more Vitamin C.

This morning, I felt decidely more human again, despite waking about 5am. I now have a streaming cold - very annoying, and I'm getting through hundreds of tissues. But I no longer have that achey, exhausted, shivery feeling that's been with me - off and on - for the last few days.

Having talked to several people who have had this flu in Cyprus, there seems to be a general pattern:

- a few days of slightly aching joints and tiredness, with extreme lethargy
- then a dry throat - not painful exactly, but making it hard to swallow
- then a bit more achiness, and some shivering, and a bunged-up feeling
- then a day or two of complete collapse, feeling appalling
- then several days of a streaming cold, accompanied by a cough

These vary somewhat in intensity - Tim's throat was a lot worse than mine, for instance - and occasionally it's also accompanied by a stomach bug in the first few days. But people are calling it a laryngitis/flu virus, and I guess that describes it well. On the whole, I've got off lightly.

I just hope I'm no longer infectious when Richard and Daniel get back to Cyprus... in three days time!