Could I have meningitis?!
Question: Yesterday I was absolutely fine, I went to school, hung out with my friends for a bit, where I shared a cigarette with one of my close buddies, decided to go home, study a bit then went to bed early for a change, I woke up around 5am with a persistent cough and stayed awake for approximately 2 hours, this is when I started to get a fever, I've been sleeping on and off, from 7am till about 6pm when my fever spiked to 103.3, with the extra strength Tylenol I am taking, about 1000 mg every 4-6 hours, I've been able to keep my fever in the 102 - 102.5 range.
Other symptoms include, watery eyes, a slight headache, cough which is probably why my head hurts, a bit of nausea, I am able to keep plenty of fluids down, but in terms of food, I've only been eating toast and white rice. out of fear of not being able to keep it down. I have no aches or pains, i have not been vomiting, I had the chills, but it seems to have subsided.
I am a big hypochondriac, any help would be much appreciated.
Answers: Yesterday I was absolutely fine, I went to school, hung out with my friends for a bit, where I shared a cigarette with one of my close buddies, decided to go home, study a bit then went to bed early for a change, I woke up around 5am with a persistent cough and stayed awake for approximately 2 hours, this is when I started to get a fever, I've been sleeping on and off, from 7am till about 6pm when my fever spiked to 103.3, with the extra strength Tylenol I am taking, about 1000 mg every 4-6 hours, I've been able to keep my fever in the 102 - 102.5 range.
Other symptoms include, watery eyes, a slight headache, cough which is probably why my head hurts, a bit of nausea, I am able to keep plenty of fluids down, but in terms of food, I've only been eating toast and white rice. out of fear of not being able to keep it down. I have no aches or pains, i have not been vomiting, I had the chills, but it seems to have subsided.
I am a big hypochondriac, any help would be much appreciated.
If you go to ER, the first thing a doctor will do is ask you to put your chin on your chest. If you can, it's unlikely you have meningitis, as it would cause your spinal cord to be inflamed so you can't move your neck as much. If you're worried, go anyway.
It sounds like a virus though, and seems that you're doing all the right things.
Careful with the rice when you're sick - it's a good idea, nice bland food - but don't keep and reheat it. Rice is now known to harbor bacteria which cause food poisoning, the last thing you need right now.
Sweetie it sounds like you have the flu, which incidentally you could not possibly have caught from your friend yesterday. Drink lots of fluids and get lots of rest. If you begin to develop a rash get your parents to take you to a doctor.
these symptoms do not sound like menengitis. You would have a very stiff neck and severe headache. I mean almost blinding. Your fever would be extremely high and you would ache all over. However, I think you still need to see a dr because you might have a very serious strain of a flu bug or something. make sure that you do not take more than 4000 mgs of tylenol in a 24 hr period. Ibuprofen would be better. You can actually take up to 4 - 200mg tabs every 6-8 hrs and then take tylenol in between. The ibuprofen dose that I mentioned is a perscription dose. BUt please see a dr so they can maybe draw some blood work.