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I talked to an advice nurse (via my health insurance company) and while this cough is no fun, it seems to be nothing serious. By the time I went to bed last night, my chest and upper arms hurt from coughing hard. But at that point, it seemed the thing to do was email my boss that I'd be out sick today, feed the cat, take more cough syrup, and sleep.
This seems to have been a good answer; I was feeling a lot better 11 hours later. (I rarely sleep that much at once.) I woke around nine, had tea, and took some cough syrup (a combination cough suppressant and expectorant) the first time I felt as though I might cough. In response to what I'd said last night,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
elusis suggested I call an advice nurse line. I checked, and CIGNA does have such a phone service, so I called. It took two tries to get through—the first time I was routed to the wrong part of the phone tree, transferred, and then it rang 13 times and turned to a fast busy signal, so I hung up and had a muffin and some more tea, then tried again.
The nurse asked me a lot of questions, many of them "yes or no," about things like how long I'd had symptoms, my current pain level, and the color of my phlegm, and then told me that "home care" would probably continue to be sufficient, but of course I could go to a doctor or urgent care clinic if I wanted. And that if certain things changed (for example, if I develop a fever or see white spots in the back of the mouth) I should call back. Nor was she allowed to advise me on how long I needed to stay home. I haven't yet decided whether I'm going to set an alarm for tomorrow morning.
Of course, I coughed for the first time today just after getting off the phone with the nurse, probably related to the amount I'd been talking. It hurt, but not nearly so much as last night. I haven't coughed much today, which I suspect is due partly to the cough syrup.
julian_tiger continues to be a warm, loving lap cat through this.
This seems to have been a good answer; I was feeling a lot better 11 hours later. (I rarely sleep that much at once.) I woke around nine, had tea, and took some cough syrup (a combination cough suppressant and expectorant) the first time I felt as though I might cough. In response to what I'd said last night,
elusis suggested I call an advice nurse line. I checked, and CIGNA does have such a phone service, so I called. It took two tries to get through—the first time I was routed to the wrong part of the phone tree, transferred, and then it rang 13 times and turned to a fast busy signal, so I hung up and had a muffin and some more tea, then tried again. The nurse asked me a lot of questions, many of them "yes or no," about things like how long I'd had symptoms, my current pain level, and the color of my phlegm, and then told me that "home care" would probably continue to be sufficient, but of course I could go to a doctor or urgent care clinic if I wanted. And that if certain things changed (for example, if I develop a fever or see white spots in the back of the mouth) I should call back. Nor was she allowed to advise me on how long I needed to stay home. I haven't yet decided whether I'm going to set an alarm for tomorrow morning.
Of course, I coughed for the first time today just after getting off the phone with the nurse, probably related to the amount I'd been talking. It hurt, but not nearly so much as last night. I haven't coughed much today, which I suspect is due partly to the cough syrup.
julian_tiger continues to be a warm, loving lap cat through this.Tags:
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