sick

[low_delta]

Cyn's been sick since sunday or so. She tried going in to work for a while on monday, but had to come home. And then go back for something important. And then someone made her feel like she should "tough it out," and stay. Really dumb, since you're less productive, and you'd very likely get over it sooner if you stayed home. Also, by staying at work, you can infect others, and their productivity goes down too.

Monday night when I went to bed, I felt fine. When I woke up, I had a sore throat. Things went downhill from there. I felt crappy by the time I got home, and had to sleep for a while. I don't think I feel much worse than I did last night (haven't had to nap), but I've been relaxing today. When I'm sick, the illnness takes a lot out of me. Just staying upright in my chair at work, and thinking a lot wears me out. This is energy my body could be using for fighting the illness, I assume, so when I'm sick, I stay home.

It's interesting how different people view illness, and how different people are affected by it. Cyn had a coworker imply that she shouldn't stay home just because she felt under the weather. It's like the pain threshold. Some people get hurt, and they ignore it and get on with things. Some people curl up in the fetal position nursing their wounds. But do people feel pain differently than others? Is that second kind of person really a big baby, or do they just actually feel the pain more acutely than others? Or does it just seem worse to them because they're injured infrequently? And should that matter?

And you can't always tell how sick someone is. Some people look worse than they feel, and some feel worse than they look. I thought Cyn was over her illness yesterday. She wasn't acting any differently than normal. I saw her laugh and smile. That's something I don't have energy for when I'm sick.

I think we should not complain when someone wants to go home sick.

Comments

[vocalista001.livejournal.com]

But do people feel pain differently than others?

Yes.

And I also think our reception and perception to pain change as we age. Ever comb through tangles in the hair of a 5 year old girl? You'd think they were being skinned alive or something, but by age 12 they can have their hair combed without screaming bloody murder.

I definitely agree that we should not complain when someone wants to go home sick.

[marswalker.livejournal.com]

:) In fact, not only might people feel pain differently, but people's brains have different /structure/ so it's expected that perception should differ at least slightly.

The brain is a marvelously dynamic thing - even if we were all born with the same brain structure to start with, as we grow older we'd diverge more and more. As we learn, it's been found that neurons not only enhance some electrical "contacts" over others, and "reduce" others, but neurons may even atrophy some of the connections away completely.

And of course, Nature being what it is, we're all born with unique thinking sponges to start with, so it's natural that we perceive differently, and more so over time. :) (picked a lot of this up in Elliot Aronson's first class about Cognitive Science in the mid-80's.)

Anyway.. yah.. I agree - if you're sick, go/stay home and get better soon!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

I wonder how much of it is related to the physical makeup of our bodies and nerves. Cyn whacks her hand or runs her shin into the footboard, and is in a lot of pain. When I do that sort of thing, it often barely registers as pain.

[marswalker.livejournal.com]

I think there's a lot to it, even "mind over matter" - for instance, hypnotic suggestion can be used to control / remove pain...

[msfledermaus.livejournal.com]

I am totally with you here...I just want to smack people who imply that someone isn't doing their best when they're obviously fighting some horrible virus. Often I find that these are ironically the people who complain the most when they themselves are really sick, but maybe that's just where I work?...

I hope you and Cindy get well soon...
*hugs you from a loooooong ways away*

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

Yep.
I'm tired of being sore and having to remind people that I am and can't do things.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

When I was working in the factory, I got carpal tunnel syndrome. A coworker knew of my complaints, and requests to get off of certain jobs, and told me, basically, "so what if it hurts, we just work through it."

I told her that it wasn't that it hurt, so much as it was that I couldn't do the work. I couldn't close my hands on the clippers. But more importantly, this wasn't just pain, it was pain that led to injury. Most people need surgery to correct carpal tunnel syndrome. It irked me that this woman didn't seem to care that something was injuring her coworkers - and her!

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

Again yup.
I was too stupid and worked through it.
Now I'm pretty much a cripple.

I think that the people that work blue collar jobs are pretty much ignored when they're hurt.

"the machinery of capitalism is greased by the blood, sweat and tears of the workers"

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but simple corporate greed is understandable. What is it with the workers who urge us not to fight for our own health?