Fever, Sore throat, Swollen glands

I hate getting sore throats, as it will always lead to a fever. It'sa surefire way for me to develop a fever. Next, I will be getting a severe cold and my glands - my lymph nodes are swollen. I really detest that. Swollen glands could mean I'm getting an infection, infection of any kind. I would be checking every time for my glands near the ears (parotid gland) and the glands at my throat (submandibular gland), feeling them with my fingers. If I feel they have swelled up from their normal size, I'm in anxiety overdrive. Already, I'm feeling terrible from the fever and sorethroat, and now, the swollen glands are really taking a toll on me.

Why do I worry so much about swollen glands, its because swollen lymph nodes are a result of infection, inflammatory conditions, an abscess or even cancer. Other causes of enlarged lymph nodes are rare. By far, the most common cause of swollen lymph nodes is infection. The mention of the big C - cancer is enough to make me shudder. Every few minutes, I'll be checking my temperature, feeling my glands and monitoring my wellbeing, or in this case my symptoms and bodily changes. Any subtle changes in me, is recorded and burned into my memory. I need these details to relate to the doctor and seek advice.

Usually, a normal routine to the doctor's whenever I'm not well means asking the doctor to check my lymph nodes. The doctor would say, "They are not swollen at all" and I'll ask him to check them again but he says, "You're fine, you're having a fever. Take the antibiotics and you will recover in no time. Just take lots of rest and fluids. Don't worry your silly head over it." What? You're telling me not to worry because I'm the one who is having the swollen lymph nodes and the fever. Not you, doc. If I could, I would love to grab him with both my hands on his neck, pull his face to me and give him a deadlock stare, saying: " Give me my damn lymph node biopsy, doc, just to be sure!" Well, that has never happened before but it's played out in my head like a little drama when he pooh pooh my concerns about my lymph nodes. Anyway, I'm thinking, "It takes no genius, Sherlock Holmes, I already know I have a fever and I need medication, but what is the real cause of the fever? Is it a telltale symptom that my immune system is under attack, have I caught some terrible infection? I don't need to pay you to tell me it's just a fever!!" Usually, the visit to the doctor leaves me with more questions in my head. IS the doctor really telling me the whole truth? Anyway, somehow, I do recover from my fever, thankfully, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't just a normal fever.

In a nutshell, I dread FEVER like the plague. Do you have the same worry about fevers and swollen glands? Share with me what you feel about swollen glands and fever. Do you trust your doctor as little as I trust mine? Maybe, we can exchange notes. I'm here to listen to you, my fellow hypochondriac.

Blood

I have a huge detest and fear of blood. In fact, its more of other people's blood. In retrospect, I abhor all fluids from other people except my own and my family's and people very close to my heart. I'm not entirely that screwed in the head yet to detest all living humans - well considerably quite close to that. Well, that's another story altogether.

So, a little introduction to what blood is:

The average adult has about five liters of blood living inside of their body, coursing through their vessels, delivering essential elements, and removing harmful wastes. Without blood, the human body would come to a halt. In other words, blood is very essential to life.

Blood is the fluid of life, transporting oxygen to the body. Blood is the fluid of growth, transporting nourishment throughout the body. Blood is the fluid of health, transporting disease fighting substances to the tissue and waste to the kidneys. Because it contains living cells, blood is alive.

Blood is composed of a straw-colored liquid called plasma which contains suspended cells. The different specialized cells found in blood are:

• red blood cells


• white blood cells


• platelets

Approximately 90% of plasma is water- blood's solvent with the rest composed of dissolved substances, primarily proteins (e.g. albumin, globulin, fibronogen). Plasma typically accounts for 55% by volume of blood and of the remaining 45% the greatest contribution is from the red blood cells.

So, that is a brief summary of what the red fluid is all about, coursing through our veins at this very second.

I detest blood because blood, though essential in life, is also a major bodily fluid that is highly infectious. You can get diseases such as the dreaded AIDS, hepatitis, Ebola, Cytomegalovirus and lesser known diseases such as Lassa fever (mostly in Afriaca). Well, these are just a list of scary diseases that are blood borne.

I have an inane fear of touching or coming in contact with other people's blood. The sight of blood makes me nauseous and queasy in the stomach and then I will slowly turn pale and almost blackout if its quite bad. Also, the strong smell of blood really punctures my nostrils and it's just too revolting and stomach churning. At the very moment I'm writting this, I'm already feeling a little quesy and weak in the hands. I shudder to think of blood - other people's blood.

Are we ever safe from other people's blood? I ask myself that many many times, maybe a million times. For instance, what if you're at a restaurant and the chef accidentally cuts his finger while preparing your food and it drops into your food? What if you touched an object that has blood - be it dry or still fresh on it and there may be some small minor hairline cuts on your fingers? Does that not amount to a direct contact with blood? What if you share drinks with somebody and they have bleeding gums and you either have bleeding gums too or some sores or some sort of wound in your mouth that is not even noticeable? What if somebody cuts himself and they touch you directly on your hand or whichever part of your body and you have a small cut too? There are an infinite 'what if' scenarios that involves blood and other people's bodily fluids. We can't control other people and neither can we stay alone in the world without any human interaction of some sort. So, are we all at risk of some blood borne disease unknowingly? Or is it all hush hush so as not to set off wild epidemic panics amongst humans? What if all my fears are true and we are all at risk of blood borne diseases just because we will always have interactions with humans in the course of our lives? Are we subjected to continuous blood tests in our lifetime just to ascertain we are accidentally or not, infected by other people's blood and bodily fluids? What if? What if? So many what ifs and not enough concrete answers.

Anyway, I really do hope its just the hypochondriac in me speaking and that my fear of human bodily fluids and blood is sheer over-reaction.

Wouldn't life be sweeter and safer if we all live safely in the confines of a giant plastic ball?