r/AskReddit 12h ago

What's the sickest you've ever been in your life?

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892

u/Major-Inevitable-365 12h ago edited 11h ago

I don’t know what the fuck this was (my local urgent care told me it was post nasal drip), but I couldn’t breathe, my eye swelled up and started dripping pus, and I had to sleep sitting up and only got an hour of sleep a week. I remember crying sitting up on the couch at 3 AM because I was so tired but couldn’t sleep because I was in so much pain and discomfort

EDIT: An hour of sleep A NIGHT. If it were an hour a week, I probably wouldn’t be alive rn for obvious reasons

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u/SnooCrickets1508 11h ago

I’ve had a sinus infection so bad it came out my eyes too, was zero fun. My eyes crusted shut while I slept.

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u/noodle-face 11h ago

Same for me. It was so bad when I went to the doctor complaining about a sinus infection they said my entire face was swollen from it.

I literally felt like my head was going to explode. 10/10 pain

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u/somePig_buckeye 10h ago

My mom was prone to sinus infections until a third surgery mostly corrected the problem. Once she woke up and the entire right side of her face was swollen. A trip to her gp, then the ent, the dentist next door (to make sure it wasn’t a tooth infection), and finally to the hospital for a ct. She ended up being admitted and on IV antibiotics for 5 days. She had the surgery to widen her sinuses after she had healed from the exploratory one.

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u/Chateaudelait 10h ago

I lived in Germany and had an unbearable sinus infection. Visited an ENT and he could see my misery- he had a look on his face like, I know what to do. I sat down and there was a large machine hooked to a cannula that he stuck up my sinus cavity and injected a dose of pharma grade cocaine in each nostril. It cleared immediately and I wept with relief. He said - sometimes the old cures are the best. Can't argue with that.

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u/thisisnotmyname17 9h ago

Oh man. If only. I have had sinus problems for many many years. I’m 60.

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u/throwawaymagafam 9h ago

Funny, I've gotten a more than a few sinus infections from the cocaine.

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u/somePig_buckeye 9h ago

She probably would have become addicted had that option been available. She had her first surgery when she was a senior in hs in 1964.The last one was about 1995. She has had less than 5 since then.

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u/phoontender 9h ago

Hospital pharmacy tech, the cocaine is only applied after certain surgeries topically to numb everything up and help shrink the blood vessels down. They don't just keep giving you cocaine 🤣

It's always very weird to remember it's on the shelf when doing narco room counts hahaha

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u/Estrellathestarfish 8h ago

I had an ear/sinus infection that caused cerebral venous sinus thrombosis and a resulting brain injury. It also caused the head exploding fun.

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u/TripEmergency1273 9h ago

I always thought my work-shy teammate was exaggerating her sinus infections. She always had one like clockwork anytime we had a big day and would call out. I thought she was faking and I complained about it to my spouse. Eventually, I had my own severe sinus infection for 6 weeks. Karma! I couldn’t believe how miserable it was

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u/Spasay 10h ago

That happened to me too! My coworker took one look at me after day three of my swollen face and took me to the doctor. She knew I’d just keep trying to wait for it to go away on its own lol

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u/allmykitlets 10h ago

Holy cow, I've never heard of it coming out of the eyes. This sounds terrible!

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u/BurnPhoenix 9h ago

I had allergies that turned into a sinus infection that built up such pressure it ruptured my eardrum 🥰

Couldn't take anything for it because I was pregnant

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u/ppmiaumiau 8h ago

I had a sinus infection become cellulitis. Inside my face. I spent a week in ICU.

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u/Available_Finger_513 8h ago

You should have been on a hefty dose of antibiotics well before that happened my guy.

That shit can get into your brain in rare cases

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u/404_Energy_Not_Found 8h ago

Omg I had a sinus infection so bad in 2024 that I had to be on antibiotics and it was like BRIGHT yellow every time I blew my nose. It was AWFUL

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u/emp_forced_reform 4h ago

I grew up in a pretty poor area, and many kids had so much snot backed up that it literally broke their ear drums and leaked out their ears. The kids whose parents took them to the doctor fast enough needed plastic grommets in their ears to release the snot without causing permanent hearing damage.

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u/Diab-alo 11h ago

That sounds like an absolute nightmare

Genuinely that’s terrifying I hope you recovered mentally from that

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u/Major-Inevitable-365 11h ago

Yeah I did pretty quickly. Still really mad at my brother for giving it to me in the first place though

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u/Diab-alo 11h ago

Thankfully you did, honestly I’ve had some bad nights/weeks of no to little sleep so the crying cause you can’t sleep bit? Yeah been there.

But mix that with being physically ill on top with swelling, and hardly breathing. My god that sounds 100x worse.

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u/Ok-Window-5847 11h ago

Dude i had this last year it was literally like a faucet in my nasal cavity. Got no sleep for like a week like you. Every time i laid down it would drip down in my throat into my lungs and make me cough every 20 seconds. Most miserable shit EVER.

The amount of mucus that my nose was dumping out was unlike anything i have ever had, i must of spit out a gallon of mucus daily during that week.

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u/Mochigood 9h ago

I had this this year. My doctor made me take Musinex , Zyrtec and montelukast all at the same time and it worked. Made me drowsy as all hell but at least I didn't feel like I was drowning in my own snot.

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u/francokitty 11h ago

That sounds scary

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u/EeyoreApproves 10h ago

Eye swelling sounds terrifying.

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u/daYgecKo19 10h ago

I had this for 20 weeks strait when I was pregnant, so I couldn’t take anything to relieve it. It was literally driving me insane.

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u/Internal_Avocado_783 9h ago

This is horrible and is making me feel better about my current 1 month long sinus infection. So much drip, and mucus so thick in my throat it’s not even coming up, just sitting there and occasionally hitting my gag reflex and making me throw up.

Praying I can get into an ENT next week. The bridge of my nose feels like I have fingers pressing down on it 24/7 and my ear is still popping even after antibiotics, nasal sprays and decongestants.

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u/Cyber_Angel_Ritual 10h ago

Reminds me of when I caught covid earlier this year. I was so miserable, I couldn't breathe at all. The worst spring break ever.

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u/icantthinkofone87 7h ago

Twice in my life I had an ear infection so badly that I was in constant pain, but laying down was TORTURE. (The second time it happened I went to the ER where the doctor was dismissive and only gave me meds after I asked, only to be sent home and have my ear drum rupture!) I completely understand sitting there being so tired you're crying but can't fall asleep. It's the worst

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u/Cautious-Corner-3704 11h ago

Sounds like a sinus infection to me.

2

u/TechnicianGrand6611 8h ago

Bruh I've got an ear/throat infection right now and just got a hundred pills for it. Legit the worst few days of my life, thought I was gonna die. Crying and scared that I was dying. Holy fucking shit ear infections are hell on earth.

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u/zoidko 6h ago

post nasal drip is NO JOKE

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u/portulacablossom83 9h ago

Does no one here know grapefruit seed extract nasal spray cures a sinus infection in about 24hours? I took some to my microbiology professor in 2002 or 2003 and she told me it killed everything she applied it to in her lab! Works for everyone I’ve ever mentioned it to!

1

u/Free_Byrd6969 3h ago

Sounds like COVID. The original one. When the floodgates finally broke I went thru a box of Kleenex per day blowing my nose.

u/printed_ 33m ago

sounds like a sinus infection

1

u/spookipooki 9h ago

That's just a day in the life with allergies