Sickness and a thru hike

[Blissful]

Since I currently have a cold and have NO energy - I was wondering how you handled sickness while on a thru hike - not anything major, but like a cold, flu, etc. Stories about it, what you did about medicines, tissue for runny nose (yeah, ugh, but I can go through a box of it!) etc. :confused:

Thanks!

[Lone Wolf]

Get in a motel and watch lotsa golf, Beavis and Butthead and drink lotsa beer. About 3 days.

[Smooth]

I was amazed at how healthy I became on the Thru-Hike. I think all of the exericse and water did me good. My torn foot tendon got so strong that 10 years later and still no problem (had been since I was 8 or 9). The clickie knee grew silent and gave me no problems.

However, I did get 'sick' on the Hike.

It was killer hot for days(Penn).......one day I woke up weak and only hiked for about 10 miles. I crashed at about 3:00pm and woke up the next morning. I scouted up some unmarked water and moved my camp about 300feet. The next morning I was fine, I double quick hiked to the next food place and ate extra extra.

No problems after that, just too much hiking in the heat.

On that day (being that I really was thru-hiking) there was no place to bail out to.

[mweinstone]

you no sicky now!

[fiddlehead]

yeah, i rarel;y ever got sick on a thru-hike. I do carry echinacea and take it the moment i feel a sore throat coming on. I believe that helps me to fight off any sickness that is trying to penetrate. Just have fun and don't be looking for things to go wrong. (or the might)

[Brock]

Last year about 8 of us all got sick at one time in Erwin TN. Miss Janet was a great help with her hospitality. I was laid up for about 2 days of actually being sick and then another couple of days recouperating and getting stronger again.

[shaggy2004]

I got sick twice on the trail. The first time was a stomach thing that I got my second night out from Amicolola. That was not pleasant. I just went shelter to shelter until I got to neels, where I got off the trail for a few days to recover some strength from eating almost nothing for almost 3 days. :( The next time was some sinus cold thing in PA which lasted a lot longer but wasn't nearly as severe. I took a couple of nero days in Duncanon and then headed on at pretty much regular mileage eventhough I felt pretty sapped for about a week. As far as blowing your nose is concerned, don't worry about tissues - just aim your head in a safe direction and blow. You don't even need to stop walking. If your nose runs enough you'll quickly get used to the idea. :jump

[RedneckRye]

I came down with an upper respiratory infection just south of Franklin NC (I seem to get one every other winter or so). The last day walking into town sucked - horrible sore throat, zero energy, coughing up all kinds of nastiness, etc. I took a cab to an urgent care place. The doc was great, she knew about the trail and the usual hiker ailments, gave me a shot of anitbiotics in the rear, and prescriptions for a decongestant sort of thing and a big bottle of codeine cough syrup. I spent the rest of the day and the next in bed. The day after that I felt OK, not great, but well enough to continue walking north. I treated my health situation pretty much as I would have if I had been at home when it happened.
Oh yeah, a big bottle of codeine cough syrup will make you not care that it is cold, rainy, and your feet kinda hurt.