I just want to feel normal.

[katelyncouture]

last month I wrote a post about my hypochondria but sadly I'm back again. I recently caught a cold (about 2 weeks ago). It started with a itchy throat which progressed into a really sore throat with a cough and then a few days later I got extreme nasal congestion and my ears were plugged and hurt. I also had a low grade fever for one night of 99.9F. the sore throat and fever went away. but i'll still cough every once and a while and I still have nasal congestion that is slowly getting
better but is still here.  which is freaking me out because I read that if you can't get over a cold that it can sometimes mean cancer because your immune system isn't strong enough. I also have been worried about night sweats. but I'm on birth control pills and zoloft which can both cause nights sweats. but again, I've read that night sweats can be a symptom of cancer. I also constantly take my temperature and it ranges anywhere from 97.9F to 99.2F so whenever it gets above 98.6F, I freak out because I think I have a low grade fever. I'm a mess. I'm only
16 and I got a CBC with differential a month ago and everything looked good but my white blood cells were on the low side of normal and for anemia I was also on the low side of normal. so I was still in the normal range but on the low side. why can't I be normal? I worry everyday about leukemia because of that cold I still have nasal congestion from, night sweats, and my blood test results. sometimes I think this is all from depression (recent move, dog passed away, winter) because I know that anxiety and depression can cause physical symptoms but when you are a hypochondriac you think everything is going to kill you. I
just need some more reassurance that I will be fine. basically my questions are...

how long can a cold virus last (stuffy nose)? are my temperature fluctuations normal? are night sweats with my
medication normal? (btw, they got worse when I got my Zoloft upped from 50mg to 75mg and sometimes I'll have really intense dreams right before I wake up with a night sweat) and are my blood results normal? 

I just want to be normal again and feel better. thank you for reading this! if you have anything to say please write back :) 

[Dayvid]

First of all, i hope you're feeling better right now.

I think the guideline for a cold is that it usually lasts about a week - 10 days. After that you should be on your way to recovery by 10 days. That's of course a rough estimate and everyone is different. If your immune system is a bit weaker than others, that's ok. Not everybody is the same and not everyone's bodies work at the same rate. In regards to your night sweats, i'd seriously suggest thinking about or talking to a doctor about what is causing them. And stop worrying that it's cancer that's causing them. The chances are it's not. Because, i'm going to be honest with you here, if everyone who suffered with night sweats thought they were caused by cancer it would be a bit crazy!

I'm no doctor and if you're worried then please, talk to yours. I suffer with health anxiety too and i KNOW how hard it can be. In the past few years i've been sure i have had 100s of diseases, problems etc. It's given me a lot of hard times, trust me. I just hope you start to feel better soon. And when you read somewhere that you could have something serious wrong with you just try to rationalize! Google has both helped and hindered me over the years, believe me.

All the best.

[Slangevar]

Depending on where you live, seasonal allergies can also prolong a cold. Where I live, things are in bloom and the air is terrible... most of the people I know feel like they have a cold.