The "Commuting While Sick" Thread
10-14-13, 05:36 PM
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The "Commuting While Sick" Thread
Commuting sick today. After an uncomfortable night, I was draggy on the way in and by mid morning had full blown fever, chills, nausea. I think it is a mild version of a one day stomach flu that my daughter had this weekend.
The ride home was kind of okay, actually. I was all bundled up in the YJA (yellow jacket of authority) and it was brisk but sunny. I left early so there was minimal traffic. I kept it in the small ring and spun gently along. I was pretty weak but wasn't laboring. The physical exercise didn't cure me but it might have made me feel a little better.
It's that time of year! If/when you commute sick, tell us about it here!
The ride home was kind of okay, actually. I was all bundled up in the YJA (yellow jacket of authority) and it was brisk but sunny. I left early so there was minimal traffic. I kept it in the small ring and spun gently along. I was pretty weak but wasn't laboring. The physical exercise didn't cure me but it might have made me feel a little better.
It's that time of year! If/when you commute sick, tell us about it here!
10-14-13, 06:24 PM
#2
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I took last week off because I was sick. Drove the car instead. Can't wait to get back on the bike tomorrow.
10-14-13, 07:08 PM
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Ironic -- had to do that today.
I have reflux pretty bad, control it with OTC stuff; the past 6 months have seen some real 'failures' with the medication. Last night was one of those, and as a result -- in addition to nasal congestion and mild nausea, I had an onset of reflux that woke up after 2 hours' sleep, and kept me up the rest of the night.
The ride to work was fairly normal, but arriving at work was about the time it really started to hit me. Turns out, I lasted about 2 hours, and just had to leave early. My commute home was twice as long as usual, timewise. Had to downshift, legs weren't there.
Not sure yet if I'm going in or calling on tomorrow.
I have reflux pretty bad, control it with OTC stuff; the past 6 months have seen some real 'failures' with the medication. Last night was one of those, and as a result -- in addition to nasal congestion and mild nausea, I had an onset of reflux that woke up after 2 hours' sleep, and kept me up the rest of the night.
The ride to work was fairly normal, but arriving at work was about the time it really started to hit me. Turns out, I lasted about 2 hours, and just had to leave early. My commute home was twice as long as usual, timewise. Had to downshift, legs weren't there.
Not sure yet if I'm going in or calling on tomorrow.
10-14-13, 07:37 PM
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Rode in sick this morning. Sinus congestion, sore throat, flu-like symptoms. Felt horrible when I woke up at 4:30 but felt pretty good on the ride in. I was a wreck on the ride home. Going to NyQuil up tonight and try again tomorrow.... 
It's that time of year again. Once I get back to normal, I'm going to get a flu shot.
It's that time of year again. Once I get back to normal, I'm going to get a flu shot.
10-14-13, 08:03 PM
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My general rule of thumb: if I feel too bad to ride, I probably am a) going to be highly unproductive b/c of how I feel and b) possibly going to get my coworkers sick. 'Course, I live 2.5 miles from work, and my previous job was 5 if I took the long way.
10-14-13, 11:15 PM
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IMO, if you have a fever, sore throat, chest congestion, or body pains, then don't cycle. OTOH, if you only have a head cold or sinus congestion (watery eyes, etc), then commute away.
Last edited by WestPablo; 10-14-13 at 11:19 PM.
10-15-13, 06:29 AM
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Stay home and use some sick leave if you have any. What's the point of getting all of your coworkers sick and making yourself sicker?
10-15-13, 09:15 AM
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Sick leave is all about not spreading communicable diseases ..
... If you don't have any, go sneeze on your Boss, first.
... If you don't have any, go sneeze on your Boss, first.
10-15-13, 11:15 AM
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I felt myself sweating out the start of a cold yesterday when I wasn't commuting but on a nice long (30 miles) recreational ride. It really did feel good to get to the end of that ride.
10-15-13, 11:36 AM
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Sounds like a good policy. Maybe you can convince the ******bag I work for that offering sick leave is a good thing.
10-15-13, 04:16 PM
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There's an older thread on riding sick where I posted the link to a journal article. The finding was that exercise actually helps colds. If you have an actual fever exercising wasn't recommended, but otherwise recovery was faster for exercising.
I found the old post with some links:
Exercise helps colds (you recover faster). It's not good for flu's. If I don't have a fever I usually ride.
It looks like at least one study recommends exercising with both a cold and a flu.
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/002083.htm
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/he...on/25best.html?
I found the old post with some links:
Exercise helps colds (you recover faster). It's not good for flu's. If I don't have a fever I usually ride.
It looks like at least one study recommends exercising with both a cold and a flu.
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/002083.htm
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/he...on/25best.html?
Last edited by ratell; 10-15-13 at 04:26 PM. Reason: added links
10-16-13, 09:05 AM
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I've found it actually clears up my allergies. I had a long weekend a few weeks ago without any riding and they got pretty bad... No other sickness though since I started in March...
10-16-13, 09:07 AM
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I find that if I ride when I'm feeling "almost sick", I tend to feel better the next day. In fact, I haven't needed to take any sick leave since I started riding in Summer 2012.
10-16-13, 12:45 PM
#16
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