Do I Have West Nile?
After hearing in the news about mosquitos in the New Bedford/Fall River area infected with West Nile, of course I end up getting bit by a mosquito today. Twice, actually. Once on the hand and one on my back. Great. I'm feeling the paranoia kick in as we speak. I do what every warm-blooded (mosquitos love the warm-blooded types) American does, I check online for symptoms of the West Nile. Why is it that the symptoms listed are either full of slight discomfort or display absolute death?
I remember bringing our son home from the hospital when he was born, and the doctor told us the rest of his belly button cord would just fall off, and it did on its own, but being new parents, we went online and saw the casual, everyday, what-we-should-see symptoms, and also the "he could die any second" symptoms.
So here we go. Symptoms of the West Nile virus. It's nice that they tell you some of these don't show up from 3 to 14 days. Fun two weeks for me.
A fever. Headaches, body aches, or pain in your eyes. A rash, usually on the chest, back, and arms. Feeling very tired. Not feeling hungry. Feeling sick to your stomach or nausea. Swollen glands (lymph nodes), in rare cases.
See what I mean? I've had most of these symptoms BEFORE getting bit. Check please.