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Having a Bad Cold with Schizoaffective Disorder

June 23, 2022 Elizabeth Caudy

Recently, I came down with a really bad cold, and my schizoaffective disorder and accompanying anxiety made it worse. I honestly thought I would never get well again. Here’s what it was like.

Losing My Voice from a Bad Cold

You should know first that I lost my voice--not something I’ve ever experienced with a bad cold before. That was really scary, and my schizoaffective anxiety made me believe I’d never be able to talk again. But I made the best of it. I communicated with my husband, Tom, by using a whiteboard that he had gotten for his former job. And he taught me how to say phrases such as “thank you” in sign language. My Mom and I texted instead of talking in daily phone calls. Also, I drank lots and lots of liquid Mucinex decongestant at dosages recommended by my doctor. And I drank lots of fluids in general--a lot of water and orange juice.

I had a fever, and I wasn’t able to go to my appointment to get cortisone injections for my painful knees. I felt so broken. On top of my schizoaffective disorder, and my arthritic knees, I couldn’t talk. But I made a promise to myself. I promised myself that once I got my voice back, I wouldn’t complain about my knees anymore. And I put a button on my purse that I’d bought to support a gay pride march years ago that simply says “voice.” Now that I have my voice back, I’m keeping the button on my purse to show my solidarity with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, etc. (LGBTQ+) community.

My doctor also recommended that I get a COVID test--a PCR lab test and not an instant or an at-home test. So, I also had the stress of waiting on my COVID test results, made worse by my schizoaffective anxiety. Luckily, the results came back in a day, and I tested negative.

Schizoaffective Disorder and Getting Better Physically

So, after 10 days or so, my cold got better, I got my voice back, and I was able to go in for the cortisone shots in my knees. I have tried not to complain about my knees since I got my voice back. Sometimes they still hurt, and they’ve been hurting more lately, despite the shots, but I know from my schizoaffective disorder that recovery is a two-steps-forward-one-step-back process.

That’s what it was like to lose my voice with schizoaffective disorder and anxiety. Schizoaffective disorder always makes a physical illness worse. But I made it through. And that gives me strength.

APA Reference
Caudy, E. (2022, June 23). Having a Bad Cold with Schizoaffective Disorder, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, March 29 from https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/creativeschizophrenia/2022/6/having-a-bad-cold-with-schizoaffective-disorder



Author: Elizabeth Caudy

Elizabeth Caudy was born in 1979 to a writer and a photographer. She has been writing since she was five years old. She has a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA in photography from Columbia College Chicago. She lives outside Chicago with her husband, Tom. Find Elizabeth on Google+ and on her personal blog.

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