It doesn’t matter if it’s your spouse, your co-workers, or your boss that you’re worried about when you consider calling your boss to tell him or her that you are too sick to come in. Try as you might, you’ll never be able to hide from the common cold! Before you drag yourself into work, consider the following things when you’re about to expose your entire office to your bug.
If you have the sniffles, feel achy and tired, you may very well be coming down with the cold or flu. In the first few days after you caught the virus, you are most contagious. You aren’t going to be getting much work done while you have a cold and you will get better if you actually get some bedrest rather than tackling work at the office. Don’t be generous with your bug – stay home!
If you are sniffling, but do not have that achy feeling, and if you don’t have a fever, you likely have allergies. Good news – you can go to work! Though you may want to talk to you doctor to find out what is causing your allergies, there isn’t any harm that will come to those around you if you go into the office with your allergies.
If you have a fever combined with drenched clothes from sweating, then you likely have a fever. You should increase your fluid intake and consider seeing a doctor if your temperature rises beyond 102 or if it lasts longer than 3-4 days. Fever could indicate the onset of the flu, so you are best to stay at home with these symptoms. If your fever is combined with white patches on your tonsils, you may have contracted strep throat – which is extremely contagious – and could require antibiotics. It also means you need to get in to see your doctor ASAP!
Do you have a tickle in your throat? It could be caused from allergies or a cold virus. If you don’t have other cold symptoms, then I’m sorry to say – you’ll need to get into work! If your cough is combined with a cold you’ve had for the past few days and doesn’t get any better within a week, you’ll need to get in touch with your doctor to ensure there is nothing more serious happening like bronchitis or pneumonia.
If you’ve hurt your ear and have difficulty hearing, you may have an ear infection. Though not contagious (read: you can go to work), if it is coupled with cold symptoms, you are likely going to be contagious for the first couple of days. Either way, you should contact your doctor to find the source of your ear pain.
Pain that is around your eyes, top of your forehead, your cheekbones, or even the top of your teeth could be a sign of a sinus infection. You should be staying home for this ailment, and you should call your doctor too. Antibiotics may be required. Once the pain has been taken care of, you can return to work because sinus infections can’t be passed on to your co-workers.
