Is it common to be tired after a bad cold?

October 16, 2015 10:03 AM

I am a healthy (daily exercise, normal weight) 32yo male. Two weeks ago I got a gastrointestinal virus that lasted a few days and then immediately afterwards got a bad cold. I think the cold was so bad because I was weakened from the gastro virus. Now, two weeks later, today is the first day I don't feel sick. However, I feel *really* tired. Normally I sleep five hours a night, but yesterday I slept for 10 hours. Despite that, I feel like I could sleep all day. Is it normal to feel so tired after a bad cold?
posted by Spurious to Health & Fitness (14 answers total)

IME, definitely, especially if the virus is still lingering. If your schedule allows it, try to give in to the desire to sleep. Your body probably needs it.
posted by Hermione Granger at 10:09 AM on October 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oh hell yeah. Consider - your body's immune system has been expending a lot of energy in fighting off the infection, and now that it has, that energy needs to be replenished. Especially if it also was weakened from trying to fight off the virus right before.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:09 AM on October 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yeah, surely! You probably didn't get good, healthy sleep while sick-- your body wants to reset, now that it can rest in comfort.
posted by The otter lady at 10:10 AM on October 16, 2015

Five hours is way too little sleep in general, which is probably why you got hit with the double whammy sickness in the first place. Ten hours is a lot of sleep, but, yeah, that's about my "I've been sleep deprived and needed to catch up" amount of sleep.

Also, yes, I typically get tired when I'm sick. I prefer to sleep it off while actually sick, but even so, I could see a longer night of sleep or wanting to go to bed earlier if I was getting over being sick.
posted by Sara C. at 10:15 AM on October 16, 2015 [15 favorites]

Make sure you're getting enough fluids - not just water but also salts - especially after a gastro illness and a cold. Fatigue can sometimes be a symptom of dehydration. If you do think dehydration is an issue, an urgent care clinic can pretty quickly diagnose and administer IV saline.
posted by muddgirl at 10:18 AM on October 16, 2015

Yes, absolutely. For me, the older I get, the worse I get hit with things like this, and the longer it takes to recover. If this is the first time in a while that you've been ill, I can see why it'd be surprising.
posted by Fig at 10:18 AM on October 16, 2015

It may not have been a common cold. The fact you had a serious bout could suggest flu. If you are in a semi-tropical area, I might suspect dengue. Not to scare you. If you had dengue, you had a mild case. And it could be others.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 10:29 AM on October 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

a "really bad" cold that starts with a lot of throwing up sounds like the flu to me. in which case, two weeks of feeling terrible followed by a week or so of being exhausted sounds like par for the course.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 10:30 AM on October 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

It sounds like you had a pretty bad cold. Sometimes an upper respiratory infection (the common cold) will include vomiting or (more often) diarrhea.

So you most likely did not have "the flu", or influenza.

This likely took a lot out of you, and you're going to be tired for another 5 to 7 days.
posted by Nevin at 10:39 AM on October 16, 2015

always takes me a solid 7-10 days after I no longer have overt cold symptoms before I'm myself. Eventually one day I think "wow, I feel incredible!" and then I realize that I'm just - normal.
posted by randomkeystrike at 11:36 AM on October 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Being sick can take a lot out of you. I would give it a few days and see if you get back to your old self. If you're still feeling fatigued then, I'd see a doctor because it's possible in that case your cold was symptomatic of another problem. But I don't think at this point there's any reason to be overly concerned.
posted by AppleTurnover at 12:21 PM on October 16, 2015

One thing I have noticed as I get older, is that the recovery time for colds is going up. Even if the cold isn't bad, getting back to 100% definitely takes longer. Given that this is the first day you are not sick (after really a quite lengthy time), I would say this is normal.

Also, a large percentage of Americans have mono but don't know it. They just thought it was a bad cold with a long recovery time. This could be happening to you.

My non-doctorly advice would be to get the rest your body needs, and monitor whether things are getting better or worse. If they trend towards worse in 4-7 days, go to a doctor.
posted by Phredward at 12:29 PM on October 16, 2015

Normal for me it seems. I always feel like I got the shit knocked out of me for a few days after I'm sick. I just sleep it off as much as I can.
posted by futureisunwritten at 1:25 PM on October 16, 2015

Also if this is your first bad cold in a while and considering your age, this might be a stark example of how mid twenties you had a lot more energy than 32 year old you. This was the case with my friends and me. From our early thirties recovery times for anything seemed to take longer.
posted by kitten magic at 2:44 PM on October 16, 2015 [1 favorite]