Yeah, I have a z-pack and albuterol now (though it's the first time I've used an inhaler, and I think it just got all over my tongue, even with the spacer). Plus my insurance is being whacky (in a bad way) about how much they're paying for prescriptions, so I have to call them Monday.

I can take sick time in theory, but I'm supposed to fly to Phoenix Tuesday evening. And there's a ton of stuff I didn't get done LAST week because I was sick...argh.

Part of the reasoning behind it was that, for distance cyclists, there is a lot of muscle repair each night and the gluten supposedly slowed down the healing by causing inflammation. I'm going to look and see if I can find something about it, but that was the general idea.

Without having done any research myself, I feel like there are a lot of wackadoo health claims around various dietary changes. That said, if they aren't leading to malnutrition, I vote whatever works for you.

I think the deal is that *if* a person has gluten issues, then eating it can cause inflammation (not just gastrointestinal issues; there is a host of problems that gluten causes for people who are sensitive to it that have nothing to do with the gut).

That's not the same as saying that gluten causes inflammation for everyone, because it doesn't. For people who don't have a problem with gluten, eating it won't lead to any physical problems (except maybe extra weight if they eat nothing but Little Debbie snack cakes [man, I MISS Little Debbies SO MUCH]).

It's like peanut allergies (or any other allergy) -- if you have the allergy/sensitivity, eating it will cause you problems. If you don't have the allergy, then eating it won't cause problems.

Um, honey? You don't mess with pneumonia. It can seriously take you out for weeks and weeks if you don't take it easy.

You are NOT flying to Phoenix with pneumonia, meara! that's a great way to land in the hospital.

Your boss can talk to me.

...I already flew to Spokane and San Francisco with pneumonia, hey?

Erin's in charge, remember.

Billytea, I've spent the whole thread trying to figure out the theme "The Wire" shares with Teletubbies...the best I can come up with is about Taking Stuff That Isn't Yours Can Be Bad. Am I close? I used to think the actor that played McNulty was Australian because apparently bad Balmer + posh London comes up Aussie to my American ears. I hope everyone feels better soon.

I did go ahead and cancel my date tonight...

You need to stay home if for no other reason than to stop spreading your illness, meara!!! I sure hope you feel better soon.

Feel better, meara!

ita, I'm sorry that you have to spend so much time in the ER and so much time in pain for that matter.

(If you cut a lemon in pieces and 'wave it for 30 secs, it loosens all the dried up junk and makes it much easier to clean.)

Spraying the microwave with white vinegar and then running it for 30 seconds also works really well.