self medicater

Thursday morning I woke up feeling like I got run over by a truck. Granted, a couple days earlier I slammed really hard skating (sideways whiplash? I had it) and the night before I rode Western's campus with Sean Newton, Livin' Proof Brice (so good to ride with Brice!), Chris Ballard and a few other dudes, which was a solid work out (and super fun), so I had reason to be sore and stiff, but this was ridiculous. An hour later I realized I was getting sick and that was it. It's all the rage to be sick lately so I was just trying to fit in. Luckily, I was able to lay low and didn't have to be anywhere. By Saturday, the "viral" symptoms and fever were letting up but now, not only were my legs making me walk like I was 90, my arms and hands were locking up too. Of course, I'm a hypochondriac as it is, so this is more of a concern than a fever, vomiting and being bed-ridden, but I was really struggling to so much as make a fist or push the shutter button to take photos of my kids on Halloween (Halloween was still really fun despite hobbling around and making my wife open things for me).
Today my legs felt somewhat better but still the hands and arms thing. Luckily, since there is the internet, I don't have to go to a real doctor. I've determined that I have Myalgia (muscle stiffness), which may be due to one of the following conditions: Acute Endocarditis, African Tick Bite Fever, Human granulocytic
anaplasmosis, Bronchitis, Chikungunya, Common cold, Community-acquired
pneumonia, Coccidioidomycosis, Dengue fever, Endemic typhus, HIV, Infectious
mononucleosis, Influenza, Legionellosis, Leptospirosis, Lyme disease,
Malaria, Marburg virus, Meningitis, Monkeypox, Pharyngitis, Pneumonia,
Prostatitis, Psittacosis, Q fever, Rabies, Rift Valley fever, Ross River
Fever, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Tonsillitis, Toxic shock
syndrome, Acute toxoplasmosis Trichinosis, Typhoid fever, Upper respiratory
tract infection, Viral pneumonia, West Nile virus.
Or, another thing I read said this: "Myalgia without a traumatic history is often due to viral infections."
Weird.
Here's a photo of Pre-Med Trail Boss Chris Ballard, shredding his own "Mind Fudger" trails this summer. Photo by Dr. S. McNewton UnderBeardicus