I sound a bit like Darth Vader now because of effort it takes for me to breath...It's Day 4 of the cold for me and the tap is still running, if you know what I'm saying.

One thing I hate about colds and flus especially is not so much the runny nose, sore throat, drowsy medication etc, but the fact that sometimes you can't breathe properly. This happens especially for me when I lie down to sleep at night. After a while, a lot of the mucus builds up and I have difficulty breathing easily and especially quietly.

I share the bedroom with my mum so I have to be careful not to wake her up. However, it gets to a point when so much mucus builds up than I have to blow my nose or try and clear my throat a little. At this point, if I really need to do it, I have to leave the bedroom.

I've tried breathing through my mouth but it doesn't help much. It just makes my throat dry and I end up unable to sleep because I feel thirsty. This in turn starts a vicious cycle. If I do decide to take a drink and go to bed, by the time I feel groggy enough to fall asleep, my bladder starts sounding an alarm in my brain.

And so I usually end up comfortably curled up in bed, my mind on the verge of drifting off but being held back by the niggling urge to use the bathroom. I try to fight it and ignore it, but most of the time I lose. I end up dragging myself out of bed, groping in the darkness for the lightswitch and then squinting in the sudden brghtness. Then it's back to the bedroom, where I finally lay down my exhausted body to rest.

Only then, after all these trials and tribulations, do I finally fall asleep.

And can you imagine this happening consecutively for a few nights everytime you have a flu or cold? It just sucks.

But that's life, or rather my life, I guess.

Hope I get well soon.... either that or maybe replace my bladder with a steel tank.