The answer is YES

 Last week my little one was sick all week.  It started with a warning from the daycare.  On Thursday, they said, "We had a stomach bug going around today- we had to send several kids home." I didn't take her to school on Friday, I figured one less day of exposure was better.  However, I was too late.  Later in the day she developed a fever, she vomited a few times, and then she said she felt, "much better."  She had a fever on Saturday, but she seemed to be fine on Sunday.  On Sunday night she spiked a high fever and seemed to be pretty miserable.  She started coughing and developing a lot of mucus.  She was cranky, and tired, and didn't want to eat anything- she would only drink apple juice.  It was like that until Thursday night.  I kept her home on Friday for good measure- she seemed good on the weekend, so I sent her back to daycare on Monday.  

It's hard to see your little one suffering- is there anything worse?  The answer is- yes.  It's worse when I have it!  Even though T is feeling much better, I am not.  I don't have fever, but I have crazy sinus pressure, one nostril is plugged up and the other one is dripping, and the cough is making my whole rib cage hurt.  I have a sore throat, and I've lost my voice.  

Back in the day, I would totally power through this- when you don't have health insurance, what else can you do?  Really, now that I do have health insurance, what can a Dr. visit do?  I have a cold,  a brutal cold to be sure.  I've been taking OTC cold meds, and as I was rummaging through the medicine cabinet I found some cough syrup.  Elder cough syrup.  Cough syrup with codeine.   

Here's the thing with codeine- for most people it causes drowsiness.  A dr. gave me a codeine cough syrup one time telling me that it would help me stop coughing in the night, and help me sleep through the night so I could start feeling better.  So, I took it just before bedtime, and much to my surprise, I found I was not tired at all, but instead I could do everything fast.  But I was sick, and it was late, so I didn't have anything to do but sit on the sofa and knit super fast.   Apparently, for some people, codeine does not cause drowsiness.

So, I found this elder codeine cough syrup in the cabinet- and I considered what move to make next.  Nothing else is working- so should I take the syrup of old and do everything quickly?  Or will it make me sleepy this time?  It is expired no doubt.  I *should* throw it away- but I'm going to take it and see what happens next.