dcphotos wrote:
If I was doing the shoot, I would appreciate if you let me know ahead of time you're not feeling well. That way you wouldn't be considered a flake if you couldn't make the shoot. If you're better by the shoot, then great!

I have shot with models that were sick and while I appreciated they showed up, it's very difficult to look your best with a cold. I'm sorry I don't have a good suggestion but its difficult to look good with a cold no matter how much medication you have.

Thank you so much for being honest with me. I hope I get better before that because I would hate to not look my very best or need to cancel. I will definitely be following your advice!

Kaia Murphy wrote:
I think you should let the photographers know and let them cast a vote in whether or not the shoots occur. Some people are extremely susceptible to illnesses, and they should be informed if they may be exposed to anything transmittable during the shoot.

In the mean time, be sure to take an expectorant if you're coughing up any guck. It'll help avoid adding to your throat pain.

Hope you find yourself on the mend ASAP!

That's another good point! Thank you!

Samantha Emme wrote:
The doctor will likely help make it go pretty quick. Hopefully he gets you a penicillin shot (a.k.a peanutbutter shot). It usually cures strep within a few hours.

Also if it is strep, mucinex won't do shit. It will only loosen mucus from nose/sinuses and upper respiratory mucous. Strep will have this white pussy looking stuff in the back of your throat near the tonsils, and usually people's lymph nodes swell (not always, but often).

Until you go to the doctor, stick to tylenol if you have a fever, and drink your OJ. The acidity in it helps cut back mucous, and the vitamin c is always good for making you look less tired, and helping keep you sick less.

hot showers, hot tea, and steam will also help loosen it up.

Source: Medic. I deal with this crap all the time.

thank you soooo much! i'd definitely rather have penicillin than miss a shoot!

Images by MR wrote:
If I was one of the photographers you were set to shoot with I'd rather you contacted me to set a new date / time rather then show up sick.   

Just my thoughts ~ MR

Agreed. Showing up ill is pretty inconsiderate to the people you're exposing yourself to. I don't want to catch some zombie strain from patient zero. If you're sick, cancel the shoot. I'll work with you when you're healthy.

Ken Marcus Studios wrote:
You really should contact the photographer right away and inform him/her of your illness, so they can decide if the shoot plans should continue as planned or postpone them to another day.

If you showed up sick at my studio without telling me, I'd be rather pissed and send you home.

It's very selfish of you to expose others to your sickness just because you want to do a shoot.

KM

I have to agree with this.  If you had something potentially contagious and you gave it to me I might end up losing money because I was too sick to work.  If I thought it was you that gave it to me I would be pretty upset.  If you show up for work sick you really need to consider what you might be doing to other people.

Ken Marcus Studios wrote:
It's very selfish of you to expose others to your sickness just because you want to do a shoot.

Thank you for your honesty. I will definitely be contacting the photographers right now to let them know.

But please understand that I did not want to cancel out of selfishness, its because I was worried that if I told them they would think I was making up excuses and flaking out. That's why I asked for help on trying to get over the sickness before the shoot, and if I was still a bit ill how to keep the illness at bay enough to not be contagious. My doctor told me that as long as I don't have a fever, I am not contagious.

Nyctiphaes wrote:
just tell them ahead and ask to reschedule, if they re professional and have some sense, they ll understand it.
If they dont, well you should not work with them anyways.

I get what the OP is trying to say though. Lots of photographers whine and moan about 'flakes', and she does not want to appear as a flake.

Myself, I had to cancel a shoot the day of because I had a severe allergic reaction to something I ate the night before, and I was still in the hospital and highly medicated. The photographer was very understanding, but I could have fallen on one who would have blacklisted me.

Jordan L Duncan wrote:
So I ended up catching some of this gross crud that is going around and I think it might have turned into strep throat. I am going to my doctor to get meds asap of course, but I am also wondering if anyone has some things that have worked for them to help them get over colds and such faster.

I have 2 (possibly 3) outdoor shoots coming up where I'll be wearing next to nothing. There is no way I'm going to cancel these shoots, and I want to be 100%. I know that no matter how sick I am I can still work. My main problem is that I don't want snot running down my nose or something while I'm trying to be a sexy vixen.

Right now I'm taking a ton of liquids, eating lots of vitamin and antioxidant rich foods, taking zinc and vitamin c and b12. Is there anything else I can do? Or at least hold the sickness off for a few hours of shooting?


---------------------------------------------------

Just contacted them to let them know I might be sick. Going to leave it up to them to decide if they want to risk it or not. Still gonna take the best possible care of myself and go to the doctor because shooting or not I don't want to be sick any longer than I have to be.

Thanks everyone for your replies and honesty.

Vitamin D and lots of sleep.

Rollo David Snook wrote:
Didn't see much in the way of natural remedies. Mix up apple, honey, lemon and cinnamon drink 5 pints of the stuff over a day. Sweat as much as possible. Apply mind over matter, it works. You might not lift an X-wing starfighter with your mind like Yoda, but you can train yourself to battle the common cold easily enough.

I so love that you referenced Star Wars. I was up all night reading DeathStarPR's twitter feed because I felt so bad that I couldn't sleep.

Gonna try that miracle Jedi drink as well.

Jordan L Duncan wrote:

Thank you for your honesty. I will definitely be contacting the photographers right now to let them know.

But please understand that I did not want to cancel out of selfishness, its because I was worried that if I told them they would think I was making up excuses and flaking out. That's why I asked for help on trying to get over the sickness before the shoot, and if I was still a bit ill how to keep the illness at bay enough to not be contagious. My doctor told me that as long as I don't have a fever, I am not contagious.

1. Notifying someone ahead of time is not flaking.
2. I would opt to reschedule for two reasons: First, I don't want to get sick or have anyone else involved with our shoot get sick. Second, think about how puffy/swollen/discolored your eyes are when you're sick. Do you really want that in your portfolio?

Just Danielle wrote:
manuka Honey by the table spoon 3 times a day, I never get ill since taking this and my kids come home with every illness going!

What is manuka honey?

Jordan L Duncan wrote:

What is manuka honey?

^^^^^^^^_ answered

P I X I E wrote:

I get what the OP is trying to say though. Lots of photographers whine and moan about 'flakes', and she does not want to appear as a flake.

Myself, I had to cancel a shoot the day of because I had a severe allergic reaction to something I ate the night before, and I was still in the hospital and highly medicated. The photographer was very understanding, but I could have fallen on one who would have blacklisted me.

oh my god. this exact thing has happened to me before. It was like 1am the morning of a shoot, i had to be up at 6am and on the train at 8am for a 9am start and all of a sudden could not stop spewing. I ended up spending three days in the ER with crazy food poisoning. The worst part was it was a Saturday night/Sunday morning shoot. You can imagine what the photographer was thinking "oh i bet she went out clubbing all night blah blah blah" It was honestly horrible, I felt like theeeee biggest flake even though I knew I wasn't, I was just super worried about what they would have been thinking but then again no photographer have wanted someone spewing all the way through the shoot. But yeah not fun!

As for the OP: behind the counter cold and flu tablets. I shot today, and I have a cold/flu/possible death approaching (haha) and it was freezing and windy and I had a couple of those when I woke up and they perk you up enough and get rid of the symptoms long enough for the shoot to end, then you can go home and die as I am doing now Try and get the ones with pseudoephedrine (or however you spell fml)it because it does wonders clearing out your sinus' and throat and nose etc. Worked a treat for me! Even my doc recommends these over antibiotics because of the pseudo stuff or whatever it is, oh plus they have codeine to get rid of any aches and pains andddddd some vitamins and stuff! There's heaps of different brands. But yeah if you wake up feeling like death on the day of a shoot, these will at least mask the symptoms for that time Good luck!