desanté – n. the brooding delirium of being sick, which makes time slow to a trickly and turns even the most pathetic of tasks into monumental struggles, until the act of lifting your head from the pillow feels like trying to climb a mountain, wondering if you’ll every find your way back again, or even catch your breath.

I had desanté when I caught COVID the first time. I struggled with energy, feeling incredibly listless and tired. At times I was fine, but at others, I collapsed into bed, not even wanting to lift my head to watch TV.

I also felt like this when I had the flu in 2005 or 2006. A miserable couple of days where I didn’t want to do anything by lay in bed, not read, not watch anything, just lay, suffer, and attempt to sleep.

However, most of the time I just keep going through colds, through strep, through various other illnesses. I struggle to sit still.

From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows