Health and illness

Talking about sickness and pain

• My poor friend Gina is terminally ill. [She will die soon.] She suffers excruciating/unbearable pain most of the time. Apparently it’s an incurable illness that runs in her family.
• Dave annoys everyone at work. He takes days off even for the most trivial/minor ailments.
• It’s a serious illness, but probably not life-threatening.
• For a few days it was acutely/intensely painful, but now it’s just a dull ache. My doctor prescribed me some tablets and they relieved/alleviated the pain.
• Cora was taken ill the other day. She’s in hospital. They’re not sure what it is yet.
• I had a heavy cold and a splitting headache, so I wasn’t in a good mood. [the opposite of a heavy cold is a slight cold]