Catholics Only: When you are sick, do you ponder it quietly, offering it up, or do you say something/request prayer?

I usually request prayer.

Why not do both?
Ask as many people as you want for prayers and while you're sick, offer your illness and sufferings to Jesus, all while asking Him to heal you of your illness. It doesn't have to be one or the other.
You can take medicines to relieve your pain; you can ask your priest for the Sacrament of the Sick too. We are not going against the will of God to by easing suffering.

I don't get sick very often and when I do I just wait it out (apart from seeing the doctor, taking rest, getting prescriptions etc). I've never been seriously ill unless you call appendicitis a serious illness (it could have been if I hadn't had my appendectomy).

But I think God used an illness to get me to start going to church.

Way back in 1982 I was not in a good way - I was going through a divorce, out of work, losing the home I was paying off etc.

I also had the flu so there wasn't much I could do. The Commonwealth Games were on in Brisbane (my home town at the time and I still live in the Greater Brisbane area).

I was thinking "There's got to be more to life that this!"

I don't watch sport but since I had the flu there wasn't much else to do. As I sat there watching TV though the image of the Church where I'd had some Sunday School when I was a kid kept coming to mind. It was very persistent and I couldn't get rid of it.

So when I got back on my feet I thought I'd better go back to the church and see why this persistent image kept reappearing.

To cut a long story short I became a Christian a few weeks later and made a commitment in that church. As I walked home I thouight there was something wrong with me as I felt like I was walking on air. But since then I've talked to a couple of other people who had a similar sensation after they'd made a commitment to Christ.

I sometimes wonder if God gave me the flu at that time so to force me to sit still long enough for him to get my atention.

I think if God was a politician and someobody asked him what he thought the best system was, He'd reply "Whatever works."

I suspect I partly became a Christian because I had the flu.

Good timing.

I should offer it up, but I never think to. I caught a cold when I went to my optometrist a couple days ago. I'm just working through it but I should offer it up...