Hmm sounds like you had a bad bacterium goin' around. Bacon was right on about antibiotics not helping with the influenza virus. However, as Premonition said, bacterial infections can give very flu-like symptoms.
BTW the reason docs often say "Take some rest and come back in a week." is because there is currently no way to tell if you have a virus or bacteria. Not much they can do about the virus, but if it doesn't get better after a week odds are its bacteria and -then- they'll give you the antibiotics.
First aside: Today I attended a bioMEMS conference and there was a talk about virus detection. They were saying one way to test if it's a virus or bacteria is by gene expression - it's just a fancy word for how your body is reacting to the thing, but it requires a fairly complicated genetic test. With the new device they're developing they could complete the test in only about 9 hours. If this becomes successful (FDA approval is pending - FDA has never seen anything like this, so they're having to figure out and write the policy on it...), you might not have to have a second visit. You'd get a blood test and the next day your Doc would call and actually be able to tell you what's up.
Second aside: I know it's a pain to do the second visit if it is bacteria, but over-use of antibiotics is why bacteria are evolving at an incredibly dangerous rate. Interesting aside: One of my colleagues is working on a technique to sense bacterial communication. Bacteria aren't resistive until the form a large group (quorum), so the idea is to prevent communication, which breaks the quorum and makes the bacteria much more easy to kill.
BTW the reason docs often say "Take some rest and come back in a week." is because there is currently no way to tell if you have a virus or bacteria. Not much they can do about the virus, but if it doesn't get better after a week odds are its bacteria and -then- they'll give you the antibiotics.
First aside: Today I attended a bioMEMS conference and there was a talk about virus detection. They were saying one way to test if it's a virus or bacteria is by gene expression - it's just a fancy word for how your body is reacting to the thing, but it requires a fairly complicated genetic test. With the new device they're developing they could complete the test in only about 9 hours. If this becomes successful (FDA approval is pending - FDA has never seen anything like this, so they're having to figure out and write the policy on it...), you might not have to have a second visit. You'd get a blood test and the next day your Doc would call and actually be able to tell you what's up.
Second aside: I know it's a pain to do the second visit if it is bacteria, but over-use of antibiotics is why bacteria are evolving at an incredibly dangerous rate. Interesting aside: One of my colleagues is working on a technique to sense bacterial communication. Bacteria aren't resistive until the form a large group (quorum), so the idea is to prevent communication, which breaks the quorum and makes the bacteria much more easy to kill.
I'm just finishing my master's in electrical engineering focusing on microelectronics. I only know a bit about these topics because people in my group are applying microelectronics to bio/med applications.
Seriously I start a vaccination programme next week and I am gonna be sick of the sight of them by Friday. Anyone wants to buy me a ticket I can do house calls 
Got that stuff last Friday and just now getting over it. 
I was told it last for about a week 
It was a freezer with artic blast units to help keep ice cream, ice and other foods from thawing out too quick when the sat out on a dock too be loaded on trucks for delivery too the local markets. I always keeped a sinus infection or a upper respitory infection at least 3-4 times a year winter being the worst 
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