Yep, I read it when I had a killer case of the flu and I just KNEW I was gonna die!
The book scared me silly.
You too huh, just like the time I first saw Night of the Living Dead when I was 12, and the report of "Cannibalism in Hagerstown, MD" (I used to live in Rockville at the time). Man, did I hole up in my room with a baseball bat after that....
As for the Stand, read it when I had the stomach flu at 15. And man, did I regret it. Scared and sick, not fun.