The Revenge of the Chain E-mail...

...apparently, it is a bug. Yes, this teeny, weeny germ that I cannot hope to see and consequently slam something heavy down upon it, has me laid low and requires me to summon up more energy that is imaginable just to sit here, in a big comfortable chair, to type! Who'd have known? So. This is pretty bad, I suppose, since I have not been sick like this in a long time. Other that sucking on some Vitamin C and using an effervescent tablet called "Airborne" that has a funny but lemony taste, I am not medicating myself - no pills, no analgesics, no Cold-Eeze with the anti-histamines that might make me sleep three days. If, by the end of tomorrow I am not feeling better, then I will worry that this little bug is too much for me to kill on my own and then I will get out the big pharmaceutical guns. Until then, I am doing what anyone should do - let my body fight it.

Well, yes, I konw that the drug stores and the medication counters at the supermarket have all sorts of items on hand that you can swallow, shoot, snort, or rub into your belly - whatever floats your boat. However, all these drugs do is suppress all the bad things you are feeling. Sounds nice, doesn't it? Well, it really isn't. All those little annoyances such as mucus (runny or viscous), muscle aches, headache, runny eyes, fever (usually low-grade), weariness, not wanting to eat - those things are not your body's way of making you feel miserable - it is your body's way of fighting the infection off. That is the sole purpose of all of those lousy symptoms! It's your body waving its arms and screaming "YA, YELLOW KITTY, YA!!" at the germs or invaders that are doing this to you!

So my feeling is that the first three days of any cold/upper respiratory condition I will allow my body to pull out all the stops and do its thing. I will also go out of my way to make sure that it gets a lot of rest to do its dirty work. I am not a proponent of going into work sick. Yesterday on waking I felt a little run down and the very slight hint of the sore throat that I had had Monday night turned into a full-blown sore throat with laryngitis. But otherwise I felt fine and so did not feel that I could not go to work. Besides, it was Payroll day - that HAS to get done. No options there.

I have discovered that after a full day of nothing - no activity, no medications, I am almost completely over it with the exception of some residual mucus or a light cough. Or a sort of "hey-baby" Barry White sound to my voice. Otherwise I am back to normal. Let's hear it for NOT taking pharmaceuticals!

So today this is my first foray out of bed, and guess what... I am exhausted. Totally and utterly drained! It is time to go back to bed, or maybe brew some water for a hot cuppa... Later I will have a soak in the tub. All healthy things... that will suck every last bit of energy out of me!