Monday, 6th July 2009
Under the Influenza?
She sneezed - noisily.
She looked furtively around her - all of us were feigning nonchalance. Then she scrabbled around in her bag, took out a sachet of towelettes, and blew her nose in one of them. I happened to be sitting down next to her and I couldn't help noticing that she had squeezed some of the cologne out of the towelette, and this - no doubt combined with a good number of germs - was trickling down her wrist.
She wiped her wrist on the thigh of her jeans, leaving a smear - at which she proceeded to rub with the same moist tissue. Then she balled it up - and put it back in the packet with the unused ones, as she hastily explained that this "always" happens to her in summer, because she is allergic to the sun.
It has now dawned on people that influenza is not merely a "terrible cold" gone worse, but a totally different illness, despite the fact that a number of the symptoms are the same.
With the unwritten words "swine flu" writ large over the heads of anyone who coughs and sneezes, there still remain some people who are oblivious to basic good manners.
Most of us know that a cold may occur in any season. It is an infection of the nose and throat. Seeing one's doctor about it is uncalled for, unless it lasts for more than a fortnight, or the symptoms become much worse after three days, or one is prone to secondary infections (sinusitis, bronchitis) or has asthma, emphysema, diabetes, or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
The common cold is not cured by medication - least of all antibiotics. The first thing to do is to drink copious amounts of fluid, most of which ought to be plain water until the urine is clear. Rest is imperative. Petroleum jelly or any other barrier cream applied to sore noses will soothe them, and gargling with salt water will help ease the "sandpaper feeling".
Tisanes made with herbs and local honey will also alleviate symptoms.
Influenza is a viral disease of the respiratory tract (nose, throat, bronchial tubes and lungs). Symptoms include a cough, muscle and joint pain, high fever, chills, fatigue, weakness and lethargy, headaches, and eye pain.
In either case, however, "coughs and sneezes spread diseases" and "prevention makes perfect".
We have all heard the jokes about oinkments and sty-ing put, and tweetments and migration. On a more serious note, however, it is obvious that the healthier your lifestyle, the more resilient your immune system will be, and the less likely you are to succumb to viral or bacterial infections. Well-being requires enough sleep, healthy food, personal cleanliness, and at least a modicum of exercise.
At least, the frenzy over swine flu has had one "positive" effect - it has taught us that influenza of whatever type is not just a pain in the neck, and that it may cause serious, long-lasting harm. Complications are more apt to develop the longer you have the virus, so medical advice is absolutely necessary.
Common sense precautions include the following:
• Eat your greens.... and reds and yellows. Granny was right; the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants found in dark-green, red, and yellow vegetables and fruits help you fight off illness.
• Exercise regularly. Every time you take aerobic exercise, you are enhancing your body's natural resistance against disease.
• Keep clean; cleanliness really is next to godliness... and prevents contagion.
• Although it has been established that an amount of stress enhances decision-making skills, too much of it harms the immune system.
• Sleep. Shakespeare rightly tells us that "Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care; The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath; Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, Chief Nourisher in life's feast." Enough said.
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Comments
bravo!
R