Full Circle Sickness

We can debate forever who brought the common cold into our house last week, but one thing is for sure, it has moved beyond my wife and son and recently made its home within me.  I thought this time I might be able to escape its grasp as I stayed fairly healthy during the early days of its presence within my wife and son, but lo and behold, I was wrong.  My son, who while still sick is doing much better now, was the first to fall victim to the cold.  Next came my wife a day or so later, and of course, despite my best efforts, it hit my like a freight train barrelling down a mountain without brakes yesterday.  It has to be one of the worst feelings (granted there are many worse feelings out there, but for the sake of argument and the fact that I am under the weather right now, I will stick to my claim) when your body starts to show signs of getting sick.  For me, it started with a knot in one of my shoulder muscles yesterday morning.  I knew impulsively that something was amiss, but wasn't entirely sure at the time what it was.  Throughout the morning, that knot slowly moved into the left side of my neck, burrowing itself in, creating a tension that wouldn't dissipate, and after that it was a steady downward trek for me into the aches and pains of a common cold.  The first sign I had that I was sick, although I still sincerely hoped it was only paint fumes that were doing it, was a deep rumbling cough emanating from my chest that felt like phlegm needed some releasing.  That feeling remained for some time, in fact there is still a lingering trace of that chest congestion, however, later in the afternoon, around 4, my body said "Dude, its time to get some rest, your sick."  How did I know this?  Because all energy and life seemed to leave me.  When I walked in the door from work, a quick stop before going to pick up our son from daycare, my wife (who was home sick both Monday and yesterday) asked, "What's wrong with you?"  Normally I would have taken offense to that question, but I simply responded, "I'm not feeling so well."  And thus began my cold.  Yesterday evening was a very early one, chicken/beef soup for dinner at about 6:45 followed soon after by my falling asleep on the couch and finally making it up to bed around 7:30. 

Some people would recommend taking medication for the cold.  I, however, have not taken any form of medication over the past three years and don't plan on starting now.  The only thing medication will do is alleviate the symptoms, not actually cure me, and make me feel like I am back to normal when I know that I am really not.  I could take medication, don't get me wrong, its not like I have an allergic reaction to it, I would just rather be in tune with what is going on in my body so I know when I can get back to normal activity than be drugged up, feel like normal, and inevitably prolong the cold due to my rushing back to work.  In all honesty, the cold that I have isn't that bad yet and I know if I take a day off from work today, rest and take it easy, I should be able to get back to work tomorrow.  While my cold won't be completely gone, the worst will have passed.  Even if I am not back to normal tomorrow, which I hope I am, at least I will be in tune with what the sickness is doing to me rather than be drugged up and have no clue.  The symptoms of a cold are there for a reason.  A runny nose drains toxins that have lodged in your sinuses.  A cough is there to eradicate post nasal drip and anything accumulating in the lungs.  And the aches and pains come from your body working overtime to rid itself of the cold.  Rather than take medication, I will inundate myself with fluids, water mostly, but certainly lots of herbal tea, and definitely some elderberry extract which helps boost your immune system.  That and my normal intake of vitamins will do more to get my body back to normal than any medication will.  Some will still argue with me about why it is necessary to feel like crap, but I am a staunch hold out now to a more natural recovery from sickness.  The only other remedy I will seek out is an adjustment from my chiropractor.  I felt my spine and neck go out of alignment yesterday (one of the benefits of being medication free is knowing when some part of your body goes off kilter) and I know that getting everything back into alignment will aid my body in fighting the cold.  How?  Simply put, when my spine and neck are back in alignment, my brain will be able to send the proper signals to help parts of my body fight off the cold.  Nothing fancy, just allowing my body to heal itself naturally. 

Having less energy than usual, I am ending my blog today a little shorter than usual.  I need to get my wife and son out the door and then I will be going back to sleep on a couch for a few hours.  Oh well, hopefully tomorrow will be better for me and I can get back to work.  For now, I am going to embrace my cold and let it run its course.  It sucks, especially since its been over a year since I have had a cold, but such is life.