The Care and Feeding of an Immune System

When I was younger my little sister spent a lot of time in the hospital. She was born with a rare bone disease that caused her to not have a fully formed inner ear or an upper jaw until she was a few years old. She was in a lot of pain and she always had an ear infection. Since I was only a normal (if slightly clumsy) kid, my parents didn't spend very much time worrying about my health until we moved to Germany. Something about that country caused me to get strep throat that developed into pneumonia almost every 3 months like clockwork.

After many years of living on amoxicillian and Cloroseptic, I came back to the States with a nasty strep habit. If it's winter, I'm likely to be in bed, hacking up a lung. I've held amazing conversions with modern art in doctor's waiting rooms due to extremely high fevers. Once, when I was in basic training and had pneumonia again, I escorted 4 other soldiers and marines to the hospital for a check-in. My eyesight kept blurring the people in uniform and the plastic plants in the hallways together, but I got us all there. Never salute a ficus by the way, people look at you funny.

With my history of illness, you'd think I'd be the last person to take health advice from. Actually though I'm a survivor. While I have every reasonable expectation that someday it'll be a strain of pneumonia that takes me out, it's going to have to be a darned unusual one. I've had all those common strains and moved on. So I thought I'd offer some advice on being sick gracefully

• Drink clear liquids - If you can handle it, hot lemon tea with honey is great for a sore throat, but no matter what you need to be attached to a full cup of something the whole time. The faster you flush your system the faster you wash the crud out. Stay away from the caffeine right now, it won't help.
• SLEEP! - You may feel like a heel for not doing the 800 different daily tasks that no one else but you ever does, but you will not get better if you don't let your body do its job. You have to recharge the batteries more often then you might think.
• Eat lightly but as often as you need. - Stay away from dairy products if your illness has lots of mucus. Milk makes snot thicker most of the time. Have a little toast or other bread, enough to settle your stomach for your meds, but not more then you need.
• Take all the Medication you are given. - I know it seems like a waste, particularly if you're on an antibiotic strong enough to lay waste to your internal bacteria, but most modern illnesses are clever. They will back off before they give up and if you stop taking your meds then they come back stronger and drug-resistant. It won't hurt to take a multi-vitamin too.
• Check with your doctor about *all* your meds, even the over-the-counter stuff. - Always make sure that you're not taking a pill that reacts badly to citric acid with your morning orange juice. If you regularly drink a glass of wine, take insulin, take a decongestant, or spend lots of time in the sun, those very different things can effect some medications. Tell your doctor if you think there's *any* possible chance of interaction. Better to look a little silly and learn, then be dead.
• Have some yogurt handy - If you're pumping in massive amounts of antibiotics, you are going to get a stomach ache. You need most of the bacteria in your gut, so have some yogurt to help rebuild it. I use this excuse to get lots of tzatziki sauce when I'm sick.
• Be polite to the people around you - Some of us (me) get really nasty and sarcastic when we don't feel well. If you get mean, take yourself away from other humans until you feel better. This will result in people being more willing to bring you cold drinks and gyros when you ask.
• Bathe - Wash yourself, clean your hands before you touch your face, don't breathe on other people, don't lick the doorknobs, you know what I mean. And finally,

Take the time to slow down. Often we get sick because we over-work ourselves. Physically or mentally, we're overdoing it. Calm down, relax, and recuperate completely before throwing yourself back into the daily grind. Our bodies are wonderful self-repairing machines and if we give them a little room to work they can take care of us just fine for years.

None of this is new to you I'm sure. It's all information we've heard over and over again for years. The trick is doing it. I hope that the next time there's a flu scare or a case of strep in your area you'll remember to deal with it properly. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go back to bed.