The Upside of a Cold
September 30, 2010 – 4:03 pm
BLUuuuuuuuuurgh. cough. cough. hack. bluuuuuuuuurgh.
I came down with the wicked wickedest of colds this week. Like a hum-dinger of a cold. The kind where you hack all night long and wake up more tired than you were when you went to bed. More specifically, I think this would be called a Viral Respiratory Infection (involving the chest), since the common cold doesn’t typically involve a chest congestion (Plus, I had one once and went to the doctor and she said Viral Respiratory Infection and it felt exactly like this except with a fever. In case you’re curious, that doctor said: go home and get in bed; this will last about a week.). At any rate, Ick. pregnancy + cold = miserable. It came on Saturday, and I spent Sunday through Tuesday in bed. I admit I freaked out a little about it, being as there is an epidemic of Whooping Cough (Pertussis) in California, and I have been hearing a lot of propaganda about newborns and pertussis vaccinations (that’s another post) from pediatricians. For me to freak out about a slight illness is not normal, and entirely pregnancy-induced. I called the Midwife in a slight panic on Sunday morning:
me: I have a cough do you think I have Whooping Cough?
her: No. It’s probably just a cold. Several people have called me saying they have a cold in the last few days. You would know if you had Whooping Cough because it’s very violent coughing.
me: Are you sure because I googled the symptoms and it starts out looking like a cold and you get a runny nose and sneezy and then it progresses to a….(and so on)
her: Stay in bed. Eat hot foods. Soup would be good. Send Jordan to the grocery store. Tell him to make you ginger chest compresses. Always have a pot of tea with honey by the bed. You can take some Robitussin at night so you can sleep, and elderberry syrup during the day. If you’re not feeling better by Wednesday then we’ll make you an appointment with the acupuncturist. Don’t worry.
me: ok (feeling somewhat reassured, but still suspicious, and occasionally covertly doing more googling).
Three days in bed. Hubs made an enormous pot of soup (God bless Hubs). Then Wednesday I get up. I’m feeling more peppy. Still coughing but the cough has turned a corner and is now a productive cough, and is altogether less coughing. Wise German Midwife was right. I’m still staying close to home, because I do not play around with pregnancy and a compromised immune system.
I attribute my catching of the cold to my immune-suppressed pregnant state, and my frequent use of public transportation, despite my somewhat obsessive hand-washing and use of herbal hand sanitizer. And I was feeling really rotten about getting a cold (I hate getting sick, or any kind of less-than-ideal health status) until yesterday, when I was telling my chiropractor about it.
She reminded me of that a cold can actually be a detoxifying mechanism for the body. The body uses the opportunity to expel mucous, dead cells, and other toxic materials via the respiratory passages. And often when we fast or cleanse intentionally, we get cold and flu-like symptoms as part of the cleansing process. So, theoretically, a cold can help us detox, and a detox can cause a cold. And being as pregnancy has rather slowed down my normal elimination mechanisms (i.e. pooping), that my body may be in need of a detox makes sense to me.
So here I stay, at least until the sputum stops flowing. At home. Drinking tea. Eating soup. Letting the thing run it’s course and trying not to feel too bad about it.
