Common Cold: 2010-02
Yep. I got another cold; third one in the past twelve months! It’s hard to fathom that I used to go for two years without contracting one. Maybe I haven’t been eating enough vegetables or getting enough undisturbed sleep.
Then too, these colds often settle in my throat two to three days after riding the train or plane. So far, all I have is a runny nose and scratchy throat; no fever so far. This one matches that pattern as I did just travel here to [Emmy]‘s this past Sunday, and began noticing symptoms yesterday. In fact, I believe I get more colds when traveling, but admittedly, not every time I travel. This would be expected as traveling brings me very close to many people; any one of which could have a cold that they’re spreading around. The train was quite crowded for some reason this time.
Oh well, hopefully, this one won’t last very long. But while it remains, I’ll track its progress in the comments below.
…
This cold lasted eight days; short as colds go. But I’m immensely pleased.
February 27th, 2010 at 7:10 am
09:05 AM: Cold symptoms are worse today. The “scratchy” throat from yesterday has become a full-blown sore throat this morning, and my nose is running profusely. No signs of a sinus infection as of yet, but the discharge is pretty thick an cloudy today, whereas yesterday, it was as thin and clear as water. Also body-aches appeared upon waking today, centered on my neck and shoulders, and I’ve developed a slight cough. Yep, I think this cold will get worse before it gets better.
11:00 PM: I took two doses of Tylenol Extra Strength gel caps throughout today. These helped somewhat, though they by no means completely masked all discomfort.
February 28th, 2010 at 7:30 am
09:30 AM: I don’t feel quite as sick this morning. However, predictably, symptoms of a sinus infection have appeared; thick, yellow-green discharge from the nose upon waking up thi morning.. However now, some half-hour later, the mucus is clear again. Maybe it’s not a severe infection, which would be wonderful; especially with this being my third cold in the past twelve months. I must ask my doctor to check my blood for weak immune response when I next see him in June.
10:45 PM: I seemed to feel progressively better as today advanced. But this could have been because I had two doses of Tylenol Extra Strength pain reliever; one upon waking this morning, and the other this evening after supper.
March 1st, 2010 at 4:30 am
05:00 AM: Woke up early today. My nose isn’t quite as stuffy. But the congestion seems to have moved down to my throat and chest. Took 1500 MG of Tylenol Extra Strength.
06:25: The sore throat feels better and I’m not coughing as much. However, I’m not tired. So I’ll not go back to bed until later.
12:30 PM: Went back to bed for a couple hours. The cough has become rather dry but very painful, and my sense of smell has gone. So far I can still taste and there seems to be no fever.
March 2nd, 2010 at 7:15 am
08:30 AM: I feel much better today; I think I’ve turned the corner on this cold. Hopefully since I so recently got over another cold (just last August), this one will go away quickly. Plus, I’ll keep drinking the V8 juice every day until it’s gone. Not that I know for sure that this will help. But I figure that I won’t go wrong with the extra servings of vegetables that the V8 juice offers. If these good feelings persist, I may not have to take any more Tylenol.
11:00 PM: Some slight yellow discharge eminating from my nose still. However, the cough is breaking up rapidly, and I’m feeling like myself again. I took no Tylenol today. At this rate, this cold should be gone by the time I get back home this coming Sunday.
March 4th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
04:55 PM: I feel nearly a hundred percent. All the throat and other body aches are gone and there’s only a small amount of loose phlegm in my chest when I cough. My nose still discharges a small amount of yellow mucus every few hours. But I’m expecting that to disappear over the next day or two.
This cold retreated quite rapidly. Perhaps it was the V8 juice I’ve been drinking all week. Maybe the spicy Indian food “burned out” the cold virus. Perhaps I just got lucky and contracted a less virulant strain of cold this time around. I don’t know. But whatever the reason I got better so quickly, I’m tickled. I think I will resume drinking a couple cups of V8 every day, to be sure I’m getting at least some vegetables into my diet.
March 5th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
06:00 PM: The nose-running has stopped and all that’s left is an occasional compulsion to cough. But even this disappeared as today progressed. I don’t recall ever observing a cold go away so quickly before. But I’ll take it.
March 6th, 2010 at 8:09 am
10:00 AM: All symptoms of the cold have disappeared today. I think I’m a hundred percent healthy again. Glad it was a short one this time. Next time, I’ll have those Cold-Eeze lemon-lime zinc drops nearby, which they claim two clinical studies show to reduce the severity and duration of a cold by fifty percent when you take them at the first signs of a cold. Also, I suspect that the double serving of V8 juice with all that vitamin C helped me recover faster as well.