Cold head, warm heart

[j4]

I have a stinking cold. I am also stomach-crampy and hot and tired for the Obvious Reason. This is not interesting; stop reading now if you want 'interesting'.

Yesterday I subjected my cold to a brutal regime comprising: chilli (in a green Thai chicken sandwich); pure fruit juice (orange and raspberry); satsumas; decongestants; some kind of mad herbal cold remedy tablets; lemsip; coffee; Red Bull; and choc chip muffins (you 'feed a cold', right?). If I were a cold, I would be running away right now. I will be well by the end of this week, if it kills me.

The thought of going to a karate class last night in this state of health wasn't incredibly appealing, but I went anyway, and actually had one of the best lessons in ages. We went through all the set sequences that I need to know for my purple-belt grading at the end of November (I've been putting it off for Far Too Long, but I will do it this time), and I felt as though I was getting things right more often than not. I know all the moves, but there are times when I feel like I'm fighting against my body and times when I feel like it's working with me; this was one of the latter times.

I've spent a long time over the last few months trying to channel lots of hurt and anger and resentment into blocks and kicks and punches, which is great from the point of view of raw power but lousy for style or technique; it breaks everything up into pieces, divorces body from mind. You can't try to convert the emotional into the physical; you just have to realise that they're the same thing. Now I feel as though I've let a lot of the anger go, and suddenly everything is flowing more freely again, from the blood in my veins to the thoughts in my head.

Okay, so it would be nice if my sinuses would get with the programme; but let's not ask for the moon (on a stick): we have the stars.

Comments

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

My attitude is "if my sinuses are giving me crap, I will give them pseudoephedrine hydrochloride".
Sudafed is great. It makes me happy, too.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Sudafed is what I'm taking. Doesn't seem to be having much effect TBH, though I suppose I might be even more grotty and snotty without it...

I am definitely happy, but I don't think that's the drugs. ;)

[k425.livejournal.com]

Have you tried sinex - the stuff you squirt up your nostrils? It can make you wince when it actually hits your sinuses, but the relief!

I speak as a cold-stricken just-over-my-period sufferer. I can manage without paracetamol if I've got sinex.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Sinuses are currently just feeling blocked-up rather than really hurting, so I don't want to start shoving more drugs into the system if I can help it...

I find Feminax really helps the stomach cramps. Unfortunately I forgot to buy some, & probably couldn't take it with the sudafed anyway as I think they both have paracetamol in.

GAH I AM SO BORED OF BEING ILL!

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

Standard sudafed pills contain only pseudoephedrine hydrochloride.

[j4.livejournal.com]

[checks box]

Bugger, so they do. Should have bought the Feminax. Except I'd've still forgotten, probably, as my brane is full of cold.

Ah well at least period pains do reliably go away within a couple of days. AND SO WILL THIS COLD GODDAMNIT.

[k425.livejournal.com]

But that's what I love about the sinex - it cuts through the blockedness so I can breathe. Once I can breathe, the heavy head and headachiness disappear incredibly quickly so I don't need any systemic drugs. Except what I take for the period pains.

What's in Feminax?

[juliet]

Glad things are being happy :-)

I do not get on At All Well with Sudafed - pseudoephedrine makes me panicky & physically overheated & other such.

Mostly my theory of dealing with colds involves going to bed with a mug of lemon juice/hot water/fresh grated ginger/smidge of cinnamon/hefty splash of whisky, & sleeping a lot.

[j4.livejournal.com]

Sleeping a lot would be marvellous. And anything with whisky in always helps. :-) Unfortunately Tuesday is the day of the week when I really do have to be in work if at all possible, to do the Reporter... and I am very twitchy about taking sick leave anyway.

I will try to get an early night tonight though!

[panzerpenguin.livejournal.com]

I can recommend you to some excellent people in Oxford if you wish to learn knife/sword fighting too, as well as traditional European martial boxing (17th century and earlier - based on the same principles as the fencing of the period and much more effective than modern 'sport' boxing).

[j4.livejournal.com]

I already do some sword work with the school I'm training with -- they teach a wide variety of styles/techniques; the sword stuff isn't really "fighting" on the whole, as it's all very formal and stylised; but that suits me. (I'm more on the "arts" side of "martial arts", really.)

Also Oxford's not terribly convenient while I'm based in Cambridge ...

But thanks anyway. :)

linacre school of doing people in

[anat0010.livejournal.com]

Is it any good ? I'd love to duel (properly 18th C style), but not
too keen on 17th C sword + daggers stuff. What sorts of sword play do
they induldge in ?

Re: linacre school of doing people in

[panzerpenguin.livejournal.com]

Their website here (http://www.sirwilliamhope.org/) should be able to answer your questions. I'm not involved, just a long-term friend of knirirr (http://www.livejournal.com/users/knirirr/) who runs it.

[oldbloke.livejournal.com]

I didn't see doughnuts in that list
You need doughnuts
They form a wodge of STUFF that pushes the mucus right out of your gut.

[j4.livejournal.com]

STUFF, eh? This is all getting a bit scientific for me...

Anyway I would love doughnuts, but I can't get into town now to get any. Don't choc chip muffins work?

[oldbloke.livejournal.com]

Depends how many, and how dense they are. You want about half a dozen standard or 3 BFO. And it's still Not The Same: different STUFF.

Cat litter might work - soaks up all kinds of poisons.

[imc.livejournal.com]

Cola flavoured doughnuts!

[imc.livejournal.com]

I have a stinking cold.

I hope that's not from kissing bopeepsheep. Ah no, you didn't did you. Unless it was while I was in the bathroom.

suddenly everything is flowing more freely again, from the blood in my veins to the thoughts in my head.

Hoorah!

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

If nothing else shifts your sinuses, a shot of lemon juice up each nostril will, though it hurts like hell and usually costs a heavy nosebleed.

Also, miso soup. Lemsip and the like are all fumbling approximations to how good miso soup is for you when you have a cold. I think it can be got at some of those little Asian markets on Mill Road.

If it goes to your throat, alternating sips of extremely hot lemony/elderflower tea and extremely cold vodka will make it stop hurting, or failing that, eventually make you stop caring that it hurts.

Now I feel as though I've let a lot of the anger go, and suddenly everything is flowing more freely again

Excellent. *hug* Usually, the transition from one of those states to another for me is accompanied by the condensation of yet another insanely ambitious thing to write around some of the energy, it's like an electron hopping down a shell and giving off photons.

[besskeloid.livejournal.com]

In circumcises like these, I turn to Otrivine for my schnozz & Difflam spray for the back of me throat. Chilli too, of course. GWS, gril!