Casual Conversation

An older German hippie/IT master gave me this advice when we were in language school together in Japan almost 30 years ago.

“Water, rest, sex, ginger and garlic… not in any specific order but get as much of these as you can when you have a cold.”

Henrick, if you are reading this, thank you for the advice, it has served me well in life. If nothing else it helps improve my mood. I hope you and Lorna are doing well.

My Mom would make me drink Cranberry or CranApple juice when I felt a cold coming on to help prepare my body for the coming battle for survival. Really anything with antioxidants and vitamins would do but I have found Cranberry/CranApple juice helps with the onset of a sore throat too.

In the same vein a more modern solution I use than the Cranberry/CranApple juice is to put Emergen-C/Airbourn in some warm water with fresh-squeezed lemon juice and honey.

Also, don’t fight the fever if it isn't extreme, that is your body’s defenses at work, dampening that through meds seems to prolong the cold. I try not to use any medication except for nasal spray, throat lozenges or sleep aids if I can, otherwise I just let the cold run its course.

YMMV

Yes🫡.

And don't take paracetamol, ibuprofen or aspirin unless the fever get dangerously high, because you need the fever.

Also, I hope you get better soon!💐

If it's bad, star trek in bed. With lots of sleeping. Sleep is the best thing to do, star trek makes me stay in bed

Continue working... but poorly.

If I really have to be in bed... work still... but even more poorly.

But if I have to be in bed and can't function... then whine a lot (internally)... read if possible... or maybe binge a dumb show? (And continue more internal whining.)

It's pretty rare that I'm ever bed ridden though, so 🤷🏽

P.S. I feel really, really fortunate and need to acknowledge that privilege. Sure, I have health concerns and there is probably some dark mass broiling within 😅😐, but I'm currently able to care for and provide for my family, which is a huge deal. So... much much gratefulness for that. 💜🙏🏽

Watch movies, and play games. If you’re too miserable to do either, you’re not eating enough pills.

When I'm ill I tend to naturally wrap myself up in bed and sleep till I've sweat out the illness. I got COVID at the end of 2021 and slept for almost 36 hours straight, when I woke up it was almost completely gone.

If I can swing it whenever im sick I rest, hydrate, and eat. If not I maybe take stuff to get through the day but rest and sleep as much as I can in the evening.

This is one instance where having a job that can be done remotely, in a workplace that is permissive about these things, can be a bummer. Because even if I can't be productive for a full 8 hours, I can be for a portion of that, and if I have my camera off then nobody knows I look like hell. So I generally work (for part of the day) through anything that is not severe enough to have me in bed sleeping, or to have me not be able to talk to people.

Do people even get sick time as a separate pool from vacation/PTO time anymore (at least in the US)? I don't. So why take what amounts to a vacation day to be miserable, when I can tough it out, move my projects along for a few hours, and save my PTO for when I can enjoy it?

I'm a big fan of better living through pharmaceuticals, so I treat symptoms with over the counter meds as much as I can (but buy single ingredient meds rather than multi-symptom ones so you're not getting unnecessary drugs). I start them early if I feel a cold coming on.

Relieving any cough or congestion and being able to comfortably rest goes a long way towards feeling better. Talk to a pharmacist if you're not sure what to get, they know a lot about OTC meds as well as prescription ones.

As others have mentioned, fighting a low-grade fever is sometimes counter-productive. If I'm not feverish, I even like to soak in a hot bath to get my body temp up. If I'm running a fever, I'll bundle up with blankets as much as is comfortable. Drink a lot of water, Gatorade, or OJ to stay hydrated and keep an eye on your temp so you can get help if the fever gets too high.

Other than that I try to sleep as much as I can.

I’m one of those people that tries to sleep through it all

A lot of sleeping.

If I found myself getting sick I would simply say, "SICKNESS BE GONE!"

Bundle up, tell everybody I know to stay the fuck away, I stay home, and wait it out while I spend more money on DoorDash than any human being has any right to.