I must've stayed a bit too long in the wind yesterday on the beach, 'cause I woke up with screwy sinuses and a sore throat. A bit. Things always seem worse when you're sleeping or have just woken up, don't they? Anyway, accepting the consequences of my actions, I bee-lined for my number one cold treatment, especially when on the road.
It occurred to me I don't actually know how you're supposed to treat a cold. Conventionally, I mean. Personally, I think it's a bit of a sissy ailment that people make too big a deal of, so I mostly ignore it and keep chugging the fruit juice until it relents. I'll dig into some berries in just a sec, too. Way I see it, you're loading up on Vitamin C which at the very least can't hurt.
Besides, what are you expected to do? First thing that popped into my mind was the myriad of cough drops and lozenge types that are so popular, but as the name suggests, those are more for coughing. They taste good, for one, too good to be any actual good for your throat, you know? But pretty limited use, seems to me, so not worth carrying or investing in.
What else? Aspirin? Fuck aspirin. I don't do aspirin unless my head hurts really bad. Interesting thing, actually, I got to thinking about the times I have resorted to aspirin, ibuprofen or other similar pills. And you know the weird thing I realized?
It's always when I'm feeling impatient and out of sorts with myself. You know how sometimes you get into an irate state and decide it's okay to sort of abuse your body? So some people will drink more than they should or do something that's bad for them, but that they welcome because maybe they're not feeling too hot about themselves at the moment.
That's the emotion I always associate with taking pills. For me, it's always the feeling of "fuck it, I can't make good, responsible, healthy choices for myself right now".
See, I know the meds aren't good for me and shun them as a general rule, but very rarely, I'll get that devil on my shoulder that says fuck it, might as well. Take the easy way out.
Maybe I'm crazy, but if I'm not, that doesn't say good things exactly about the pharmaceutical industry.
People these days are popping pills like it's goddamn candy. Obviously, I don't mean people dealing with actual disease (ie. cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, you know, the real big 'uns). Like I have friends who, if I complain about a headache, they'll say take an aspirin. Take some ibuprofen. Have you taken so-and-so? Have you seen a doctor?
What for? It's a headache. It will pass. Unless it's high fever which scares the fuck outta me 'cause I need this brain, I see no point in taking stuff. I certainly don't join in this pill-popping merriment that abounds in our society.
People these days are taking a fistful of pills and "seeing someone" about every goddamn little thing. Toothache? You should see somebody. Headache? Belly ache? Shit your pants? Wishing you were? Every simple little thing has a host of meds attached to it (and ensuing doctor appointments if you're feeling poorly for more than 30 minutes).
I don't trust them. I don't trust it as a mentality. I'm not telling my body fuck you, you're no longer in charge, we're gonna put this stranger in charge from now on, with his lab-engineered substances. Mnope. I trust my body and I trust nature, when in doubt. Tea, leaves, tinctures. You know shit's getting bad when I'm hitting those, but mostly, the reason you're not always peachy is that you're not always supposed to be.
We've sterilized existence to the point where it feels like clinical death (as I imagine it, at least). One that particularly worries me is the sterilization (pun? Is it?) of everything related to periods.
I know women who have very serious pain around their cycles and load up on pills to make them feel nothing at all. Except...if the body wanted you to feel nothing at all... you know. It's not lost on me that the one thing these women have in common are deeply turbulent emotional lives. Bingo.
It's very rarely the case that poof your body's just a bitch, here's a handful of pills to sort you out.
For one thing, for the general cold-type diseases, I think it's important for your body to sort itself out. Not with meds because that interrupts the natural fixing cycle until eventually, your body won't know how to do it anymore. It's no coincidence that these people who are popping pills for every minor thing are the most often sick.
As for the lady stuff, you might wanna think about your relationship with your femininity as a whole. I've often noticed that women who try so desperately to hide their periods, they want tampons that don't force them to look at blood, and they want meds to block away all hormonal shifts and their reverberations through the body, these are often women who aren't comfortable in their role.
(Obviously, a repressed patriarchal society plays a big role in it, but you know what I mean)
There are, unfortunately, times when the body can no longer cope. But that isn't most of the time. Most of these minor ailments and pains are natural, which means the body has a natural way of dealing with them and needs to be left to its own devices.
I like asking myself whether I want it to work so badly right now that I'm willing to compromise it working well in the future.