a continuation of Teh Snot
Dec. 11th, 2006 03:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
baratronI have Teh Snot still/again. What I think happened is that my cold went away, and I either caught another one straight on top of it, or this is really severe allergic rhinitis. I don't know which, but my nose is running like a tap while my ears are completely stuffed up and congested. I've been awake an hour and got through more than 10 "man-size" tissues already.
Both echinacea and zinc do terrible things to my digestive system. I'm also vaguely under the impression that one or both of them don't mix well with allergies - where the problem isn't so much a "bad" immune system so much that the immune system is busy fighting the wrong things. I already take a good multivitamin, and extended-release vitamin C, combined with a pretty good diet containing multiple fruits & vegetables and industrial quantities of innocent smoothies. I've started washing my hands religiously when I get in from "the outside", even if I don't think I've touched anything. Beyond that... um.
The only sensible thing I can think of is not to go out or see people when I can't reliably breathe through my nose, as breathing through your mouth bypasses a lot of the respiratory tract's cilia and mucus cells, so makes you far, far more likely to catch an inhaled virus. But that means cancelling a lot more work than I currently do, which'll be inconvenient to students and leave me short of money, so it's not really that sensible. But I really do not need constant Snot for a couple of months of the year, nor the threat of chronic fatigue due to hyperventilation or resurgent Epstein-Barr. There must be something I can do to improve my immune system, surely?
Both echinacea and zinc do terrible things to my digestive system. I'm also vaguely under the impression that one or both of them don't mix well with allergies - where the problem isn't so much a "bad" immune system so much that the immune system is busy fighting the wrong things. I already take a good multivitamin, and extended-release vitamin C, combined with a pretty good diet containing multiple fruits & vegetables and industrial quantities of innocent smoothies. I've started washing my hands religiously when I get in from "the outside", even if I don't think I've touched anything. Beyond that... um.
The only sensible thing I can think of is not to go out or see people when I can't reliably breathe through my nose, as breathing through your mouth bypasses a lot of the respiratory tract's cilia and mucus cells, so makes you far, far more likely to catch an inhaled virus. But that means cancelling a lot more work than I currently do, which'll be inconvenient to students and leave me short of money, so it's not really that sensible. But I really do not need constant Snot for a couple of months of the year, nor the threat of chronic fatigue due to hyperventilation or resurgent Epstein-Barr. There must be something I can do to improve my immune system, surely?
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-12 12:26 am (UTC)Thank you for the observation about the zinc! I'd noticed it in there, but hadn't explicitly thought about quantities or method of binding... hrm. When I last tried zinc it was cheap nasty chewable zinc from Boots because it was all I could afford. But lots of things are improved by chelation - and it's even a treatment for heavy metal poisoning! The non-constipating Solgar iron supplement, Gentle Iron, is chelated, and as far as I know it's the only iron supplement in existence that doesn't completely screw up the digestive system. I also do get on very much better with natural source or nature-identical vitamins & minerals than I do with purely synthetic ones, godknows why, except my body is overly fussy.
So I'll go to the health food shop in the morning and see what Solgar or Viridian do in the way of chelated zinc. This supplement exists (http://www.solgar-vitamins.co.uk/product-details.asp?prodid=800) but may well cost a small fortune. If it does, I'll try one (http://www.solgar-vitamins.co.uk/product-details.asp?prodid=3725) of the (http://www.solgar-vitamins.co.uk/product-details.asp?prodid=3670) others (http://www.solgar-vitamins.co.uk/product-details.asp?prodid=3720).
You're good for my health, my love :)