I’ve had a summer cold for over two weeks now. I’m tired of it. I’m still coughing, mostly at night, or when I want to talk. As someone who has to talk to think things through, this is irritating! To make matters worse, summer appears to be the season for longer colds. Sigh. I’m taking Mucinex every night.
One of the ways I am managing my cold, aside from taking my medication, drinking plenty of water, and getting plenty of sleep, is to use humor.
In our house, we use alliteration and humor to scare our colds and make them go away. Mark talks about “vicious venomous viruses.” I don’t like that one. I prefer Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
When I’m sick, I bear a remarked resemblance to Sneezy, Dopey, and Grumpy. All at the same time. This time, I added Coughy. No, that’s not one of the real Dwarfs. I made him up. Every so often, I use my Doc brain to determine if I need more or different medicine. That’s when I ask Mark or call the doctor.
There’s not much I can do about this crazy cold, except to keep taking care of myself and hope that it goes away soon. Some days, I’m Sleepy. Some days, I’m Dopey. Some days, I’m Coughy. I’m past the Sneezy days now.
Do you do anything like this? If you don’t, I recommend it. Humor helps with resilience and makes me Happy. Maybe not the physical resilience. Certainly the emotional resilience. I’ll hoist my glass of water and drink to your physical health. Maybe you’ll drink to mine :-)
Several people I know are suffering right now from the same malady you are, Johanna. I used to get sick as often as once a month every summer – for years. I found Mucinex and a neti pot made a big difference (mine are allergy-related), but humor is a great healer, too. Think I’ll pass this along.