Fighting the Cold War

I am a whiny bitch…well mostly all of the time, but especially right now. I’m fighting a cold war….the common cold war that is =(

This post seems a little out of season - who the hell gets a full blown cold in August? I do.

Being sick fucking sucks. I can’t train, I can’t taste any food (and my husband smoked a pork shoulder for seven hours on Sunday), I can’t sleep soundly, I have pressure in my head, cheek bones, chest and it hurts to use my peripheral vision; I ache…..and oh yeah, my blood sugar levels are out of control.

I noticed last week that my throat was kinda sore. Not too bad. I popped some of that chalky tasting zycam crap and thought I was going to be OK. I randomly test my blood glucose levels now, and I tested it last week and it was 103 upon waking. WTF!! I started to stress. What could be wrong with me; am I pre-diabetic? But I don’t believe in “pre-diabetes” you are either fucking yourself over, or already fucked yourself. Pre-diabetes is fucking yourself over –to control it I ate nothing but meat and veggies and I still couldn’t get my blood glucose response down under 90; I was getting readings like 116.

Well low and behold a few days later I wake up with a full blown rhinovirus. What a goofy word – should be more like “agony-ache-gripe-can’t train-can’t taste-can’t breathe-can’t move without eyeballs wanting to pop out of your head, I should pull my teeth out to make room in my jaw cavity virus” but maybe that is too long?

I sucked up my sickness for five days before I went crying to the outpatient clinic. Now here is a great testament to why our medical system is so completely useless. I haven’t been to my primary care physician in oh, let’s see…..what year is it? Make the zero a nine…..six years. Yeah, I know you are probably like omagod, blah, blah, blah with criticism of me not going to get yearly checks and whatever. But I don’t get sick, I don’t have any diseases, I know my body better than any doctor on this planet, I don’t need a doctor.

Apparently when you attempt to make an appointment with a doctor you haven’t been to in six years for a “sick call” they tell you to suck it. Well she didn’t really say, “suck it”, her exact words were “you need to come in for a full physical before Dr. Farson can see you.” Oh good, when can I get one of those? September 9th. Ummmm….but I’m sick TODAY…August 4th!!!

So I hung up on the lady, now that may not seem very nice but the other option was to tell her to “beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep” and I know it’s not her fault, she’s just following the bureaucratic bullshit rules of the office. Medicine is big business after all, and you have to conform or be sick. I’m not big on rules…..soooooo…..

Down to the Patient First Clinic I go, an outpatient urgent care, which let me tell you this was my first visit, and if I had something seriously wrong with me that I couldn’t self-diagnose I wouldn’t rely on this place (or really any medical professional for that matter), but because I knew I had an ear infection and sinus infection and needed some drugs to knock out the bacteria growing in my ocular bone all was good. I got e some drugs and was on my way in less than forty minutes and thanks to my insurance, my co-pay for urgent care was cheaper than an actual doctor visit – go Cigna! Thank you Dr. Stoner….yes, that was her name.

So the biochemist nerd in me wheel’s started to spin. Why are my blood glucose levels so high while I am sick? What is causing this? What are the hazards of this? Why don’t more people know about this? Type I diabetes is caused by a virus that attacks the immune system and “breaks” or kills the pancreas’ beta-cells (insulin producers). Or does it? Or is it certain virus’ cause stronger hormonal responses raising insulin resistance so high that it impairs the body’s ability to use glucose for energy and the pancreas is working overtime and the beta-cells (which have a battery life…slow and steady for life, or burn out like a teenager’s, who Facebooks non-stop, smartpone) are worked so hard they are killed off. And if this is the case shouldn’t we know this? Shouldn’t we know that being sick is more serious than popping Sudafed and smearing Vicks Vapo-Rub on our chests? Shouldn’t we know that pushing popsicles, pedalyte, ginger ale, Gatorade, and Italian Ice to our kids to stay hydrated is actually HARMFUL!!!! All these remedies that you can find in a simple Google search for common cold are full of sugar – which if just eating meat and veggies causes my glucose to spike off the charts while I am sick what is consuming these “hydrating beverages” doing to our glucose levels? Not to mention that sugar makes your blood thick like maple syrup and that is not hydrating. These beverages are not doing a damn thing that they claim.

But again, medicine is big business….if everyone got healthy economies would crumble.

I had some strawberries and grapes while I was sick and tested my glucose levels and 60 minutes after eating I was still at 185!! That’s from natural fruit!! Just imagine if I would have had a bottle of ginger ale – 40 grams of pure table sugar.

I started to examine the other common cold cures….Zinc, what does it do and why can it prevent a cold from becoming the death march cold war? Rhinoviruses attach to specific cell receptor sites in sinus and throat tissues, become lodged in the nose and throat, and then replicate out of control. By binding to the same cell receptor sites as do cold viruses, zinc inhibits the ability of rhinoviruses to take hold in the body. OK, I’ll buy it. But it didn’t work for me. But I will admit I was not good about taking the Zycam. It tastes like chalk and I really had a hard time not gagging….next time I will just get zinc pills and drink with warm water. Chewing that foul shit seems completely unnecessary.

Shots of Apple Cider Vinegar, the common theme that I read is that the ACV thins mucus membranes and your body has a better ability to break the mucus up and expel. But I really don’t think that is how the ACV works. ACV is also prescribed for high blood glucose levels in diabetic patients, it is also commonly used in the bodybuilding world. When I competed and was prepping for a show during the last four weeks anytime I would consume a sweet potato or brown rice I did a shot of ACV to help “break up the carbs” that was what I was told but on further inspection now that I don’t have “bodybuilder brain fog” (this is where you get all of your knowledge from unaccredited resources…like the dip shit at GNC, or some asshole that has done a competition previously on the bodybuilders.com forum) ACV lowers blood glucose levels, not significantly though, just slightly. In a non-diabetic person who is just ailing from the common cold it might be just enough to allow your body’s PH to neutralize and your immune system is able to do its job and kick the shit out of the rhino.

Here are some of my personal remedies to help you kick rhino’s ass. Amino acids. Amino acids can help your body produce more HgH, which is the hormone that is suppressed when you get a cold by the cortisol (stress related hormone) and HgH helps your immune system fight off bacteria, infections and virus’.

If you want to increase hydration and electrolytes you add a teaspoon of sea or celtic salt to your water – it doesn’t taste great – it is something you have to force down unlike the syrupy sweet ginger ale, sprite, Gatorade, pedalyte, popsicles, or Italian ices. Staying hydrated is key when sick and the only way to stay hydrated is with water. You can also gargle with salt and use a Netipot with a sodium solution. The salt works because the interior of bacterial cells has an extremely high H2O concentration. Gargling with salt or netipotting with a salt solution, causes the H20 concentration on the outside of the cell to lower, allowing water to cross the bacterial membrane through osmosis, the salt draws out the fluid, killing the bacteria, which requires a warm, wet environment.

I had to suck it up this time and go get some antibiotics. I think if I could have stayed patient a little longer my body might have been able to fight off the infection; but five days out of training and feeling like complete shit was enough for me. The last time I was sick was three years ago and I don’t remember being this bad; my husband said I was, maybe I am getting soft with age, but I just want to be better. I hope none of you out there in internet land reading this get this beast of a rhino this summer.