2001-04-17 - 11:38 p.m.
#47: No Need for Sore Throats pt. 2
Note to self: Fight Club is one seriously weird movie. Kinda like Sixth Sense in its conclusion, but a bit harder to spot in terms of the seams, and not to mention incredibly violent. ^_^ Very cool overall, but there are a couple of plotholes and the morality presented in the film seems to be a bit muddied. Thanks for showing it to us, Zeb, and hope you pass the exams the second time around. Believe in yourself! Believe in BRAD PITT! He will save you! Somehow! I think! O.o Okay, nevermind, sore throat medication working through my system right now.
Yesterdays quick fix system of my sore throat appears to be working, my throat feels more "cobwebby" now then "rusty razor blade"ish, although my mother found out anyway due to my incessant coughing during the night. So now, she's force feeding me cough syrup and strepsil tablets and in additional to all of that, she's slapped Japanese plasters to either side of my neck. I don't know why Japanese plaster works, since it's general meant for muscle problems rather than throat infections, but it DOES work. Or maybe it's some kind of psychosomatic response on my part. Anyway, since I don't really have anything else to type about (besides the slow, crawling sensation in the back of my brain that indicates that I'm about to panic over the whole lot of nothing I've done in terms of University work for these holidays), I'm just going to run through the Chinese superstitions over how to cure or stay away from sore throats. Or sicknesses in general. I'm just winging this off what I've learned from my mom, so if any of this sounds inaccurate to those of you of asian descent just raise up your hand and wave and I'll completely ignore you. Okay?
Stay away from excessive heaty foods. And when I say heaty, I don't mean spicy hot dishes (although those can be bad, too). Chinese people (or at least my family) believe that foods can be heaty, cold or just plain neutral. Foods that raise the internal body temperature are known as "heaty" and can cause dehydration, sore throats or even fevers if too much is taken of that food group. Foods that belong in the heaty category include fried foods, salts and mangos. I don't really know of any other particular food that is "heaty", but those are the two worst offenders. Depriving me of my favourite foods while I'm sick really forces me to get better quick, otherwise I'd be forced to eat watery soup dishes until I get well. I'm not sure what ailments "cold" foods target beyond the fact that it's bad for people with arthritis and bone conditions. Stuff like bananas are considered "cold" foods, and that's all I know really, since my mother complains whenever I don't eat bananas and they overripen cause she can't eat them herself because it hurts her bones. Or something like that anyway.
Other things to stay away from in general include going out into cold weather while your hair's still wet (that's just a general one, I think), drinking cold drinks straight from the fridge, especially immediately after exercising or other strenuous activity and you're left sweating. This carries onto other cold foods like ice cream or ice blocks, though I'm not sure how true they are now since I've tried ice cream when I was sick, and it really soothed that "itching" sensation in my thoat. I'm playing it safe this time round, however. It's getting better already, so no need to take chances that might screw everything up.
Well, this entry was disappointingly shorter than I had thought. I thought there was more to this whole "not getting sick" thing, but it turned out to be a smaller list than I first imagined when I was thinking of typing up this entry. Damn. And here I was, ready to reveal the magnificent secrets of Chinese medicine and its thinking. Course, I didn't get into the whole acupuncture and vacuum sealed suction cups thing (and no, it's not as kinky as your mind may make it out to be. Back away from that), but that's a little bit out of my area of experience beyond the one time I "popped" a muscle in my leg. Which was damned painful and I had to limp-hop to get around, which made me look prett7y stupid around university. That's a story for another time, however.
Anyway, time to wrap this up and all. And get some actual studying done tomorrow. Hope I can actually concentrate....
