The Battle of the Runny Nose

Dec. 15, 2005

Dear Patty,

Catching a cold is good for you.

Once upon a time I believed that, reasoning that a good cold at the beginning of the winter flushed out the body's systems.

A runny nose was a way of ridding the body of the virus that caused it. A cough did the same. Suppressing these impulses could have made the cold more bearable, but probably made it last longer, too, I told myself.

I abstained from taking any medications during the onslaught, reasoning that they only hampered the cold from doing its good works.

If any scientific rationale for this belief about colds exists I am unaware of it. It just seemed to work, as if the cold inoculated me against the rest of the bugs lurking around. I rode out the first cold and rarely had another during the year.

Things and bodies change.

A lessened resistance to colds must be one of the many changes that show up in middle age. The blessings of catching a cold have gotten lost in the maelstrom of coughing and wheezing. Colds now feel like sieges. I call out the National Guard.

Once I walked down the cold medicine aisle at a pharmacy without a glance at the offerings. Now I can't get enough of them. The array glitters like candy. Ooo, TheraFlu sounds good, a warm medicinal beverage. Airborne comes in both effervescent lemon-lime tablet form and gummi lozenges to counteract your sore throat. Mucinex? The name is too literal about its purpose for me, but Actifed sounds like it means business. Alka-Seltzer Plus promises even more effervescence, and we all want effervescence when we're suffering with a cold.

Everybody has their own cure. My mother recommends cough drops that contain zinc. I swill Dayquil by day, Nyquil by night, when nothing else is working in some Sudafed, a shot of Jim Beam and a bowl of chicken soup.

Sometimes DC insists on squirting echinacea, that foulest of herbal remedies, down my throat. She worries that these respiratory vulnerabilities mean I'm a goner if the bird flu comes this way.

Hot ginger tea sounds soothing, but it's supposed to help by warming the body and increasing perspiration (more flushing action). Working up a sweat is supposed to be good for a cold. American Indians have been purifying their bodies and spirits in sweat lodges for thousands of years.

Colds now seem to last twice as long as they used to, no doubt thanks to my antihistamine buzz. The reality is that all of this stuff will help get you through the day or night, but it won't cure your cold. You just slog through it. You miss work, you miss holiday gatherings, you miss the U2 concert, you miss. Nobody feels sorry for you because colds are the great equalizer. Everybody gets them.

And then the miraculous day comes when you can breathe again without coughing, when the world no longer sounds as if it's being filtered through ear muffs. Your immune system has been recharged, and catching a cold once again has reminded you how good normal feels.

Love, Sam

Sam Blackwell is managing editor of the Southeast Missourian.