Stuff you can't figure out where else to put, Misc info Options

[zymurgy]

Aresenic was absolutly fabulouse! Everything worked! YAY! *dances*
Now... two more nights of it to live through....
(anybody interested can check out the sight: http://users.wpi.edu/~masque/shows/arsenic/index.html They ought to have some pictures up there two later.)

[bakbam]

Thanks agrippa I didn't even see all that up there

[ronsmyman]

So, has anyone ever noticed that no one in the Harry Potter books ever gets a cold or the flu, I have been suffering a lot over the past week, and I am growing bitter that they live in a huge drafty school, with hundreds of other kids, and yet they never come down ill! I know I'm being nit-picky like that guy that wrote the bathing article, but still, it's just not fair, do they have anti-germ stuff around the castle...wait, no that's not it, because in the second year books a nasty cold was going around and everyone was getting pepperup potion, but Harry Ron and Hermione didn't get sick, I am so jealous right now. I want some pepperup potion.

On a different note, why are Dayquil capsules the size of horse tranquilizers? They're supposed to make me feel better, but just gagging them down makes me feel more sick! And pumping my system full of Vitamin C hasn't worked at all! It's a lie! Just yesterday I took in over 1000% of my daily need and I don't feel any better at all.

[evlpez]

Vitamin C is pretty useless, really. There are all kinds of things that cancel it out. I think Ginseng is one of them... maybe it's garlic. I can't remember. I DO recall hearing a long time ago that to actually benefit from Vit. C when you're battling a cold (rather than having it in your body from taking it religiously every day) you'd have to take like, 250% of the recommended daily intake.

I'm not a doctor. I don't even play one on TV. Don't take my word for it. I'm just repeating something I may have heard from someplace... not neccessarily a reliable source.

Around this house, when we're really stuffed up, we like trying to 'burn out the bug' with lots of suicide-hot wings, hot sauce on our food and the like. It may not actually do much more than make our eyes water and our noses run harder and clean us up temporarily... but it's yummy and fun.

[ronsmyman]

I don't have anything remotely spicy in my room, I shall have to make a Wal-Mart trip this evening, I'm willing to try anything at this point. The dayquil tablet I manages to swallow is helping a little, but I still feel awful. I will definately get something spicy this evening, too bad all of the food in the cafeteria is so bland.

[McGonagall's Cat]

Stirring cauldron as she writes....

Biology 101:
Viruses are sort of only "half alive", in that, they are incapable of carrying on normal cellular respiration, replication, etc. on their own. So they enter your body, and insinuate themselves into your sweet innocent little cells, enslave your cells into doing the functions the viruses can't do on their own, and you get sicker than a dog. ALL cells have problems with heat (which is why we cook veggies, the heat explodes their cell walls making them easier to digest) which is why our own body goes feverish. It is trying to raise the temp to the point of killing off the virus/invader. Unfortunately your own cells are susceptable to the heat also, so there is a fine balance point that needs to be reached. However, you have quantity on your side and usually manage to live through a fever.

Bringing the heat up can do bad things if you have a heart or a few other conditions, and sometimes you can get light headed, so it might be good to have a friend/nurse/someone around to help, just in case...

That all said, when I've been invaded... I try to induce an artificial fever.

First make some hot LEMON tea (citrus is a diuretic and will help you rid your body of toxins) if ya gotta sweeten it, use honey, it soothes and calms irritated linings and is not as detrimental as sugar *see below... The hot tea helps heat you from the inside out, too. Get the hugest warmest robe you have, plus a thick pair of sweats (both pants and shirt), plus Dumbledore's thick warm socks. Put every blanket you can skiv onto your bed ahead of time. Make sure you have a few hours (preferably as long as your body wants even if its 10 or 12, but at least enough to allow the process to work it's magic) so tell your roommate to be quiet or you'll hex 'em and they'll spit slugs for a day... Then, take the absolutely hottest bath you can. Soak at least 15 mins, get your skin very red... if you only have showers available, do the best you can to get overheated in it. Dry off quickly, jump into the sweats & socks & robe before you cool down at all... race to your bed and cover up (I usually wrap a dry towel around my hair too, to keep even more heat in). It is VERY important to not get chilled down between hot water and bed... it contributes to "the other side's" efforts.

Like all the Docs say, drink Lots of liquids (preferably not sugarry junk) to rinse the toxins and crud out of your system. Do ZINC with something in your stomache, it helps with cell wall integrity. Vitamin C only works as real juice and then its incidental compared to the positive diuretic effects. Sugar works against you... a teaspoon of it can impare your immune system by around 50% for the few hours it takes to digest and get out of your system after its been consumed... it reduces the functioning of the white blood cells, it robs from/blocks a lot of other vitamins and minerls. Some of the herbal teas that say they help fight colds and such are a better thing to subsitute for pop.

Evlpez's hot/spicy foods do good things to clear your head, too. I love Pace picante (yellow lid) ... clears those sinuses right out!

[Keep in mind I am a crazy person online who may not know their newt from a kneisle. I just know this works for me...]

[ronsmyman]

Wow! I feel like I've been to the doctor, except I haven't had to go through all of the embarrassing examinations. (I don't like doctors) I will get all toasty warm, I'll crank up the heat in here, get all snuggly, and try to sleep, luckily my roommate already left for Thanksgiving break, she decided to skip her classes on monday and tuesday and just go home. So I shall have quiet. Unluckily I don't drink tea, could I just have very hot water? perhaps melt a vitamin C tablet in it (that would probably be really gross) My friend in another dorm is also suffering from the same form of illness and we are going to Wal-Mart tonight to get some stuff to heal with. Yay!

Why is it seventy degrees outside??? WHy? It's almost December. (Evlpez, if you're running on the Celsius system, like most of Canada, 70 degrees Fahrenheit is about 21.1 degrees Celsius) Grrrrr. It's hard to get bundled up inside when I know it's so warm outside.

[McGonagall's Cat]

The little glands in the corner near my jaw and ear are cramping up just thinking about Vitamin C in hot water... eewwwww....


Also, C doesn't do well with heat, so you'd probably be going through all that for little effect... but hey, whatever floats your boat...


P.S. Its snowing and the high tomorrow's sposta be well below freezing... and its heading east, so just be patient....

[ronsmyman]

I am so jealous, I love snow and mountains. I was born in Utah and I lived there long enough to fall in love with the snow and mountains, then I was forced to move to this desolate wasteland, okay, well the trees are pretty but there is very little landscape. I currently live in the Ozark "Mountains" but really once you've seen the rockies everything else is just hills.

[evlpez]

So true. I love living in the mountains.
I love summer though. Not this stuff. There's a pile of snow out there and it was minus 30 Celcius this morning.

[McGonagall's Cat]

-30 C !!!! Isn't that like the temp of liquid nitrogen or something...

The temps and snow I'm experienceing right now have been thoughtfully sent by Evlpez. Thank you so much!

[ronsmyman]

A whole pile of snow? Wow, I don't think I've seen more than six inches at one time since I was five. Last winterit only snowed a couple of times, I hope it's not like that again. I want to play in the snow!!! I want to make a snowman.

And -30 degrees Celcius is equal to -22 degrees fahrenheit.

[McGonagall's Cat]

March 18th this year it began snowing... when it was done the next day I could walk out on my front porch, holding my arm straight out from the shoulder, and would hit snow. We got over 4 ft. We usually get snow, but not that much at one time... It was so momentous that I played in it like a little kid. What a hoot! The "top" of my pickup truck was even with the 2nd floor on my house... it was neat. If it happens more than once every 90 years though, it will lose its charm. [The thing most folks don't "get" about Colorado is that after an event like that, in a week or so you can play golf... In fact the only thing "wrong" with the climate here is that it is quite dry, we're semi-arid, get about 18 inches of moisture in an average year (that one snow dumped almost that much, caught up a couple year drought deficit), so not much grows easily, and the past couple years fire was a big fat hairy deal.] I used to have a tee-shirt that said: If you live a good life and say your prayers, when you die you will go to Colorado.

I LOVE this place!

[bakbam]

I was born around St. Louis and the snow there is much much more than the snow I get here. You are lucky to get an inch in Kentucky. If you do get that inch they cancel school and close down everything it is awful. I miss the snow so much. I don't want big snow , but I want enough for the kids to have the joys of snowmen.

[zymurgy]

You want snow? You want Snowmen? Come HERE!! We normally get LOTS of snowfall. It hasn't snown much yet, it hasn't even begun to stick yet, but by Christmas, we should have a good deel of it. We normally don't consider it "snow" until it reaches at least four feet. Till then it's just slush. And our snow is generally wet enough for snowmen- except for two years ago- then we got our good foot of snow, and then- it ICED over it- so thick that you could stand on it without sinking down. You couldn't really walk on it- you slid. It was ... interesting. We played bowling with the little kids. We slid them back and forth. They loved it!