I thought I had beaten the flu season again this year. Last year I had one day where I had gotten the inklings of being under the weather and I dosed myself with vitamins and rest. It worked and I threw off whatever was knocking at my door. I think, in 15 months, I only missed one day of work due to illness. Many in my office have not been so lucky.
The last couple days of April came and I got slam dunked by the flu I had been reading and hearing about. My poor sister got crushed by this monster right after Christmas and took almost two months to recover. She developed infections from it, which explains her long recovery.
So, as March passed and then April, it didn’t even occur to me I would get this beast.
And a beast it has been. The tingling in my throat that Thursday night, which led to major congestion on Friday morning, had me take the day off. I still didn’t get I was in for a bad time.
After the fourth day of bad things happening to my body, I realized I had the type of flu that takes no prisoners if you don’t take care of yourself. I hate these type of viruses, but I doubt there is anybody that is a fan about getting a nasty bug.
I am still on the mend, but I know enough about bad viruses to take my symptoms seriously. After years in Asia where truly killer flues abound, I have a pretty good idea what to do. I was living in Taiwan when Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was making its rounds and China when several strains of bird flu were taking out people.
My worst experience was in Shanghai mid winter about six years ago. The flu that took over my body didn’t leave for 10 solid days. Not just fever, congestion and aches. It hit my stomach in such a relentless manner that I ended up losing about 15 pounds.
Crazy.
I remember literally crawling to the bathroom for days in a row, because I couldn’t stand. So yeah, I respect what flues can do.
I haven’t ever had any type of flu in the USA with that type of intensity and hope I never do.
Which actually brings me to the point of my column. Not the different intensities of flues I have suffered, but rather the treatments I have been exposed to in curing them.
My current flu has had me dose myself with vitamins, over the counter flu medicine, plenty of liquids and rest. Pretty standard by American standards.
In Taiwan, the first time I got sick over there, I was living in the school I was teaching at. I was one of two Westerners and the other 20 or so teachers were Taiwanese. The school nurse said I needed the coin treatment.
Huh? Coin treatment? What was she talking about? During that time period there weren’t really drugstores as we know them, so buying Western medicine wasn’t an option. So I found myself sitting in the administrative office, shirtless, with five or six people around me telling me to trust them. All supervising the treatment were women and my American buddy, who taught at the school with me, and was there for observation. One of the women took a 10 NT dollar coin, about the size of a dollar, and started scraping the back of my neck and shoulder blades. After a few minutes, it hurt incredibly. It was all I could do to contain the tears that were building up. The idea is to bring all the bad blood up to this area and it sort of seeps out. I personally think the pain is so bad, you forget all about being sick. I have to admit it worked that time, but I had red shoulders and neck for days. I think I let myself get talked into it one more time, but I found other ways to fight the bugs that sprang up every year.
I am using one of their cures to fight the bug I have now in addition to my dosing of vitamins and over the counter medicine. As time has marched on since my first days in Asia, Taiwan and China do have pharmacies with Western medicine from Europe and North America. However, they are very expensive; easily double what you pay in this country.
Then, there are clinics that specialize in Chinese medicine. My secret weapon is something I don’t even have a name for. It is a dry Chinese herbal medicine that truly tastes like dirt, not that I am an expert in eating dirt. It has a slight flavor of cinnamon and has about the same look.
Chinese doctors make it with different ground herbs when you come in to get it. It is not pre-made as far as I know. Anyway, you take about an eighth of a teaspoon every six hours.
Does it work every time?
Pretty much.
Especially on colds. It takes about a day to get into your system effectively, but once it does it really works.
Another product all these clinics carry I have found effective in fighting coughs and congestion can be found in the United States. Tiger Balm is a miracle for fighting not only congestion, but also muscle aches. Since a person can find it in the USA now, it really isn’t any secret.
In Taiwan, I was introduced to the best tasting cough medicine. It is almost like honey. I ran out of my supply a year ago, so not sure what is in it although I think it is some sort of flower base. You put it in tea or hot water and sore throats magically disappear. It also helps with congestion. Plus, I will say it again, it tastes good. There is barely a hint of any medicinal taste.
Then, there is the heated cup method of relieving sickness. I never really liked this. The process is to take thick heated teacups and place them like suction cups all over your back. They would leave rings, but they were never hot enough to blister. It is painful and the couple times I did it, I didn’t feel much effect.
Much more successful was acupuncture, although I personally found it more useful in treating sprains and muscle aches. Still, acupuncture that dealt with toxins in my body was amazing. All the needles go on your ears and it takes two or three sittings before all the bad stuff leaves. You can see major changes in color of water when relieving yourself. Again, it is crazy, but undeniable. The key to this treatment is the person doing the acupuncture. Not all people who do acupuncture know how to do this and needles put in wrong are painful.
Reflexology is another excellent method of helping a body that is sick. Simplified, it is foot massage that cures what ails you. As I understand it, this treatment is about helping your circulation. Apparently the foot is a central system for blood flow. A good masseur can tell if you have heart trouble or your kidneys need to be flushed. Reflexology parlors are so common in Asia, I would say there is one every three or four blocks in a neighborhood.
The same with massage parlors.
Speaking of massage, boy do I love a Thai massage. It is great to have even in good health, but if a person is feeling rundown, there is nothing better to bring you back to life. Massage is a way of life in Asia and children are taught at an early age how to do it, usually on grandparents. Massage parlors are everywhere and they do all types. Plus an hour of massage usually runs about 10 to 20 dollars an hour. Well, there is one type that is more expensive, but that’s another story altogether.
When I lived in Suzhou, China I discovered the blind man massage. Only a little more expensive than the regular massage and you truly have a blind person give you a massage. It is every bit as good as it is hyped up to be. Muscles on shoulders and back are prodded and plucked in a manner that experiencing one is going to be the only way to explain how it feels. As I understand it, because the masseur is going entirely by touch and they are more attuned to fixing muscles and circulation that might be out of whack.
Massages and reflexology are used more for maintenance of health than curing. In Asia, you need the maintenance because there are so many bugs popping up every year. Even with me being careful, I got sick a lot—in Beijing especially. The air is terrible. We have no concept here in the USA of any place with the type of air they have. There is a reason people wear masks to go outside.
I lived a couple months in that metropolis and my system went down half the time I was there. I thought the city was incredible in so many ways, but I sincerely doubt I will ever live there again. It just isn’t worth it to be exposed to the air of that place on a day-to-day basis.
Living in Asia taught me flues are nothing to mess around with.
I do miss some of their treatments, but I have learned to cope without them.
I would like to say I seldom get sick in Wyoming, but this past week has taken some of my cockiness. Still, the air is clean, the largest town is around 10,000 instead of 25,000,000 and those two factors alone make it healthier.
The one treatment I find in both cultures everyone swears by is eating garlic and bowls of chicken noodle soup when you are sick.
Who am I to argue with the world?
I know what my dinner is tonight.
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