Feeling Unwell: How to Suffer Less
“Medicinal discovery, it moves in might leaps. I leapt straight past the common cold and gave it us for keeps.” — Pam Ayres
It’s cold and flu season, and one that seems to be hitting hard and fast. It’s just mid-October and already some cold bug has made its way through my family once, and is now coming back around just in case we didn’t get enough the first time. Confirmed cases of flu have already been reported in my home state. It’s looking like it might be an adventurous season.
This season feels a bit like bracing yourself for impact. You’re on the lookout for people who might potentially infect you and you’re ready to stop it. Every cough or sneeze leads you to hold your breath for just a moment, every runny nose makes you dig out your antibacterial gel for a quick bath, and watch out for the bleach storm if someone around you vomits. Illness is uncomfortable, so of course we want to avoid it, yes?
Of course. The reality, however, is that while we can live in healthy ways that promote prevention, we really can’t avoid illness regardless of how much stock we own in Purell. We live in bodies that are constantly being exposed to germs, bacteria, and other pathogens. These little demons will give our bodies uncomfortable symptoms while our bodies fight them off. This really is a necessary process. Our immune systems, like everything else in our bodies, minds, and spirits, need a little exercise. They need to fight off some of these pathogens so that they continue to function and so that they can continue to get stronger. This is how vaccines work, right? We intentionally ingest a little bit of a particular pathogen so that our bodies can learn how to fight it off. That way, when a big dose of the same pathogen hits us, our bodies know what to do and we can often avoid a big illness.
What can we do, then, to remain grounded within bodies that we’d just as soon not be living in while they make us suffer? How do we reduce our suffering during the time that we must live with physical discomfort?
We can focus a bit on our bodies and do what we can to remain connected with them regardless of what we feel it is doing to us. Rather than brace ourselves and create tension as we try to push the discomfort away, we can choose to turn toward it and accept that it is there. Culturally we tend to do whatever we can to get rid of the discomfort, so the idea of turning toward it may seem foreign or even crazy. Doesn’t that just make us more uncomfortable? The answer is not really. The physical discomfort is there regardless of what we do. When we tense up, brace ourselves, and/or engage in struggle with the discomfort, we actually make ourselves feel worse in some ways than we would if we just accepted that we feel lousy and tried to soften ourselves into it.
We do this by continuing to nurture our physical root while we also nurture our mental and attitude roots. We try to practice movement (aka exercise for those who do), focus on adding healthy nutrition to our eating, rest enough and in a way that maximizes wellbeing, and be aware and mindful of our use of vices. I truly believe that healthy physical habits are far more preventive, and therapeutic once we are sick, than a Purell bath or decongestant ever will be. This doesn’t stop even in the throes of an illness. We continue to do what we can with these practices, even when we are sick. I believe that a little bit of movement actually helps move an illness through my system a bit quicker. I therefore try to do something in the movement/exercise realm even when I’m sick. It may be more gentle, but if I am not too sick to get out of bed I at least try to do some gentle yoga, a short jog, or a walk.
We also remain flexible and emphasize what our bodies need over practices that leave us feeling worse, however. For example, we may rest more, move less, and limit dehydrating and/or stomach-irritating vices when we are sick. We may need to limit food intake, but we can certainly work to keep anything we do ingest on the healthier side and emphasize nutritional food and drinks over depleting ones. Even if the depleting ones feel better in the moment, like the alcohol-laced hot toddy. Think juice diluted with water or seltzer instead of soda, or hot water mixed with fresh squeezed lemon and a bit of honey instead of juice, fresh fruit over juice, and perhaps skipping the hot toddy that initially helps relieve symptoms but over time leaves you feeling dehydrated and headachy.
While we are nurturing our physical roots, we can be attending to our mental, emotional, and attitude ones as well. We can work to practice letting go of illnesses that haven’t yet happened, and acceptance when they do. If we turn toward the discomfort of the illness coming on and just let it be there, because it is there anyways no matter what we do, we end up feeling much less angst about it. We stop the mental fight with it. That alone can reduce how lousy we feel as we work our way through an illness. It’s uncomfortable, yes, but it’s here and we can’t control that, so we accept it and allow ourselves to experience the discomfort.
This doesn’t necessarily mean just accepting all of the discomfort without doing something to relieve it, however.
We also nurture our bodies by doing what we can to alleviate some of the discomfort in healthy ways, so we can live in our bodies with greater acceptance. Once we do feel the discomforts of an illness, we can decide what we want to do to try to help ourselves through it. If we have the time and space, we can rest and try to ride it out without any intervention. Many of us need to function on some level, however, and it does then become helpful to manage symptoms in some way. With modern medicine we have a lot of options. There are all kinds of over the counter symptom-relieving remedies such as decongestants, anti-inflammatories and pain relief medications, antihistamines, and even combinations of these that will help you sleep it off. And of course there are the meds your doc can prescribe if and/or when it reaches that level.
I’m certainly not one to judge here, and I will not do so. I’ve been known to knock back a few ibuprofen rather than deal with the sore throat and headache that comes at the beginning of the cold, and I’m no stranger to Afrin, NyQuil, or Mucinex. Many of these come with side effects such as dry mouth, drowsiness, dizziness, jitters, etc., however, and these side effects can be unpleasant. While they alleviate some symptoms they create others, which may not really reduce suffering all that much overall.
Over the years I’ve found that there are quite a few more natural things we can do to help us feel better, without the side effects, and some of these seem to actually help move us through the illness a little bit quicker. I am no physician and do not have any specific research here to back me up aside from my own experience and anecdotal evidence I’ve heard from others. Most certainly if you have any health issues and plan to try one or more of these it makes sense to check in with a medical professional to make sure you are not at risk of harm with any of these. All of that being said, I do want to share a few of my favorite, more natural approaches, especially because some of them seem a little crazy, and yet seem to work.
Get upside down. This is one I never would have thought of, but recently I had my first cold of the season. I felt lousy enough that I almost didn’t go to yoga, but I rallied at the last minute and showed up for class. I asked the instructor if she could add anything to the sequence that might address congestion and cold symptoms, and she immediately suggested inversions (positions in which your head is below your heart). She talked about handstands as being particularly helpful and said she’d add some work against the wall at the end of class. I went into class, and we did a lot of inverting. For those of you who know yoga, this means a fair bit of downward facing dog and forward bends. Each one seemed to help alleviate some congestion. Finally, we spent some time practicing handstands against the wall (apparently headstands also work). By the end of class I felt much better, and what could have been an unpleasant day turned out to be a pretty good one. Furthermore, that relief carried not just through that day but even after. I actually think I recovered more quickly than I would have had I not attended that class. It worked so well that more recently when I felt the sore throat and nasal congestion coming again, I did a home practice of inversions, and once again it helped quite a bit. So try it. If you have head or nasal congestion and can do a headstand or handstand safely, against a wall or not, give it a go. Safety is the most important thing here as a fall from a handstand or headstand could lead to an injury, so if not, then just try some forward bends. Touch your toes, bend at the waist and hang your upper body down either touching the ground or not, and just let your head hang for a few moments. The key seems to be to get as upside down as you can, with your head hanging low. See how you feel.
Oregano. This is a new one for me, but I’m optimistic. I learned it from another yoga instructor who was having success with it with an awful upper respiratory infection. Apparently 2 drops of oregano essential oil (make sure it’s therapeutic grade and from a trusted source) in a cup of warm water can help move mucus through and out of the body. This works the opposite way from decongestants, which seem to dry everything up, and more like expectorants that thin secretions so you can move them through. While the over the counter expectorants can make you feel a little funny, oregano does not. As my latest cold started, I tried it and had a similar experience. It absolutely seemed to move the nasty stuff through and out, leaving me more clear, less stuffed, and able to breathe. It also almost immediately alleviated the sore throat I had before I drank it. One thing to note, it is a very hot oil in that it feels burning on the skin. It will burn a bit going through your throat. You want to make sure it is sufficiently diluted with water and that you give it a good stir before drinking it. Try to avoid it touching your lips or skin if it hasn’t been diluted, it will feel uncomfortable.
Cold Therapy. A while back I started taking cold showers, or at least running very cold water at the end of my shower and standing under it for a few minutes. If you’ve ever heard of Wim Hof, also known as Iceman, you know why. Briefly, Wim Hof is a Dutch man who has trained his body not to respond to the cold. He can literally sit almost completely nude on a block of ice in frigid temperatures for 15 minutes (or more) and his body temperature does not drop. He’s been studied, as have quite a few researchers who have trained in his method, and findings suggest quite a few health benefits associated with what he calls cold therapy. The cold therapy reduces inflammation and helps our bodies fight off illness by increasing production of white blood cells, among other things. These are really helpful things when we are feeling ill, as inflammation is often present and our white blood cells are needed to fight whatever pathogen has entered our system. I can say that I’ve tried the cold shower approach, and I do believe I have avoided and/or shortened a couple of colds, not to mention the other benefits I’ve received with reduced back and neck pain, reduced hormonal symptoms, clear-headedness, and a general feeling of exhilaration. This is a great prevention strategy if you decide to do this every day.
The Neti Pot. The Neti Pot comes to us from Ayurvedic medicine, which is the traditional form of medicine practiced in India. It focuses largely on prevention and is a fantastic resource for those of us who prefer healthy lifestyle habits to reactive attempts to deal with illness after it hits. The Neti Pot uses warm saline (either distilled or boiled water mixed with a particular kind of salt created for neti pot use) to clear out the nasal passages in the nose. Essentially, one must use the pot to pour a small stream of saline into one nostril, with his/her head positioned to allow the saline to pass through and come out the other side. It’s a great way to clear mucus out, as well as to clear out other irritants and potentially also allergens, germs and pathogens. A few notes here: water must be warm, but not hot or you will burn the sensitive tissue inside your nose; water must not be cold or it will only thicken any secretions in the nose; it is important to use boiled or distilled water as there have been cases of dangerous amoebas found in tap water entering the brain and causing life-threatening problems; the Neti Pot probably won’t work if one or both of your nostrils are completely plugged with inflammation so if that is the case you probably shouldn’t try it until the inflammation has reduced; and if you do decide to use a Neti Pot make sure you read and follow the directions. This is another great prevention strategy as well as a great intervention for clearing out mucus.
Moisturizing the nasal passages. There is a theory that if you keep your nasal passages moisturized they are less likely to crack and allow pathogens to enter the system. This also comes from Ayurvedic medicine, but I have heard it recommended by Western docs as well. If nothing else, the moisture inside the nasal passages feels more comfortable, particularly if you live in a dry climate and/or turn the heat on when it gets cold, and leads to fewer nosebleeds. It can also be soothing if you’re doing a lot of nose-blowing and your nose is getting irritated. I’ve used water-based lubricants such as Aquaphor, and these seem to work. More recently I’m using oil. You can actually purchase Ayurvedic nasal oil, but sesame or olive oil work just fine and many of us have these already in our kitchens. This is another one that’s great for prevention as well as when you are sick.
Other essential oils. My husband, a physician, likes to tease me and call this “voodoo medicine,” but I say never underestimate the power of plant extracts. Whenever anyone in my house starts to get sick, I start to use my Thieves oil. I diffuse it into the air, and from what I understand there have been credible studies conducted that show a reduction of pathogens in the air after 20 minutes of diffusing the oil. There are many versions of Thieves oil, some with different names. Any of the therapeutic grade immunity oil blends should do the trick. I also think I’ve avoided a couple of stomach bugs with a combination of Thieves and peppermint, simply by dropping a few drops of each into water, swishing it around my mouth and swallowing it. Coincidence perhaps, but I’m going with it until I’m proven otherwise. Furthermore, if you do have a respiratory infection, there are essential oil blends that can soothe nasal passages and even help clear the passage a bit so you can breathe. Eucalyptus is helpful all by itself. A few drops in a hot bath can be helpful, as can a few drops into a cup of hot water that you position under your head/nose and inhale. Finally, if you end up with a stomach bug, while there is little you can do to stop the purging that generally accompanies the GI inflammation, you can ease the nausea somewhat with lemon and/or peppermint essential oils. Just rub a few drops on your abdomen, put a few drops around your neck or somewhere close enough to your nose that you will be able to smell it, or put a few drops in your hand and cover you nose and mouth, inhaling deeply.
It can be hard to sit in a body that feels terrible, but we really can reduce the suffering that comes with that. The next time you feel an illness coming on, which will most likely be soon, see what you can do differently this time. You may surprise yourself.