I Got The Flu

Being down with the flu in a heatwave of dry heat during the hottest season of the year isn't funny. 

The light's glaring, the heat's strangling, and yet you're huddled on the sofa with your body aching here and there. 

It's frigging uncomfortable. 

I know how it is when I'm ill. 

Phlegm and night time coughs disrupt my regular sleep causing me to get remarkably tired and fatigued in the day time. 

If one can sleep that off in a cool, dim room, that's fine. 

But sometimes you don't wish to rest in the room and so make do in the hall with furry little cushions, a bottle of iced green tea at the side, curtains over the windows, and morning winds. 

Ventilation and winds are important when you're down with a fever.

Doesn't matter if you feel cold- you need the breezes- they cool your body down and help you perspire. 

Yes, you get all sweaty and sticky and icky, but perspiration is critical. 

I didn't pay attention to it last year. 

Because I was too lazy to shower (again)

And so, as a result- despite the effervescence and the Vitamin C supplements I was taking- the virus didn't go away. 

Not just that- I got a severe case of water retention- because I kept on drinking tap water when I should have been drinking fluids like green tea or coconut water. 

Everything escalated- and a month later after the flu I was down with the worst inflammation ever- bursting out in rashes and crusted skin and swollen joints and red spots all over my legs, feet and hands. 

I was determined this time not to have a repeat of the same again. 

So out in the hall I sat, feeling the breeze, perspiring as much as I could for the virus (and the toxins) to sweat themselves out. 

The most difficult thing about having a fever are the aches and body pains. 

Not to mention the fatigue, of course.

Thing with body aches is that you never know which part of the body it is that will get affected. 

You also never know when it will ache. 

Some days it is the left hip. 

Some days it is the right. 

There were days when the lymph nodes behind my ears hurt terribly. 

There were days when they seemed fine.

The right lymph node behind my ear throbbed quite painfully the last couple of days, especially whenever I coughed, and sneezed. 

Another thing I did differently this time was to take paracetamol. 

No more slowly letting the body heal by itself. 

No more complete natural therapy.