Renewable Bug

I tend to catch a recurring cold every month of June. So when I didn’t get sick last June, I thought my body might have finally purged the stubborn cold bug by consistently drinking ginger and lemon tea, which are natural antibiotics and antioxidants. However, lo and behold, I felt a cold coming whilst in the middle of my shift when I started experiencing post-nasal drip and lightheadedness. At first, I thought it was just allergic rhinitis, since it can be hard to discern sometimes. I told myself, "Congrats, this cold bug is here to stay."

I don’t like going to the doctor when I get sick unless home remedies don’t work. Why? Because going out while you're sick can make you feel worse and spread pathogens. Plus, colds are very treatable at home—all you need is ample rest, water therapy, cold meds, and sleep, and it usually goes away in about three days, at least in my experience. Since I went vegan six years ago, I heal incredibly fast—unlike before, when a cold would last me a week. I guess another factor is that I’m less stressed now since I started working remotely many years ago.

Still, I prefer to stay home because I read somewhere that Covid has a new variant called KP.2 (I don’t care anymore, even if it reaches XYZ), plus there’s the monkeypox virus. So, better to stay away from crowds, which I’m good at anyway. I never got vaccinated for Covid either because the last time I had a flu shot (the free ones administered by the company where I used to work), I had an adverse reaction to it, for some odd reason, considering I don’t even have allergies except for rhinitis.

I think I’m feeling a little better now after taking Bioflu three times, every six hours, on the first day I had a cold, drinking heaps of water, and sleeping a lot earlier than usual. I managed to survive another work week despite sounding too nasal and feeling woozy.

I think I have an annual contract with this cold bug, which I didn’t even sign up for nor affix my signature to, yet it’s stubbornly persistent and renewable.