The day I got bronchitis (and the cure)

Bronchitis is one of those most annoying things to catch. It constantly feels like something is scratching against the back of your throat causing no end of coughing fits. When I got bronchitis
following a cold it turned out to be one that would go on for years.
During that time ifelt more prone to catching colds and following each cold the bronchial cough would continue. On visiting hong kong which has a lot of air pollution from factories in china I became violently sick with fever and wrenching and had to wear a face mask just to go outside.
Eventually I was too sick to go outside at all and spent most of our holiday there stuck in the hotel room. We were staying at Langham Place which has very nice rooms, if that is where you are going to spend your entire holiday.
Finally a cure!
Now I am not generally one for antibiotics but this cough did not appear to be going away by itself so I convinced the doctor to give me a course. He suggested at the time that they will not help if it is viral. He was right. It did not help at all. Just as a suggestion, if you do ever do a course of antibiotics to make sure you supplement with plenty of natural cultured yoghurt or other source of probiotics. Also taking a prebiotic can help as it acts as a food source for your good bacteria . Antibiotics are a bit like dropping a bomb on your system and may also kill a decent number of your own good bacteria. This can leave you open to future illnesses.
Being that this did not work I decided to check out a number of natural medicines from the plant kingdom. Placing a small raw piece of ginger in my mouth helped me to get a good nights sleep and steeping ginger in hot water gave me a soothing tonic for my throat during the day. This was only dealing with the symptoms but it certainly helped a lot! Aside from ginger I took cinnamon each day which is supposed to be antibacterial and antiviral. This did not really help significantly. I ended up getting a chest xray and being referred to a chest specialist. Unfortunately this led nowhere. He was able to confirm that it was indeed bronchial and only suggested using an asthma puffer every so often. This was for symptoms only however and I wasn't sure that it really helped at all. When asked how I could get rid of the bronchitis the chest specialist retorted "what do you want me to do? Wave my magic wand?". I was quickly losing belief in mainstream medicine.
Eventually while on a trip to Singapore I was coaxed into visiting a Chinese traditional doctor. He gave me a 'secret' concoction of herbs which seemed to help with relief of the symptoms, then proceeded to give me the best advice I have ever received. He recommended taking slow deep breaths to expand my lungs, get some fresh air, exercise, and sunshine. I took on this advice and it was not long before the scratchy feeling in my throat faded and almost disappeared altogether. Three years of bronchitis practically gone within a month just by a slight change in lifestyle.
My advice: if you are feeling constantly run down and frequently sick then look at your life style. Go for walks in fresh air - preferably clean country air. Do this a few times a week if possible. Sometimes our bodies get so overloaded by toxins, many of them simply coming through the air we breath. Get plenty of sunshine. By doing so you are raising your bodies levels of viamin D in the best and most absorbable way. Vitamin D is pivotal in raising your immune system allowing your body to overcome illnessl. Try to supplement your vitamin D during the winter months and times when you spend most of your day inside. If you do supplement, make sure it is in the form of Vitamin D3.

Hopefully some of my experiences might help you in trying to overcome your specific health issues. Good luck!

The day I fell unconscious (and the cure)

No I was not in bed at the time. That would not be interesting at all. No, I was in fact sitting at my desk where I work and the sun would have been high in the sky. If you are anything like me, when you are overwhelmed by work you tend to skip drinking water and maybe give lunch a miss altogether.
Well it was just another normal day at the office. I tried to get up and felt my vision fading to black. For whatever reason i realized I was lacking in fluids and instintively knew I had to get to the kitchenette (which happened to be my closest watering hole). The difficulty of acheiving that task increases substantially when you are practically blind. Somewhere between getting there and NOT drinking water I passed out and don't remember much else until I woke up.
Apparently I made a loud enough bang when my head hit the bench that colleagues became curious and came by to see what was going on. Now the first thing someone tried to do was get me onto my feet. BAD move!! I blacked out again. Take two. This time when I came to I decided to stay put on the floor for a while. Eventually an ambulance arrived and proceeded to take me to hospital. A hospital worker thought he had seen me somewhere before but I didn't think so. Probably just a case of de ja vu. To cut a short story even shorter they figured out that lo and behold i was dehydrated and proceeded to place me on a drip. Turns out it is very hard to find a vein when you are dehydrated. Several rather painful attempts later and I was not looking forward to each subsequent attempt. Eventually they found a vein and that was that.

Moral of the story: drink some fluids throughout the day or at least eat foods with high water content such as melons. A little trouble to do this now could save you embarrassment and a free (if you have insurance) trip to the hospital. It could also save your veins a lot of grief!

That's it for this one. Until next time, stay watered!