In my adult life, only one other period is comparable to my current state of an immune system laying down on the job (the term "malingering" is entirely apropos here): the first year that I worked at That One Awful Company, which was a big call center, and I went around working on the computers that were drooled and sneezed on by the customer service reps all the time. Back then, I was pretty nonchalant about things like hand sanitizer, but after the eighth awful cold in about eight months, I got wise.
Anyway, now is almost that bad. I get sick about once a month with a nasty tonsils-swollen sore-throat attack followed rapidly by a generic snot-surplus explosivo-style cold. Since you can't get good drugs in Oregon without a subscription, I have to suffer through the whole thing armed only with caffeine and benadryl (which is still better than nothing.)
So what the crap is going on? I think it must boil down to some pretty mundane and tedious factors:
- I still suck at falling / staying asleep.
- I am super stressed-out at my job.
- Plan C is equal parts adorable and totally relentless, meaning I get almost no chance to calm down when I'm at home.
- I drink too much boozeahol.
Since there's not much I can do about the first three factors, B and I decided to lay off on the sauce for a bit and see if that helps. The plan is to take a week off of everything, then ease back in with festive cocktails at designated times rather than an ongoing flow of beer or wine (which is kind of how it's been for the last while.)
I'll also, albeit reluctantly, admit that I am happy to see the sun, which has just made an appearance for the first time in a couple of months.
2 comments:
Yeah, it's probably sleep and stress, but... have you checked/cleared out mildew in the house? in Taipei and in my parent's house (and here in the winter sometimes) I get stuffy nose/clogged nose from too much mildew. The minute I clean it and air out the place I start feeling better. Given that Berlin's winter isn't that much different from Oregon (well, it's colder here but very damp and rainy), it might be worth checking...
It's a fair point...not sure about mildew per se, but I *do* spend a lot of time in the basement. Maybe I'll just hose everything down with bleach down there and see if it helps.
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