Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Finally this election nonsense will be over (hopefully)

I was joking with one of the other clerks that maybe tomorrow the news will have something other to talk about besides who will win the primaries. The response? Perhaps, but then the next few months will be speculation about who will be the VP and who should win between the R's and the D's. November can't get here soon enough so we can move onto more pressing matters. Like who will win in 2012.

In the meantime, I'm going to try and see if I can convince Skittles to modify their sugar coated candy and remarket it as a cold remedy to compete with the market vacuum created by Airborne's placebo. Thought you could drink away the common cold with a swig of some canned air? Join the Airborne Settlement and get some money back.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As a doctor, I get asked quite often about Airbourne. I've never done any research on it, but I tell my patients, if it makes you feel better it's not likely to hurt you.

If they really did claim it "cures" the common cold that was just stupid on their part. What is known as "the common cold" is really one of who-knows-how-many different viruses.

Viruses just don't have cures. HIV - sure there are some pills to make you feel better, but cure...no. The Flu - sure there are some pills that decrease the number of days you'll have symptoms, but cure...no.

The Flu is a bunch of different viruses too and they pick three each year to put in a vaccine to give out next year. It works pretty well most years, this year being a minor exception.

The common cold could just be one of too many viruses to consider making a vaccine for some and certainly not all.

Unfortunately, viruses can last as long as 2 weeks usually with the sxs tailing off over the last week and sometimes with a cough sticking around beyond that.

If you're sure it's just a cold it's not worth even going to see your doctor about, unless you're severely dehydrated or the sxs last longer than 2 weeks, in which case it may not be a virus or the virus may have decreased your immunity to some other bugs which got in there.

If you don't have allergies to the following you can take some Motrin for fever and sore throat. Sudafed for stuffy nose. Robutussin for cough. If you can't break your fever or the symptoms just aren't getting better after a week or two, go see your doctor.

There's no harm in going to see the doctor and you should go if you want to, but if it's just like every cold you've had before, try to take care of the symptoms and save yourself some time and money at the doctor's office.

disclaimer: You should always seek medical attention if you are not sure about what your symptoms mean or what over the counter medications you should take. Always take over the counter medications as directed.