[net.med] General illness tips

richard@sequent.UUCP (03/09/84)

I just got over a case of Strep, and have some simple recommendations for
anyone that might find themself in a similar position.

The first has to do with you fever.  The doctors always emphasize "plenty
of fluids" - and you go home and try to drink alot of water.  Wrong.  H2O
is, of course, wonderful if you're hot and thirsty, but even then it get's
boring after a short while.  The moment you get sick, have some one run out
and buy you a thousand different types of drinks. Inluded: OJ, Apple Juice,
Kool-Aid, Wylers, Tang, etc.  Liquor isn't recommended because it 
dehydrates you.  Milk will often taste bad.  Carbonated drinks quite often
will make your queasy stomach much worse.

About that bad taste:  Remember illness, as well as the antibiotics you
may be prescribed, will wreak havoc with your mouth's natural fauna.
Most foods will taste odd if not terrible, and toothpaste won't help for
long - it might taste terrible too (Crest and Aim were horrible - a gift
I recieved some time ago of wine flavored toothpaste from Neiman-Marcus
did the trick.)  When I was bloated with Kol-Aid, and my mouth still
felt bad, I took to popping chewable vitamin C.  It really worked wonders!
But I remembered something called the whiplash effect (or somesuch) and
decided 20,000% RDA wasn't too good.  The next mercy trip to the store
brought back a package of mints (not the chocalate or after-dinner kind)
that were just as good.  These are the things that look like huge white
pills that you chew up.  They blast your mouth out and you can't
feel any taste, so the problem's solved.

Just thought I'd try to pass on a little bit learned in misery...

					...sequent!richard

PS: Have any diet books every advocated catastrophic illness? ;-)