Every once in a while, my body gets jealous of my mental life and throws a fit when I ignore it. First it drops hints by lowering my energy, then it adds a runny nose. I still don’t listen, go out, have a few beers, listen to a DJ at Rev Room. Then it puts the hurt on, body aches, stuffy head, headaches, sore throat, the full show. OK. I hear you already!

To substitute for clean living, I’ve attempted to offset my smoking, drinking, lack of exercise and sleep with chemistry. Here’s a list of my experimental remedies:

Sore Throat - This has the most immediate effects. I take two TwinLab Zinc 50mg caps, break them open, and stir them into 6oz steam distilled water. I microwave it for 30 secs, then gargle it. Instantly, the scratch and burn of the throat goes away. Repeat as necessary. Zinc can make some people queasy in large doses. I have taken 700mg at a time with no ill short term effects. Find your limit.

Body Aches - When fighting infection, the body ramps up chemical defenses to attack the source. One side effect is interferon production which causes aches. I prefer to take Oscillococcinum for this. This is a homeopathic remedy packaged in tubes of tiny sugar drops infused with magic bacteria that cuts the aches overnight. Another trick is a body soak using Liquid Needle which is a special liquid you add to a warm bath for 30 mins. I’ve used Clear and COF.

Headaches - A quick answer for this is peppermint oil. I usually carry a bottle of it in my pocket. By smelling the peppermint oil, it races to your brain and its anti-inflammatory agents do their job. It can also be used as a quick pick-me-up in a boring meeting.

Stuffy Head - So overnight your sinuses become an orgy pit for germs, filling your head with mucus. You’ve slept on one side so you can only breath out of the other. For this, or any time I can’t breath through my nose, I bust out a tool for the job. Nasaline is an oversized syringe that I fill with saline solution and some Alkalol. The company that makes Nasaline also sells fine-grained salt that you mix with distilled water for the saline solution. DO NOT USE tap water! It has a ton of chemicals that will burn when it touches your nose’s membranes. Alkalol (NOT ALCOHOL) is a mucus removing solvent. Four blasts of this nasal power washer and you can instantly breathe again. Depending on how entrenched in a sinus infection you are, this may be done a few times a day.

Immune Support - Some general things I take to boost my immune system.

A Cold or Flu used to knock me down for 7-10 days. Using the tricks above, I reduced my recovery time to 3 -4 days.