Sleep.

I once had a cold that lasted two weeks. Nothing debilitating but I just felt like crap and couldn't shake it. I finally just took a day off work and slept for like 20 hours straight. When I woke up it was gone.

My ex-doctor once said to me that "a little sickness never hurt anyone!". Can you tell why i never went back to him?

I've had the same exact thing the past few weeks. For me, it's a seasonal thing that happens when Spring comes around.

I hope for the Jets' sake that LaDainian Tomlinson's best years aren't behind him. 30 is old for running backs nowadays, eh?

If you haven't tried it, a mix of apple cider vinegar (unfiltered) and honey really clear up phlegm for a lot of people. A 1:1 mix taken straight is a nasty medicine, but it sure clears up the airways!

LD will always be Larry David!

Amen on the LT comment. Been saying that for years. Between that and turning every baseball player with the last name Rodriguez in to ()-Rod, I feel like sportswriters are by far the laziest journalists (esp. the fools at ESPN)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! *sob*

The biggest mistake the Bears made in the last 10 years was getting rid of Thomas Jones. I would have hoped that the Jets would have learned from their mistake.

I've had exactly the same thing for about a week now. Don't make the same mistake I did and let it give you pink-eye. Not fun!

Here's hopin' you feel better soon.

Glad I'm not the only one who refuses to bequeath the "L.T." honorary. Take this from a guy who lived in D.C. and followed Joe Theismann's career during the Redskin heyday and saw firsthand what kind of damage Lawrence Taylor could do - there will never be another L.T.

The fact that so many broadcasters so easily capitulated to Tomlinson's arrogance is inexcusable. If another hockey player tried to label himself The Great One, he'd be tarred and feathered.

I live in Southern California now, but separation from the east coast doesn't mar my memory of a great player. Having two "L.T."s is almost as bad as having one "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim."

Perfect for the ides of March right?

Anyway, megmca above is right, sleep is the most important thing right now. Maybe take something with Diphenhydramine HCL in it... or milk of the poppy if you have access to that. :)

I hope you feel better soon!

In my opinion, the only thing stupider than my Bears letting Jones go to the Jets was the Jets letting him go period.

(BTW, the URTI you have sounds just like what has been hitting our campus hard. It lingers--take care of yourself.)

Hey George, check out this summary Dr. Kurt Harris wrote on the role of Vitamin D in infection:

"Vitamin D affects the Immune system in ways that prevent infection.

Recall that there are two main divisions to our system of immune defenses, the adaptive immune response and the innate immune response. The adaptive immune response is the one involving antibodies and specific recognition and responses to specific agents (viruses, allergens) that we have encountered before. It is also the system that can go haywire by causing damage to innocent tissues of our own body in those who have rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune thyroid disease or just allergic rhinitis.

The innate immune response is the sum of cellular and structural defenses that are our first line of defense, and what we rely on to defend us from infection by novel agents that we have not encountered before.

Vitamin D, acting through the Vitamin D receptor (VDR), stimulates cells used in the innate response to produce AMPs or anti-microbial peptides. These AMPs are basically endogenously produced antibiotics with names like defensin 2, defensin 3, and cathelicidin . The cells stimulated include the white blood cells known as monocytes, neutrophils and natural killer cells and the epithelial cells that line the respiratory tract (nose, tracheobronchial tree and lungs).

Say a dose of virus particles is inhaled as an aerosol into your bronchus. The particles must first penetrate the physical barrier of mucus lining the respiratory epithelium. Once past that barrier, there is an aqueous film containing AMPs that can immediately attack the virus. In addition, contact with cells by molecules from the invading organism like PAMPs (pathogen associated molecular patterns) stimulate production and release of more AMPs. The AMPs, in an action reminiscent of the lectins plants use as self-defense against animals like us, bind to and damage the lipoprotein cell membrane of bacteria or the viral envelope of the virus. Any damage to epithelial cells induces release of yet more AMP to fend off the invader, and more immune cells are called in to the scene. The net effect of more AMP production is lower penetration by and poorer survival and replication of virus particles.

Vitamin D enables the machinery to produce more AMPs to act as the primary line of defense. In this way, transmission of the virus to the uninfected is discouraged, and those infected who have higher D levels will have a lower viral load to infect others."

i'll post the rest in another comment

Vitamin D affects the Immune system in ways that mitigate the damage if you are infected.

The lower ability of the virus to replicate in those with higher D levels and better innate immunity will diminish the severity of the illness in those affected.

In addition, there are VDRs on macrophages that respond to higher D levels. This is where the adaptive immune response comes in. Certain arms of the adaptive response (including the macrophage response) are actually attenuated by having higher D levels.

Macrophages elaborate proinflammatory cytokines like Interferon g, TNFa and IL-2 in a “destroy the village in order to save it” fashion in an attempt to kill the virus. There can consequently be a lot of local tissue damage that in fact accounts for much of the phenotype (nastiness) of the virus in the infected. Such a cytokine storm as part of the adaptive response is characteristic of avian (bird) flu, where patients “drown in mucus” due to the overwhelming nature of the response and often require ventilator support to avoid death. The cytokine storm is thought to be a key feature of the virulence of the virus in the 1918 pandemic.

So higher D levels make you less likely to get infected.

With higher D levels, if you do get infected, you are much less likely to get severely ill, and more likely to be able to breathe on your own.

With higher D levels, if you do get infected, you are probably also less likely to spread the virus to others.

How high a level do you need?

From Cannell, Vieth, et al. :



Prevent rickets 10 ng/ml

Suppress parathyroid hormone 20 ng/ml

Maximize intestinal calcium absorption 34 ng/ml

Maximize muscle strength 50 ng/ml



We don’t know the minimal number to protect against influenza, but the above levels of benefit are well established.

I continue to recommend, at minimum, supplementation to above 50 ng/ml and preferably above 60 ng/ml. Per my previous article, this will usually take sunlight or at least 4000 iu/day for adults"

from http://www.paleonu.com/panu-weblog/2009/9/28/h1n1-vitamin-d3-and-innate-immunity.html

Dr. Stephan Guyenet also has a great intro to vit D here (it's hugely important for things other than infection, namely cancer): http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/10/vitamin-d-its-not-just-another-vitamin.html

And you can always check out http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

Made an account just to leave this comment, sorry I don't know what it's like to be a famous writer and have fans throw reading at you because they want you to live forever :)

Over at the Ice and Fire forum, someone pointed out that TIME's Techland blog is getting in on March Madness. Their version is aimed to figure out the greatest villain of them all.

Among their number? Tywin Lannister.

Also a lot of names that I expect would be familiar: Gort (Klaatu barada nikto!), Darkseid, the HAL 9000... no Dr. Doom, though (as Galactus -- a forum member named Galactus, not Galactus-Galactus, who _is_ in the competition -- pointed out).

It's unclear whether they're voting it or if they're just associating each name in the bracket with a corresponding team just yet.

Linda and I hope you feel better soon. :)

Get well, George. Don't get too complacent about a nasty cough just blowing over. It would be horrid to hear about a resurgence of the gray plague...

I had the same thing last week, went to the doctor, got a z-pack and it was gone the next day!

Creeping crud seems like an appropriate title for a post to mention Ladanian Tomlinson. Yet another RB who ran right off the 30-year cliff. I was kind of surprised the Jets let Thomas go, and even more surprised that they added Tomlinson, who seems to be firmly on the downside of his career.

Get well soon. I hate a case of the creeping crud. Annoying as hell.

A-frickin-men to your LT comments!! Speaking as an Eagles fan (rival of the much hated but much admired Taylor), it drives me absolutely nutso when my son uses the LT abbreviation for Tomlinson.
Get an original name already!
While we are at it, GW's old Secretary of the Treasury Jo(h)n Snow needs to get a new name as well!!!

Sorry to hear the crud is getting the better of you. Get well soon.

I'm very old school and hardcore myself. Haven't had more than a sniffle or squirt in over a decade. I usually just gargle warm saltwater. If things persist, it's tea with lemon & honey. Works for me anyway.

I always see him referred to as LdT.

Ladainian Tomlinson is the opposite of Antonio Cromartie; LT(sorry) is not as athletic as he once was, and will not have any off the field issues to deal with.

Still scratching my head as to why the Jets would release a 1,400 yard back and replace him with Ladainian. Did Jones have hands of brick or something? Because Tomlinson has great hands and can make plays when given a little space to run. Plus running behind that great O-line might help too.

Seems like everyone is coming down with some kind of bug right now. I've had a nasty sinus infection for about five days now, and today was the first day in as many that I could actualy taste and smell my food when I ate. Guess my Amoxycillin has started to work finally.

I liked Leon Washington. Did the Jets keep him?

annoying. A lot of people I have been talking to have benn having annoying cold symptoms lasting for 2-3 weeks.