Wikipedia defines a cold as
Acute viral rhinopharyngitis, or acute coryza, known as an upper respiratory virus or commonly called the cold, is a contagious, viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, primarily caused by rhinoviruses (picornaviruses) or coronaviruses. It is the most common infectious disease in humans; there is no known cure, but it is rarely fatal.
In other words, it is a huge nuisance. And, I’ve got one. I woke up in the early morning hours last Saturday and realized I was coming down with a cold. As the day progressed it got worse. Yesterday (Sunday) was pretty miserable. Today it moved down into my chest and, thankfully, I’ve still got some of the magic elixir that everyone else in the world can buy, except us Americans. That’s right … it’s the stuff that contains enough codeine to suppress the cough:
Codeine (INN) or methylmorphine is an opiate used for its analgesic, antitussive (cough suppressant), and antidiarrheal properties, and is useful for numbing back pain, and is frequently purchased under this pretence. It is by far the most widely used opiate in the world and probably the most commonly used drug overall according to numerous reports over the years by organizations such as the World Health Organization and its League of Nations predecessor agency and others. It is one of the most effective orally-administered opioid analgesics and has a wide safety margin.
It is amazingly effective. I’m quite happy to have it on hand as otherwise it has to be prescribed by a doctor. Just another symptom of our crazy medical practices which seem to be driven by big pharma and not by what makes sense for the patient.
It’s very interesting to me that all the folks hard-over opposed to universal health care are those that already have company-sponsored insurance. They seem to not be interested in people like Nina and me who have no access to affordable health insurance.
Codeine is one drug I won’t touch. Let’s just say I’ve had some weird reactions—for one, I can’t sleep, and two, it’s sort of surreal like this definition:
surâ‹…reâ‹…al
–adjective
2. having the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream; unreal; fantastic.
Overall, unsettling.
Glad it helped you though.
On your last paragraph: We don’t have company-sponsored insurance and I am “hard-over opposed to universal health care”. Although available, Jim’s company is small so it’s too expensive for us to purchase coverage. Instead, we have chosen to use a fragment of that money for specialists that would not be covered by private or public health care.
Within the traditional medical arena, there are many doctors and one major hospital network that I’m familiar with that give discounts to cash patients (and give them time to pay it off) here in Springfield. I think we will see those proliferate throughout the country if they haven’t already.
Granted, that would not cover high-risk or known medical problems, and maybe a public option would be helpful there, but I think it should be *truly* optional. Lamentably, in spite of rhetoric, that’s not where the government proposal is.