Pointless
Questions...with Aaron Mucciolo
I’m not a particularly religious man. But I do believe there
is some sort of higher being. And that being has decided that all
the answers I thought I would have for this week are half-assed, missing
in action or waiting for someone to call me back with key information.
The result? A best-of column…and this one’s actually informative!
I pulled together some oft-repeated health related questions for this
week. Between papers, tests and the imminent threat of going home
for Thanksgiving (well, most of us. I think me and Blake are staying
right here…right Blake? Blake? Tom?) people are heading down
that long road to some sort of illness. If that’s you, your
roommate or that other student you made out with in Mudd so you could
postpone your archeology paper, here are a few things you should know:
Why
is it that your nose (or my nose, anyway) starts to run when it’s
cold outside? Or even worse, right after I come into a warm building
from a snowy day? -Katie Shilton, College senior
“It’s called vasomotor rhinitis,” Oberlin’s
Health Service Director, Laura Hieronymus, says. “That is
a fancy name for the blood vessels expanding and contracting in
response to temperature changes which causes mucous in your nose
to be produced.”
Rhinitis is an inflammation of the nose (“rhin” means
nose. Think rhinoceros) and can come in three flavors: infectious
(colds), allergic and vasomotor. Allergic rhinitis can be seasonal
if you’re allergic to pollens, or year-round if dust or molds
get to you. Vasomotor rhinitis is considered by some to cover every
other case of stuffy or runny noses when colds or allergies can’t
account for the symptoms. The blood vessels (hence the “vaso,”
meaning vein) in the nose swell up for a variety of reasons including
temperature changes, stress or anger and even sensitivity to certain
odors.
Sadly, it looks like you’ll just have to keep wiping your
nose during the winter. Antihistamines — drugs such as Sudafed
that counteract the chemicals your body produces in reaction to
bacteria or allergens — won’t do any good since it’s
not bacteria or allergens that cause this type of runny nose. "It
is annoying but not really considered a health problem," Hieronymus
adds.
Does
vitamin C really help you get over a cold?
According to Professor of Biology Robin Treichel, who teaches a
course on immunology, there is no scientific evidence that vitamin
C helps a cold. Lori Morgan Flood, the campus’s director of
health education, did confirm that zinc has been shown to reduce
both the severity and duration of a cold. And both Treichel and
Flood noted that there is some evidence that the herb echinacea
may help with recovery.
Taking care of yourself is the best way to prevent a cold or any
kind of illness, and that includes eating right, sleeping enough
and taking all your vitamins — including C. Of course, we’re
college students. So if you find yourself coming down with something,
you’ll probably want to pick up some zinc lozenges or echinacea.
If you’re running a fever, Student Health is the place to
be. And, of course, grandma’s advice is still the best —
get plenty of rest, drink plenty of fluids and eat something nutritious.
One side note: while a fever is the body’s natural way of
getting rid of either bacterial or viral infections, it may not
be a good idea to simply let it run its course. According to Student
Health, a fever of over 101 or 102 degrees Farenheit is actually
damaging to your body, even while it kills whatever is making you
sick.
If
someone was sick, with a cold, let's say, and had a sore throat,
wouldn't drinking alcohol improve one's health because it would
kill all the nasty bacteria in his or her throat? –Allison
Moon, College junior
Back to Ms. Hieronymus for this one: “When you are infected
with a virus such as cold or flu it is really a systemic infection,
the virus is in the sinuses, the lungs and actually ‘in’
the tissues of the throat. Therefore a quick exposure to alcohol
in the throat cannot kill the viruses that are making you sick.”
And here I was planning on seeing if Robitussin goes well with tequila.
All rightie then. Enjoy your mini-break next week, and keep those
questions coming. Those of you who are still waiting on answers,
they’ll be here when we all get back. I bet my editor’s
paycheck on it. Yeah, easy jokes.
Got a question? E-mail aaron.mucciolo@oberlin.edu or write to Pointless
Questions, c/o The Oberlin Review, Wilder Box 90, Oberlin OH, 44074.
Your name will be used only with your permission.
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