sore throat

 My dad transmitted his sore throat virus to me ヾ(≧へ≦)〃

We were having lunch after my exam when I accidentally took a sip of his contaminated iced tea. I had just wanted to tease him, as I often do to my brother, by stealing some sips from his beloved drink. Seeing my sad excuse for a taunt, my father stared at me blankly and commented, "I have a sore throat."

"What?" I exclaimed, immediately jerking away from the now disgusting, filthy cup of tea. His face creased into a faint smile at my reaction. He added reassuringly that it was just a slight infection, but I was unconvinced. 

See, I've been reading up on quite a lot of medical literature, so I know for a fact that even a trace amount of virus in one person can result in a devastating illness in another. It's because we all have different immune systems suited to different infections. As a result, we are more vulnerable to some infections and more resistant to others. 

Really, it's a good sign of healthy genetic variation, wherein individuals in a population have different genes and therefore different traits, including advantages and disadvantages. They're often called beneficial and harmful genetic traits. But not all of it is based on our genes! 

The field of epigenetics studies how environmental factors affect the activation and deactivation of genes. For example, the presence of carcinogens, which are cancer-causing chemicals, may cause the deactivation of the gene for apoptosis, which is a cell's suicide switch. A cell that has suffered from way too much genetic damage and is at risk of becoming cancerous will usually be instructed by surrounding cells to commit suicide. So, when the gene for apoptosis is deactivated, the cells do not follow instructions from surrounding cells to kill themselves and instead go on to become cancerous. 

Moving back to immune systems, the type of immunity we have also depends on the vaccinations we took, past infections and of course, any cancer of cells in the immune system. The first two are related to something called acquired immunity, which is where the immune system retains the memory of how to eliminate specific pathogens even after the initial infection or vaccination is gone. 

This is why children are so susceptible to developing infections, because they have very little acquired immunity. As such, doctors often give young kids vaccinations to build up some threshold level of acquired immunity, not a full-blown infection but a mock-up, practice version of it. This is much like an earthquake drill, so that when the real disaster strikes, your immune system knows what to do.

Anyways, since I was much younger than my father (who isn't?), I thus had much less acquired immunity than him. So I very much believed that his meagre, slightly annoying sore throat would bloom into a full-scale, blaringly irritating infection when transmitted to me. Alas, I was right! But my father rolled his eyes when I told him about the sore throat and said that it was all in my head. The nocebo effect was to blame, naturally.

The nocebo effect is the opposite of the placebo effect. Both concepts illustrate the power of mind over the body. The placebo effect means to get better from an illness because you think that the treatment is healing you. Conversely, the nocebo effect means that your condition is deteriorating because you think that the treatment, or action, is harmful to you. Ever wonder why some people feel nauseous after indulging in high-fat food? Perhaps it is just a simple case of the nocebo effect.

The nocebo effect is pretty helpful, because it deters us from performing harmful actions like drinking from contaminated water supplies or eating lots of junk food. Unfortunately, the nocebo effect is detrimental when we have false beliefs about an action's harm to us. One glaring example would be the fear of flying, even though we are much more likely to die in a traffic accident than in a plane crash. Perhaps this fear is why some people develop airplane sickness.

In a way, both the placebo and nocebo effects are a medical spin on a common phenomenon: the self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm quite a fan of cycles and the self-fulfilling prophecy really scratches a deep inch inside me. Plus, it's quite an uplifting concept, as it allows you to believe that if you just try and believe, you can do pretty much anything. All you have to do is give it time and trust in your abilities. Really, how hard can that be?

As I'm sitting at home, going click-clack-bap on my keyboard, I notice that my sore throat has gotten much better. My secret? Gargle with a saturated solution of saltwater (just table salt dumped into tapwater is fine), then pop a lozenge and wait for the magic to work.

On top of that, you can also drink some thick creamy milk to coat the irritated walls of your poor throat. I personally prefer soya milk, but that's a me thing. Plus, I love drinking milk, as it can help me grow taller and lowers my risk of developing osteoporosis! 

Osteoporosis is a disease wherein a person loses much of their bone density, which results in a higher tendency of fractures and broken bones. This particular disease is well-known to me, but the definition sits heavily on my mind due to a pretty recent development: my mother's menopause. 

She and I had been doing some research into this enigma of a process and one of the key points we learnt was that menopause came with a higher risk of osteoporosis. The most severe manifestation of this post-menopausal symptom is the fracturing of the spinal column. The verterbrae, which are the little ridges that make up your spine, can no longer support the person's body weight and collapses, much like the scaffolding holding up a building. This leads to a reduction in height (my mother is short enough!) and back pain. 

After this enlightening finding, I started to religously consume soya milk. Not only was it a delectable source of protein to help my cells grow better, but it was also a comforting habit that allowed me to find order in an often chaotic and complex world. Simply taking a sip of cold soya milk, feeling its smoothness on my tongue, is enough to calm my jittery, anxious nerves and allow me to focus on whatever I'm doing. 

An ode to soya milk

White pearly liquid

Simply splendid

Candid start to my day

Cold and smooth

Like the blues

That Hugh Laurie plays

A simple broth

Lost in the froth

Remind me of eggnog parfaits

Affordable delicacy

Required for a democracy

It's a wonderful day (≧∇≦)ﾉ