DrValerie Olmsted

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As I sit here, hacking and sneezing, and generally feeling pretty miserable, I have to contemplate my situation. After all, I am a doctor; doctors, like moms, are not supposed to get sick. Most of the time, I avoid all the various respiratory and intestinal bugs that I get showered with so generously by my patients. Most of the time--that would not be now. I worked beyond fatigue for a few weeks, until the body rebelled.

Most of the time, when an infection strikes, people get angry. “I don’t have TIME to be sick!”, they wail. Oh, wait—that was me I heard. Now I remember: Life became just too busy. You see, when the body gets tired of being kicked into overdrive, it tends to object at some point. There are many little signs of the body’s objections; we just tend to ignore them.

The first sign is usually forgetfulness; when the usually efficient brain starts dropping a few of the balls it is supposed to be keeping up in the air. The next sign is increased worry, anxiety, or irritability. ‘Fess up, now…how many times have you been seemingly irritable without reason, sometimes for quite awhile, before you got sick?

The next warning sign is fatigue; not the mind-numbing kind, just the ordinary day to day tiredness. Sleep gets disturbed by frequent awakenings throughout the night, and it tends to be thought of as ‘nothing’.The problem with dismissing the symptom of fatigue is that is may be a warning that the cortisol level is elevated and off cycle.

Cortisol is an adrenal hormone; it has a biological rythym. When cortisol is too high during the night, it interrupts sleep. Lack of sleep leads to lack of replenishment of energy for the body. For a while, stimulants can keep kicking the adrenals to pump out more hormones. At some point—which depends on your general physical condition and genetics—the adrenals just can’t keep up.

Like falling dominoes, the systems start falling off-line: adrenals, thyroid, immune system…and hopefully, it stops there. Continuing to push beyond that point leads to more severe disease states. For those who are in tune with the body, the warnings can be heeded. Ignore those warnings at your own peril.

The body will give ample warnings to slow down: the urge to fall asleep while sitting in a comfortable chair, the inability to pry the eyes open in the morning, and the general malaise of “just not feeling right” should be enough to catch the attention. When it gets to the point of avoiding social engagements due to fatigue, it has already gone too far.

The body will get its’ rest; one way or the other. Suddenly, a person who usually never gets sick will get hit with a cold or flu that just won’t quit. If that person takes that last warning and gives the body the rest it needs, the infection goes away quickly. If that warning is ignored, the body seldom recovers without significant help.

If humans would just slow down a bit and give the body time to rest, there would be many less illnesses to deal with. The body needs its’ rest---give it the rest it is screaming for! Start looking at your ‘sick’ days as warnings from a loving entity (the body); it is indeed a gift to receive notice that impending doom can be avoided. Treat the body with the respect it deserves and it serves long and well.

As the saying goes: “graveyards are full of people who didn’t have time to die”.

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