I have an obnoxious case of the flu right now and have had it for almost a week. No medicine seems to aleviate my suffering and I have had to miss work three days so far. Well I have been neglecting things like shaving and combing my hair since I was staying at home (I have been using good hygene, just lazy on the appearance) but I have to go out soon. So I shaved and combed my hair, and just cleaned up in general. Now I feel much better. It seems like my symptoms have recessed somewhat and I have more energy. I guess what Mr. Marvelous says is true, when you look good you feel good and you know who you are!
Dang right. I’m just coming off a nice cold that went into bronchitis and walking pneumonia. Brushing my teeth as an effort. But no matter who lousy I felt, a shower, clean hair, washing the bedclothes always made me feel better. The problem was persuading myself I wanted to live enough to make the effort!
Don’t know why it is, posatyvo, but it sure seems to make a difference.
Healing,
Veb
The warm water from a bath or shower improves circulation & you feel better.
I had an unauthorized shower 2 days after surgery once and NOTHING in my life has ever felt better. Ah, warm water and the scent of soap when you are feeling grungy. Nothin’ like it.
Feeling clean (signifying the will to live) can definitely help.
I find, also, that once I’ve sat around feeling like crap for 2-3 days, and I’ve just gotten incredibly bored of being sick, I will just “decide” that I’m not sick anymore, and act accordingly. Walk around the house at normal speed, doing normal things, and of course dressed in normal attire. Invariably, it hurts for the first while, then I feel better.
Almost like I fool myself into not being sick anymore.
I still think there´s a lot to be said for lying semi-conscious in your own filth for weeks on end, drinking only cheap whisky and getting high on crack and PCP. Does wonders for your self-image, I tells ya. Clears that cold right up, too.
What? I´m the only one that works for?
— G. Raven
Even when I’m not sick I feel better after i’ve bathed. And if i’m feeling tired/burned out/whatever, if I have a bath, a lot of times it will sort of clear me up.
Yeah it is fun to lie around and do nothing. But you can be clean and do that too, right? There’s a happy medium between Morrison and Brunetter, isn’t there?
Oh, God, yes, Brynda. I’d forgotten that. Amazing how healing clean skin and clean hair was. It was so simple but felt so fabulous!
Wish I could remember the thread offhand–home remedies, I think–that mentioned water as healing. Do believe it’s true. When life is miserable, flat out awful, just running the old lion-paw tub full of hot water and soaking seems to help.
Veb
You have a lion-paw tub??? I had one of those in an apartment in MA once and I LOVED it. Ahhhhhh… I used to fill it full on cold days and just stew in there.
(A mod mentioned my name!!! In a good way!!!)
Oh, very good. My awful day this week I took a second shower right before bed. I used Ivory soap carefull on my face so I’d smell it. (Usually I wash my face with different stuff…the dorms are too dry and plain soap doesn’t help) I needed to be comforted and the very, very clean feel/smell was soooo good.
Had a head cold this week. Rented a basket full of movies, moved the VCR and TV into the bathroom, filled the lion’s-paw with hot hot water, squealed as I clibmed in, and . . .
. . . fell asleep. Turned into a human prune.
Nothing, however, makes me feel cleaner than a sauna. Given the choice between a sauna or a cabin with running water and plumbing, I’d take the sauna.
Whenever life is bad, I retreat into my bath. I must have fifty different kinds of bath bubbles, salts and those fizzy bomb things (love them!).
And when you are sick, the ultimate is having a nice Eucalyptus bath. It helps you breathe and the slightly medicinal smell is comforting.
My everyday soap is Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap (but NOT on the pink parts, I know I tell y’all that everytime I bring it up, but I feel it is my duty to warn others). Nothing wakes you up and makes you feel good to be alive better than peppermint!
I have my “medicinal” bath once a day, no matter what.
And, damn it, I’ve never sucked up to a mod before, but a claw-foot tub?
Do tell.
As being clean makes me feel good…
Being dirty makes me feel so bad!
Brynda, Nymysys, you are both just silly!
Lions-paw, claw-foot, whatever; I love that thing. What’s more, I deserve it: had to move that heavy bastard twice while renovating the bathroom. Had to put it on its side and angle it upward to get it through the doorway and around a corner. It was like trying to shove a baby whale back inside the mama whale.
It’s the size of Lake Huron and with just a little knee bending I can run the water all the way up to my chin. (blush) My sister even bought me one of those terry-covered bath pillows so I can prop my neck on it and read.
Sigh. Pure bliss.
Veb
tatertot, you hit the nail on the head. a hot eucalyptus bath is just the thing when you have a cold or the flu. wrapping up in flannel after with some peppermint tea. aaaahhhh.
Hey, I agree with all of you, a nice long shower makes me feel great, but what’s so bad about getting down and dirty once in a while? Getting completely covered in mud while playing soccer and getting sweaty and grimey just makes that nice warm shower feel so much better.
Kitty
I think I’m in love. 
Here’s the straight dope on the interior dimensions of the old cast-iron lion’s-paw tub in which I am about to have a late evening dip: five feet long, two feet wide, and one and a third feet deep. It holds almost one-hundred gallons. This permits snorkelling, human log rolling (a Canadian thing), and bathing parties with close friends. It’s more like a spa without the jets than a tub.
Seeing as it is now after midnight, here is a late-night lion’s-paw scare story.
“Bath Time for Squeaker”
One night I was happily soaking in my old lion’s paw tub, watching my family of kittens play with the water with their paws, and gently chase each other about the room. Truly tranquil.
Unfortunately, after so many years, the tub’s leg connections had worn thin, and one of the lion’s-paws broke off. Crash! The tub dropped several inches with me in it, nastily knocking my head and giving me whiplash for the next few of weeks. Of course the pipes broke, sending both hot and cold water spraying across the room. Catemonium broke loose.
As I crawled out of the tub, something bit and dug into my foot. It was poor Squeaker, who was pinned by the tub! My heart sank!
Getting the tub off him was a bit of a grunt. Being full of water, it seemed like it weighed half a ton, but I was able to lift it just enough so that when I slid my foot backwards, the firmly attached Squeaker was pulled out.
I was desperately upset, but much to my surprise, only Squeaker’s tail was squished. I had feared that his whole lower body was pinned, but fortunately it was only his tail. It was opened to the bone from it’s base on out for about an inch and a half, but he eventually recovered with no more lasting impairment than this section being fused.
Now I have shims under the tub in case a lion’s-paw lets go again, and Squeaker spends his tub time on rather than under the tub. I would like to say that Squeaker has kept out of trouble since then, but unlike my other cats, Squeaker has quite a few late night scare stories, the next one being “Squeaker Plays a Grand Piano.” I kid you not.
So with that, I’m off for a late night dip in the old lion’s-paw. The cats will play about, and Squeaker will try to sneak a drink. Yoda and Pol will nod off in the sink, and Cu will perch by my head, purring in my ear. I’ll read a few chapters until I am so mellow that I can barely pull myself out and go to bed, feeling utterly relaxed and squeaky clean as I lay my head on the pillow and nod off as my cats curl up around me.
Sweet dreams to you all.
I had an ovarian cyst rupture about a week and a half ago, causing me great pain–I could barely sit up much less walk. I had some of those disposable washcloths left from when my mom had been hospitalized, so I could keep from just marinating in my filth (because there was no way I could be up for the 10 minutes it takes for a shower). I went about 5 days without a shower. After several days of mega-antibiotics and painkillers, I was finally able to stand in the shower.
I’ve never felt something sooooo good.
I’ve been getting better by the day, but tonight’s shower certainly improved my outlook for the rest of the night.