Me and My Ricola

are spending the day curled up on the couch again. I woke up at 4 with a much sorer throat, contemplated calling in to work sick, and considered that the money really would be nice and so decided against it (as a PRN nurse, I don't get any paid time off, sick or otherwise). But when they called me at 5 to put me on call for low census, I went ahead and asked them to put me down as sick anyway. If they don't need me, I figure it's in my best interest and theirs (and the patients') for me to stay home and rest it out without having to worry that there's going to be a flurry of activity in the afternoon requiring me to get up and hurry in (and thus possibly spread my germs around).

Meanwhile, I'm being introduced to the world of having a cold while pregnant, in which even the most benign-seeming natural remedies are supposedly contraindicated, in all likelihood to cover the manufacturer's (or the advice-giver's) behinds, and potentially divest women of their confidence to treat themselves at home using time-honored remedies, instead of turning to a doctor or pharmacist for a drug. An "Ask Dr Spock" article views Sudafed and Robitussin as "probably safe" (despite the fact that one is a stimulant more potent than caffeine and the other works by thinning and drying mucus throughout the body, including that which lines the cervix), yet I can find advice warning against everything from menthol and peppermint oil (found in these beloved wonders, which are not only delicious and infinitely soothing to a sore throat, but are blessedly free of corn syrup or any other such nonsense) to elderberry extract (ie Sambucol, which we love) to Throat Coat herbal tea.

To me? This kind of scare-tactic regulation against natural healing seems like a continued insidious effort to foster dependence on pharmaceuticals and medical doctors instead of gentle home remedies. Somewhat akin to the witchhunt against midwives and against chiropractors, if you want to know the truth. To see the same thing at work in the food supply, witness how the FDA and CDC will slander unpasteurized milk (you're kidding me-- two suspected milk-related deaths in the country in SEVEN YEARS? Oh, the humanity! And I love how they note that the "number is almost certainly higher due to underreporting"--in fact, the number is almost certainly lower, due to the fact that a) public health officials are very aggressive about rooting out cases of food-borne illness, and b) if a person with suspected food-borne illness admits to consuming unpasteurized dairy at any point in the recent past, any further investigation into possible explanation for their symptoms comes to a screeching halt after that, the smoking gun considered to be found) and restrict an individual's right to choose it (if you choose just one article to read about raw milk, make it the previous link, since they report on many of the FDA and CDC practices I allude to above)...meanwhile, FDA-approved PEANUT BUTTER has killed at least six and sickened almost 500 others just in the latest outbreak. And let's not even get into what's in the pork they regulate.

Which is all to say I will take my calculated risks with nature versus man and his government any day.