WINTER BLUES? And other ailments peculiar to winter
Winter is a time of cold, bleak,stark and dark times and sometimes this translates into either SAD – seasonal affective disorder or seasonal depression. This is more common in countries where winter is harsher and more punishing than south africa. It boils down to feeling bleak with symptoms like insomnia, over or undereating, sadness to the point of uncontrollable emotion and feeling down, lowered immunity (at a time you can least afford it), losing the plot slightly in the motivation department as well as generally feeling fatigued. There is a spectrum of disease for any ailment and perhaps you are only just entering the spectrum, it may still be worth getting checked out.
Dry skin is possibly the most incovenient of all the "minor" winter irritations. You may even mistakenly think you have a skin condition. It is really important to keep your largest organ happy by moisturising, using baby oil in bath/shower or finding a product like skinworx skinbalm to get you through the wintery-raw-hide time.
Asthma can be triggered by the weather but also after having a chest infection. If you continue to cough protractedly you may need to have the "asthma" treated for a period of time in order to resolve the cough. In my personal opinion most cough mixtures treat symptoms but not causes and if your cough mooty has not resolved your cough within 5 days think about trying to treat the cause.
Staying healthy can be most challening at this nasty nippy time. My newest efficacious remedy/preventative mooty is Echinacea forte which has efficacy against both bacterial and viral bugs and certainly is able to give you the boost you need to fight off the lurgies.
Written by Dr Claudine Lee.