What’s A Little Cough Between Friends?

Today I am going to start exploring how and why different parts of the body or different functions of the body operate. I found this nifty little segment on the internet that gives 90 parts of the human body. They are great! Here’s the first one.

A cough releases an explosive charge of air that moves at speeds up to 60 mph.

Kind of sounds like an ad for a car – “from zero to sixty in……. seconds”

There isn’t much I can tell anyone about a cough. Everyone knows what it is and how the body reacts to it. Coughing is sometimes caused by a cold or the flu, or by something in the air that causes an allergy. We all know how very annoying as well as irritating a cough can be and that it can cause embarrassment if you are in public and have a persistent cough that won’t stop – you know, like sitting in church during the sermon, or worse yet, during the silent prayer time and here you are “cough, cough, cough, cough, cough”.

The most common treatment for coughing is cough medicine. Some experts believe this medicine to have no more than a placebo effect. The primary ingredients in the medicine are usually honey, syrup or sugar. These coat the throat and relieve the irritation. I can remember my Mom giving us cough medicine she fixed for us made from honey, lemon juice and whiskey. It not only stopped the cough for a period of time, it let us, and her, sleep most of the night. Ahhhh! Good old home remedies.

A persistent cough is one of the reasons I quit smoking thirty some odd years ago. I was smoking – or at least using up three packs of cigarettes a day – (that was back when cigarettes were $.35 a pack and you could get a whole carton for $2.50 if you went to the Indian Reservation where they didn’t charge tax). I found that I had a cough that just wouldn’t let up, no matter what medicine I took. That and the fact that I finally realized that that small cylinder of paper wrapped around some tobacco was ruling my life – my every waking moment was geared around a cigarette. When I finally woke up to the fact that I had given control of my life to this insignificant little item, I decided to quit smoking, and I haven’t had a cigarette since. Cold turkey is the only way I can do anything. I cannot seem to taper off – I have to just quit.

I always said that if I could just quit eating altogether, I would not have a problem with food. However, that is not possible. The body can certainly get along without cigarettes, or any of those other things that we find we become addicted to, but food is not one of them. So, I had to find another way to get over my addiction to food – or at least too much food. My addiction to food was caused by my appetite, which never seemed to be satisfied. I would get up from the table too full to move and my mouth would still be hungry. It was a bright day on my earth when finally realized that food, just like the cigarette, was ruling my life and I had to do something about it beside yo-yo dieting. That’s when I found that I could control my appetite by calmly, slowly, and with great appreciation , eat my food, listen to my body and when I felt satisfied, I could leave the table, confident that I had had enough. Hey! I didn’t say it didn’t take a lot of concentration and will power, as well as faith and determination, but if you desire something strong enough, you can do anything. I am living proof of that. I now know how to work on any habit that I find is taking over my life, and put a stop to it before it becomes a full blown addiction. Funny what a little persistent cough can teach you.

Think Thin Thoughts!

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Tags: addiction, annoying, car ad, church, cirgaettes, cold turkey, concentration, control, cough, desire, determination, embarrassment, explosive, explosive charge, faith, food, home made remedies, hungry, Indian Reservatin, irritating, persistent, sermon, silent prayer, tobacco, whiskey