So over being sick, seriously

By Jane Muhlstein

I am so tired of being sick.

It's not that I'm suffering from any extraordinary or debilitating illness. I'm just growing impatient with the general feeling of malaise that seems to have been affecting many on campus for the better part of winter quarter.

I got the typical cold sometime in January. It wasn't serious, just a week of coughing, headaches, congestion and fatigue. Then I thought I was getting better. But not for long.

I have felt nearly recovered several times in the last few weeks. But every time I am almost back to being the picture of perfect health, a friend, boyfriend or co-worker brings me back into the world of the infirm.

It's starting to feel like I will never again have a voice that is anything more than a hoarse rasp. And I know it is not just me. As I sit writing this, another staff member is trying to convince us all that her persistent cough has to be a minor case of tuberculosis.

My winter health woes reached a low last weekend, when I found myself lying in bed for two days, with what I'm pretty sure was the flu.

A government panel with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta issued a new recommendation two weeks ago that all college students living in dorms receive a new vaccine for bacterial meningitis before they move onto campus.

The experts point to common practices of college students, like sharing eating utensils, living in close quarters with other people, sharing communal bathrooms and kissing, as factors that make college students more likely to acquire the infection, which attacks the membranes around the brain and spinal cord.

Meningitis is much more devastating than the run-of-the-mill ailments that ravage our campus every year. But the same factors are why we can never quite seem to shake the bug going around Santa Clara residence halls, apartments and houses.

Staying up late nights, eating junk food when you're on-the-go and trading in exercise for a much-needed hour of studying in a poorly ventilated library only decrease our defenses against winter illness.

Not that I would ever discourage schoolwork, but take some time in the last few days before dead week to recuperate and rest up for finals. Take a nap, go to bed early and veg-out in front of the TV for a few hours. It's for your health.

* Contact Jane Muhlstein at (408) 554-4546 or jmuhlstein@scu.edu.