is it possible to beat a cold by getting hammered?

CharlieZeroOne

I seem to have achieved it this weekend.

I noticed similar with other recreational drugs in the past. It seems that if you distract the brain sufficiently it will forget about a cold.

honestly!

could this be true?


_____________________________

sorry if this is the wrong forum to post this in.

Xeyn

Congratulations. That anecdote is pretty much a placebo effect. You cannot 'forget' about an organic pathology. You may be distracted long enough for the natural course of the disease to reach its conclusion though. I dont know what recreational drugs you are taking but alcohol does not offer any antiviral properties unless there is some research Im not aware of. To the contrary alcohol intake has been associated with a decreased viral immune response.

TheChosenOne_

Few weeks back, I was absolutely dying with a cold. Went down to the local and had about 5/6 pints of Guinness and I woke up the next morning feeling great as the cold had disappeared.

CharlieZeroOne

Xeyn , i dont know much about medicine, but i was thinking something similar.

I mean a cold is a real virus, therefore to think that you can get rid of it by otherwise stimulating your brain, doesnt really make sense.



but it did happen. its very strange.

regarding the time, I was drunk for 1.5 days, without a break. Whisky, beer and tonic wine. The symptoms came on, I coulnt breathe, sneezing etc, and then went away again over the course of two hours.

L1011

I'd say, at best, you're forgetting the symptoms for the time you're, erm, out and it was close enough to the end of the illness anyway.

CharlieZeroOne

hey there, cheers for the replies, appreciate them all.

I do not mean to be argumentative, please let me explain further the timeline.

My girlfriend was really miserable with a cold last wednesday/thursday/friday.
We dont live together, I travel to see her at the weekend. I reckon I am doomed to get this cold. I spend friday and saturday with her, much of that time in my car, travelling to see my relatives.


On sunday I start to get the cold. Within two hours of the symptoms becoming obvious we are plastered and the cold is no longer an issue.

gctest50

something to be reading while you're snifflin away .....

Despite alcohol's immunosuppressive properties, moderate intake was unexpectedly associated with a decreased risk of common cold among nonsmokers in the only available epidemiologic study known

A: intake of wine of any type (red or white or both);
B: intake of red wine;
C: intake of white wine.

Solid line, point estimates; thin dotted lines, 95% confidence intervals.


Incidence rate ratios of common cold, calculated by using splines regression, among study participants in five Spanish universities, according to wine consumption, 1998–1999.

Incidence rate ratios were adjusted for sex, age, and faculty/staff status.

http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/155/9/853.full#xref-ref-6-1

RESULTS:

Smokers were at greater risk for developing colds than nonsmokers because smokers were more likely both to develop infections and to develop illness following infection. Greater numbers of alcoholic drinks (up to three or four per day) were associated with decreased risk for developing colds because drinking was associated with decreased illness following infection. However, the benefits of drinking occurred only among nonsmokers.
CONCLUSIONS:

Susceptibility to colds was increased by smoking. Although alcohol consumption did not influence risk of clinical illness for smokers, moderate alcohol consumption was associated with decreased risk for nonsmokers.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8363004

bit more about pneumonia

In this large cohort study conducted among middle-aged Danes with no hospital-diagnosed chronic diseases at enrolment, we found that both total alcohol abstinence and high alcohol consumption were associated with a higher risk of pneumonia-related hospitalisation among males, but not among females.


http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/39/1/149.full

Breezer

No.

Bongalongherb

Redd4 wrote: »

I seem to have achieved it this weekend.

I noticed similar with other recreational drugs in the past. It seems that if you distract the brain sufficiently it will forget about a cold.

honestly!

could this be true?


_____________________________

sorry if this is the wrong forum to post this in.

I'm not sure about that scenario, but, I'm a drinker of alcohol (beer) and have been for a long time and I have not had a cold or the flu or anything in-between in around 6 years. Maybe there is something in beer that prevents this, or either the case that I'm just very lucky. Who knows.

Maybe mind over matter, as the brains central nervous system controls the whole body, again who knows. Or the immune system is constantly in action from the alcohol intake that it is higher at all times with the amount of extra work it has to do and as such is stronger to eliminate the virus faster before it takes hold ?.