Ah, college! Finally out on your own, out from under the pesky thumbs of Mom and Dad. No one is nagging you at 10 p.m. on a school night to brush your teeth and get to bed. Life is beautiful, just the way you pictured your college experience.
Until you wake up one morning for class after barely three hours of sleep, your nose running down your sleeve, aching from your hair to your toenails and shivering while your skin’s boiling. You realize in your misery that you are sick and, worse, Mom is not around to feed you chicken soup, refill your glass with juice and baby you back to good health. Suddenly, college sucks.
Unfortunately, getting sick without Mom around is one of those milestones in life that tests our ability to survive. There’s all sorts of advice out there about how not to get sick (get plenty of sleep, drink plenty of fluids that aren’t alcoholic, don’t make out with someone who might be super cute but also has a horrible cold, etc.) that just don’t seem to gel with college life. Sure, getting to bed at a decent hour might prevent your brain from leaking out through your nose, but it means you’ll have to miss out on the best party of the year. And the opportunity to make out with that hottie in the corner might never present itself again.
Getting sick in college is a reality. It doesn’t matter if the last time you were sick was in kindergarten; you’re almost guaranteed to experience the thrills of illness before your four years at the University are finished. The combination of sharing living spaces with many different people and partaking of all the fun new stuff that accompanies college life (staying up late, eating junk food, forgetting to drink water, swapping body fluids) creates a perfect storm for germs to invade your body. Not only is your immune system down because you’re wearing it out with all the fun you’re having, but it’s also being exposed to new germs at every turn. Eventually, it can’t take it anymore; it decides it can’t work in these conditions and quits on you to make you stay home and take care of yourself. Yes, your immune system is a moody Hollywood actor.
I won’t tell you all the advice your mom gives you because you already know that stuff, and you aren’t going to listen to it, at least not yet. I will recommend that you keep a good stock of cold remedies in your room since you don’t want all that tuition money going to waste while you rot in your dorm room under a pile of your own snot-covered tissue and yearn for a bowl of Mom’s homemade chicken soup. I will also urge you to make a beeline for the Student Health Center and make sure all your immunizations are up to date. Better safe than sorry!
Katie is a University medical student. She can be reached at kmcbeth@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
U.Va. students and physicians team up for another year of free kidney screenings
By Merrill Hart | November 5, 2024Saturday’s screening marked the first by KDSAP at Portico Church, near IX Art Park.
U.Va. Health sees a spike in COVID-19 cases
By Emily Horn | September 4, 2023U.Va. Health ended their vaccination requirements in August, and masks were made optional in most hospital areas in early April.
U.Va. Cancer Center harnesses $12 million grant to support opportunities for undergraduates, ongoing research and new center
By Ellen Wu | January 12, 2023The grant provides an opportunity to establish the Center for Systems Analysis of Stress-Adapted Cancer Organelles, which seeks to find the cause of cancer in individual organelles.
