Musings from Anatolia, Part Three: Fighting the Flu
When I was planning my trip to Turkey, the swine flu was raging all over the world… I googled Turkey plus Swine Flu… and got some very scary results… that Turkey, which was a hub of global tourism and has relatively mediocre medical facilities, is also having a number of Swine Flu cases…
The thought of getting affected by Swine Flu in a distant land was frightening… I would be carrying limited cash… would know hardly anybody over there in Turkey… and lot of other perturbing thoughts…
When I landed in Istanbul Airport… I saw a commotion… people undergoing mandatory health checks, being distributed a lot of flyers about Swine Flu… having the symptoms and a list of health centers, where Swine Flu can be treated.
The doctors asked me if I had had fever in last few days… I said no (I was lying, a week ago I had a fever of 102 degrees F)… he checked a few more things… my pulse, my eyes, my tongue and then let me pass the immigration… I looked into the flyer… most of the centers that handled Swine Flu were in Ankara and Istanbul… almost none outside these two places… I was aware that intensive health facilities beyond these two places were practically missing in Turkey… and then in South East Turkey even the basic health facilities do not suffice.
When I was starting for Turkey… I checked with one of my doctor friends… what I do to save me from Swine Flu… he painted a grim picture… he advised- “Don’t go”... but then after seeing my resolve, he relented and gave me pointers to fight the Flu. He also advised me to carry a few masks, hand sanitizer, a few tablets, vitamins… and advised me to have a lot of citrus fruits… I later found out that these were all placebos at best… there was no Over-the-Counter cure against Swine Flu… one needs to get hospitalized, if he is affected by it.
My very first day in Turkey, in Istanbul to be precise… was scary… I started sneezing and coughing… I argued- it could be common cold… the weather has changed so drastically from Kandahar to Istanbul… but in heart of heart, I knew- it could be Swine Flu… slim chances of it being so, but if it was- God save me.
It was an existential question- whether I should take this sneezing and coughing seriously… or try my luck… finally I decided to try my luck… and went ahead with the rest of my journey…
On the road, I discovered my own ways and means to fight out with the flu…
I started consuming more and more coffee… I argued- Coffee has Caffeine, which fights common cold… and therefore should, logically speaking, fight Swine Flu too… nevertheless, coffee was a pretty expensive commodity… 1.5 to 2 Turkish Lira for one cup… so I purchased a number of coffee sachets and wherever I could afford one, I asked for a glass of hot water, and mixed a sachet… and lo! A hot cup of coffee was ready for me.
While in Istanbul, Yusuf told me about the magical properties of Turkish drink Salep… Salep is made by boiling a root tuber… it is slightly pungent in taste, and therefore added with some chocolate powder for taste- and practically, anywhere you go in Turkey, you would find small vendors selling hot cups of Salep everywhere… when I tasted it for the first time, the taste seemed awkward… but slowly I developed a taste for it… and then I relished drinking it… again and again. I don’t know whether Salep actually had a therapeutic effect or not… but each of its cup was wonderfully refreshing.
As during the entire trip, I had resorted to more and more of Doner Sandwich, which was nothing but a loaf of bread and a few chicken nuggets… I was missing out on balanced diet- fibers and most importantly vitamins. I, therefore, made it a habit to purchase a few fruits, wherever I could get them cheaply… Mediterranean Citrus came to my rescue… loaded with Vitamin C, they were an anti-dote for Cold… a few of them every day gave me required amount of vitamins to fight against the Cold.
I never refused a cup of tea… the hallmark of Turkish hospitality… I argued Tea is refreshing, and more importantly, a cup of hot fluid going into my body would keep me charged up to fight the Flu…
I caught up with as much sleep as possible… it was December, the days were smaller- in fact, by 6 pm it was already pitch dark and therefore I went to sleep after having a quick dinner at about 7 pm… and didn’t wake up till 6 in the morning… 10-11 hours of sleep did wonders to my immunity levels.
I don’t know how much these measures helped me in fighting the flu… but by the fifth day, when I had reached Cappadocia… my running nose stopped, coughing became less and less frequent… the flu was on the verge of its last stages… I sighed relief; for sure it was not Swine Flu… the rest of my journey was flawless….
The thought of getting affected by Swine Flu in a distant land was frightening… I would be carrying limited cash… would know hardly anybody over there in Turkey… and lot of other perturbing thoughts…
When I landed in Istanbul Airport… I saw a commotion… people undergoing mandatory health checks, being distributed a lot of flyers about Swine Flu… having the symptoms and a list of health centers, where Swine Flu can be treated.
The doctors asked me if I had had fever in last few days… I said no (I was lying, a week ago I had a fever of 102 degrees F)… he checked a few more things… my pulse, my eyes, my tongue and then let me pass the immigration… I looked into the flyer… most of the centers that handled Swine Flu were in Ankara and Istanbul… almost none outside these two places… I was aware that intensive health facilities beyond these two places were practically missing in Turkey… and then in South East Turkey even the basic health facilities do not suffice.
When I was starting for Turkey… I checked with one of my doctor friends… what I do to save me from Swine Flu… he painted a grim picture… he advised- “Don’t go”... but then after seeing my resolve, he relented and gave me pointers to fight the Flu. He also advised me to carry a few masks, hand sanitizer, a few tablets, vitamins… and advised me to have a lot of citrus fruits… I later found out that these were all placebos at best… there was no Over-the-Counter cure against Swine Flu… one needs to get hospitalized, if he is affected by it.
My very first day in Turkey, in Istanbul to be precise… was scary… I started sneezing and coughing… I argued- it could be common cold… the weather has changed so drastically from Kandahar to Istanbul… but in heart of heart, I knew- it could be Swine Flu… slim chances of it being so, but if it was- God save me.
It was an existential question- whether I should take this sneezing and coughing seriously… or try my luck… finally I decided to try my luck… and went ahead with the rest of my journey…
On the road, I discovered my own ways and means to fight out with the flu…
I started consuming more and more coffee… I argued- Coffee has Caffeine, which fights common cold… and therefore should, logically speaking, fight Swine Flu too… nevertheless, coffee was a pretty expensive commodity… 1.5 to 2 Turkish Lira for one cup… so I purchased a number of coffee sachets and wherever I could afford one, I asked for a glass of hot water, and mixed a sachet… and lo! A hot cup of coffee was ready for me.
While in Istanbul, Yusuf told me about the magical properties of Turkish drink Salep… Salep is made by boiling a root tuber… it is slightly pungent in taste, and therefore added with some chocolate powder for taste- and practically, anywhere you go in Turkey, you would find small vendors selling hot cups of Salep everywhere… when I tasted it for the first time, the taste seemed awkward… but slowly I developed a taste for it… and then I relished drinking it… again and again. I don’t know whether Salep actually had a therapeutic effect or not… but each of its cup was wonderfully refreshing.
As during the entire trip, I had resorted to more and more of Doner Sandwich, which was nothing but a loaf of bread and a few chicken nuggets… I was missing out on balanced diet- fibers and most importantly vitamins. I, therefore, made it a habit to purchase a few fruits, wherever I could get them cheaply… Mediterranean Citrus came to my rescue… loaded with Vitamin C, they were an anti-dote for Cold… a few of them every day gave me required amount of vitamins to fight against the Cold.
I never refused a cup of tea… the hallmark of Turkish hospitality… I argued Tea is refreshing, and more importantly, a cup of hot fluid going into my body would keep me charged up to fight the Flu…
I caught up with as much sleep as possible… it was December, the days were smaller- in fact, by 6 pm it was already pitch dark and therefore I went to sleep after having a quick dinner at about 7 pm… and didn’t wake up till 6 in the morning… 10-11 hours of sleep did wonders to my immunity levels.
I don’t know how much these measures helped me in fighting the flu… but by the fifth day, when I had reached Cappadocia… my running nose stopped, coughing became less and less frequent… the flu was on the verge of its last stages… I sighed relief; for sure it was not Swine Flu… the rest of my journey was flawless….
1 comment:
Clean air, beautiful surrounding and a passionate mindset might have done the trick against the flu...
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