Sudafed Up

A 5 miler round and about Arthur's Seat yesterday went okay and didn't seem to make me any worse. The hills made me cough and I was deaf when I started running, deaf during the run and still deaf at the end. Apart from occasional fits of coughing the main legacy of the cold is blocked eustachian tubes which are making me a. deaf and b. hear the constant hissing sound of my brain working.

Today I thought nature has had its chance to clear my ears for me so it was time to get in there with the drugs. I had a bit of a google to see what was good and found that pseudoephidrine looked good but its sales are restricted because it was getting used to help prepare methamphetamine. I was HOPING I could still get some in Tescos, but they only had preparations containing the less bioavailable phenylephrine hydrochloride. "Boo! You're joking!" I hear you say. I don't know what the story is with pseudoephidrine, whether you can have it if you go and talk to your local chemist or if you have to go to a doctor. Personally I find it insulting when you have to go in to a chemist, ask for something and then they read all the warnings off the back of the box before giving it to you. Too much interaction.

"Why so keen on the pseudoephidrine?" I hear you wonder. Well I remember being just about dead in 1994 with some kind of bronchial thing that might have been pneumonia and a young Peter, my flatmate at the time, offering me some Sudafed tablets with pseudoephidrine in them that were just short of miraculous. I had a big weight on my chest, sort of like a large, hot, unwelcome cat and when I took these tablets suddenly all the irritated and bunged up bronchi cleared and opened up and  I was breathing cool clear air again.

I would like that level of relief. Still we'll persist with the phenylephrine for now. I've had some encouraging nose blows but not much else...

And what of the day? Lovely day. Lovely blue sky and it was actually warm in the sun. We went a 7 miler from Cramond round the airport loop. The ground was pretty muddy in places but we were wearing our trail shoes and it didn't matter. The Almond was swollen and you could see along the riverbanks that there's been some very high water. There were a couple of trees down too. Pity all I could here was a lot of swooshing sounds and nasty, raspy breathing...