TWO friends once visited Cuba over a Xmas holiday, came back and out of the blue started conjuring up all sorts of illnesses – some terminal at that – for themselves.
One, panicking for a total collapse of her system, eventually went to her doctor when her – terminal symptoms – would not recede to have her inflictions diagnosed.
The diagnosis was fast and crisp: stop the party truck without delay.
Of course, my friends had reason enough to have oodles of fun in the sun with lots of beautiful people, great rum and even greater impromptu street parties.
But they did not count on the embarrassing diagnosis, though it provided an invaluable lesson as the silly season came to a close. And the lesson was: embrace the detox gospels.
Things, they discovered, can get quite serious and out of hand if one does not heed the warning signs, but they have also learnt not to jump to drastic conclusions before deciding they have developed cancer, or had a near stroke when they passed out on the bed, or contracted HIV/Aids over the holidays.
But when you do hear the warning bells go off in your body, experts say, listen and act.
The first place to start, they say, is in the liver and kidney departments, usually overworked and under-compensated during the December period.
Signs that things are not up to scratch are the following: when you wake up for no apparent reason between two and three in the mornings; moodiness; tiredness; light headedness; high cholesterol; weak resistance to illness; a dirty, itchy skin; red, itchy eyes; bitter taste in the mouth; indigestion; constipation and piles; nausea; an irritable bowel and pain in the right side of the body.
If those are not sufficient symptoms for you, consider the following for kidney malfunction: high blood pressure; sore joints and muscles; pain on the top of the head, neck and along the spine; swollen eyes after sleep; swollen face, hands, legs and ankles; sore heels and athlete’s feet; eczema, fungus on the soles of the feet, and others.
This is meant seriously. But other experts say additionally, and as important, detox regimes post-Xmas are the following:
First, stay away from relatives during the first month of the year. Xmas, as wholesome and wonderful as it may be, is a time families seriously get into each other’s hair.
The idea of the family detox plan is not to answer your door or pick up your phone for them; to avoid all signs of family gatherings; and not to get upset when other members of your family do the same to you. Lastly, the experts suggest, the giving spirit of Xmas stops on Xmas Day. Don’t feel guilty when you cannot help out a friend or family in need of small change. After the big sharing event of Xmas, everyone is one his/her own limping through the big brokenness of January.
