Tuesday, September 12, 2017

mōmsal (몸살)

I currently have a classic case of what Koreans call mōmsal, which refers to generalized body aches, pains, blahs, and other nasty, mind-dulling symptoms often associated with colds, flus, and so on. You can think of mōmsal as a sort of syndrome, i.e., a suite of symptoms and conditions all arising at once. In my particular case, the mōmsal is a stew of fever, a slightly (but not alarmingly) mucus-y cough, fatigue, joint ache, and a sudden wave of lower-back pain for no apparent reason. The latter pain makes it difficult for me to bend over and pick anything up off the floor, but I assume this is temporary. It's more annoying than actually debilitating, but it's sapping my will to do any exercise. I'd much rather just lie in bed, under a blanket that protects me from mosquitoes. I haven't lost the will to go to work yet, but we'll have to see just how bad the condition gets. In theory, I'll make it through the week.

I've got Comtrex-style cold medicine to combat the problem, along with aspirin and vitamins. We'll see how that goes for the next few days. It's unfortunate that this is hitting me during a week when I'm expected to produce a lot of food this coming Friday, but I have no choice but to shamble on through it.

Wish me luck as Friday approaches.



6 comments:

  1. When in doubt, go with the nasty tasting hanyak (한약) & a few bottles of Vita 500 & Red Ginseng. I swear that mix was as effective as anything whenever I was sick with mōmsal (몸살.) Those small ground powdered packets of hanyak taste awful, but it tends to clear out the sinuses and mucous in a day or two.

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  2. The symptoms sound awfully familiar. In my case the diagnosis is the dreaded A-G-E syndrome.

    Hope you feel better soon!

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  3. Hope you feel better!

    (Although the bar over the "o" made me start wondering what the word might indicate without that. Perhaps the legendary weight put on after giving birth?)

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  4. Charles,

    Thanks. I recruited the help of Monsieur Macron because I don't trust my US readers to know that the romanized "mom" is pronounced "mohm" and not "mahm." Admittedly, I don't apply the macron consistently, but the moment I wrote "momsal," the fanciful pronunciation "mahmsull" popped into my head (i.e., the "mom" sound of "Mom" and the "-sal" sound from "sisal") and grew into a paranoid fixation. Et nous voilà.

    Am currently coughing up some nicely dark, foul-tasting mucus, just FYI. No more fever and no other cold symptoms, but my back still aches, and I've still got a cough. I'd better not be sick like this next week, as I'm planning to walk 66 km in 24 hours starting on Saturday the 23rd. Longest 24-hour walk ever, I think—even longer than the Portland-to-Cascade Locks walk in 2008.

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