Allergies and Gold Healing

[Pathfinder]

So at least in my part of the world it is officially allergy season with all the joys that come with it. Due to this it got me wondering. Storing gold suppresses your immune system. Allergy sufferers are dealing with a hypersensitive immune system reaction to the specific item. So if a gold ferring stored health while suffering from allergies, would the allergic symptoms calm down/go away? It would leave you vulnerable to catching a cold so you would end up dealing with the problems regardless, but it could potentially allow allergy sufferers an edge over normal gold ferrings. They could store during allergy season with impunity and actually benefit from it. Assuming it actually works like that. Thoughts?

[Edgedancer]

So at least in my part of the world it is officially allergy season with all the joys that come with it. Due to this it got me wondering. Storing gold suppresses your immune system. Allergy sufferers are dealing with a hypersensitive immune system reaction to the specific item. So if a gold ferring stored health while suffering from allergies, would the allergic symptoms calm down/go away? It would leave you vulnerable to catching a cold so you would end up dealing with the problems regardless, but it could potentially allow allergy sufferers an edge over normal gold ferrings. They could store during allergy season with impunity and actually benefit from it. Assuming it actually works like that. Thoughts?

The way I understand it, storing healt moves you away from what the ideal of a healthy human should be, so a health benefit like this wouldn't be inherent to gold feruchemy. Then again, there's also the whole cognitive aspect, so if you think that's how health and your immune system should act there may be a chance you could cheat the system.

[CaptainRyan]

I would guess that the first time a Ferring/Feruchemist taps health (after storing of course) their allergies would be healed completely and never bother them again. So, perhaps, for that first time they are storing health it might reduce allergy related symptoms?

[Arrae]

Actually, if you think of allergies as unhealthy, they might be exaggerated when you store health. But at least tapping gold would reduce these allergies, if that was the case.

[Pathfinder]

But that is where the confusion is. If you are being moved away from healthier, or reducing your immune system to store, then you would be lowering your bodies defenses. Allergies manifest because your body's natural defenses go into overdrive when it is not necessary. So by lowering or weakening your immune system, or by moving away from your healthier self, your body wouldn't be going all code red when you sniff some pollen. But again that seems counter intuitive, so I dunno. It probably doesn't work that way, but I haven't found a way in my brain for it to make sense. 

[Nyali]

I think an important distinction to consider here is if Feruchemical healing brings you closer to your ideal self, or closer to an external ideal human. Meaning, if you've had allergies your entire life and you're used to having those allergies and expect to have them, would tapping healing reduce their effects? I don't think Stormlight healing would, which definitely works in the Spiritual and Cognitive realms, making your body more like you think it should be.

 

(Personal musings on the topic, feel free to ignore -)

As a transwoman, I have an interesting perspective on magical healing in general. There's something really appealing about magical healing that heals your body by making it more like what you know it should be. Stormlight healing, for instance, would make my body more like a ciswoman's, healing my vocal cords to what they were before male puberty and likely even growing missing organs (uterus/womb). Similarly, the mutability of the Returned caused by their ties to the Cognitive would theoretically have a similar effect.

 

But, what about Feruchemical healing? Would it just stimulate my body's natural immune system and healing factor, healing illness, cuts, bruises, etc? Clearly, it doesn't just make your body think it's had a long time to rest - resting won't heal a bullet to the head, but Feruchemical healing can. If it just stimulates the body's natural healing processes, would how you saw yourself matter at all? Also, to go back to the personal musings, while medically altering hormone levels, would Feruchemical healing stimulate my body's hormone production until congenital levels were restored, or would it accelerate the changes caused by medically altering hormone levels?

 

These are things I think about

[CaptainRyan]

I think an important distinction to consider here is if Feruchemical healing brings you closer to your ideal self, or closer to an external ideal human. Meaning, if you've had allergies your entire life and you're used to having those allergies and expect to have them, would tapping healing reduce their effects? I don't think Stormlight healing would, which definitely works in the Spiritual and Cognitive realms, making your body more like you think it should be.

 

(Personal musings on the topic, feel free to ignore -)

As a transwoman, I have an interesting perspective on magical healing in general. There's something really appealing about magical healing that heals your body by making it more like what you know it should be. Stormlight healing, for instance, would make my body more like a ciswoman's, healing my vocal cords to what they were before male puberty and likely even growing missing organs (uterus/womb). Similarly, the mutability of the Returned caused by their ties to the Cognitive would theoretically have a similar effect.

 

But, what about Feruchemical healing? Would it just stimulate my body's natural immune system and healing factor, healing illness, cuts, bruises, etc? Clearly, it doesn't just make your body think it's had a long time to rest - resting won't heal a bullet to the head, but Feruchemical healing can. If it just stimulates the body's natural healing processes, would how you saw yourself matter at all? Also, to go back to the personal musings, while medically altering hormone levels, would Feruchemical healing stimulate my body's hormone production until congenital levels were restored, or would it accelerate the changes caused by medically altering hormone levels?

 

These are things I think about

 

There are definitely a lot of gaps in what we know about how healing with Investiture works but, in my opinion, very, very few people would view their allergies as anything other than an annoyance/something to be fixed. Stormlight/Feruchemical gold would, imo, heal people of their allergies unless they somehow viewed their allergies as deeply, irrevocably connected to their Identity. Kaladin's brands not healing is an example of someone who is convinced, at a Cognitive/Spiritual(?) level, that he IS a slave. That he deserves those brands and that they will always be him. (Again, emphasizing that this is simply my interpretation of the situation and not canon). I doubt anyone feels that strongly about their allergies haha.

 

As to your personal musing:

I think Stormlight/Feruchemical gold would "heal" you to whatever it is that you consider your Identity to be. Because, unlike allergies, your view of what your gender is deep seated and irrevocably connected to your Identity. So, if you ever get the chance to spike yourself with gold or bond a spren then may I humbly recommend you go for it!  Also, I hope I did not overstep the bounds of courtesy by responding to your personal musings. If I did, please let me know and I will edit my post to remove this section.

Edited May 27, 2016 by CaptainRyan

[Pathfinder]

I believe the idea of working from your "ideal self" was your body looking at a "blue print of you", so it heals in the "correct" way so you don't have an arm popping out at the wrong place etc. Regarding changing sex my personal theory, that is in no way a commentary on whether it is acceptable or not (I am perfectly fine and support any and everyone holding true to their core identity). So basically I see it happening like this: If an individual is physically one sex and wants to become another, then feruchemical gold will not accomplish that alone. The individual can view themselves the other sex all they want, but it would not actively change just from tapping as there has been no injury inflicted on the physical body. However, I do personally believe if the individual were to hold their core identity as the opposite sex and then to undergo the surgery, coupled with hormone replacements, then I do believe feruchemical gold would help complete the process as it would see the healing genitalia with stitches as something in need of repair, and the individual's identity at its core holds the new equipment as "right", the body would view that as the blueprint, and seek to "repair" it and make it a fully realized and functioning organ in all respects. At least that is my interpretation. Hopefully I wrote that in a respectful manner in regard to the subject matter.

[Oudeis]

Regarding the personal musings (not gonna spoil this cuz I'm just gonna be super vague).

 

Every thought I've had has already been stated. I think I concur with the general sense that we honestly don't know yet enough in-universe to say what would actually happen.

 

However, I hope someone asks this question someday. I expect an answer would end up telling us a great deal about healing in the cosmere.