10,000 ills...

So, what with the sudden change of weather, I have been the victim of a sudden cold recently; a wearisome sniffly cold. The kind that makes your head hot and your legs wobbly and keeps you in bed and away from work. So, today I went back to work and still felt kind of woozy and wobbly (though the sniffling had stopped. And then someone asked me - 風邪はもぉ治ったん？ (kaze ha moo naottan? - Is your cold all better now?). Well, I'm not sure, I said. 鼻水が治ったけど、まだちょっとくらくらしている。(hanamizu ga naotta kedo, mada chotto kurakura shiteiru - The sniffles have stopped but I still feel a little dizzy.) Ah, said she. でも　「風邪は万病の元」やから気ィ付けてねぇー (demo, "kaze ha manbyou no moto" yakara ki tsukete ne - but "a cold is a source of 10,000 ills" so be careful, won't you?)

That's today's phrase right there: 万病の元. I translated it rather literally though. In effect 万病 means all kinds of diseases. So 万病の薬 (manbyou no kusuri) would be a cure all. However, it is most commonly used in the expression quoted above to mean that a cold can lead to all kinds of health problems. Here is variant I found in Jim Breen's Dictionary:

アンバランスな食事は、万病の元だぞ。
anbaransuna shokuji ha manbyou no moto da zo.
An unbalanced diet leads to all kinds of sicknesses.