Friday, October 14, 2011

Down for the Count

So, you may have noticed the small number of posts recently.  I have been sick...very sick.  My husband was down for the count last weekend.  Now it is my turn.  I started to feel bad Wednesday...I woke up Thursday feeling like a Mack truck had hit me - twice.  I stayed home from work, put an out of office message up, took some meds and went back to bed.  Now, this is monumental for me.  I NEVER go back to bed.  But I was feeling so terrible, I really had no choice.

When I woke up, I tried looking for some home remedies for relieving sinus pressure...yeah, the ole drum and bugle corp were at top volume in my head that day.  I found one, made it up, and almost gagged to death on it!!!  Wowee!  How do people drink that stuff!?!?!?  You were to boil water, put in a mug, add 2 TBS apple cider vinegar, 2 TBS of honey and drink it down.  BLECK!!!  So now, not only was my head pounding off my shoulders, but my stomach was doing somersaults.... great...

Then I remembered, one of the executives I support went to Japan last year, and brought me back a fancy canister of tea.  Now, I cannot read Japanese, go figure, but when I brewed the tea, it was green - I thought, perfect.  Green tea is supposed to be fantastic for you.  It was okay, I am a coffee drinker, not a tea drinker.  But when I am sick, I will choke down the tea.  It did make me feel a little better, but the congestion would not break up.  I finished off every bottle of over the counter medicine that was left from when my husband was sick, and spent a very restless night trying to sit up enough to try to get my sinuses to open up so I could breathe!

So, for this round, I went to the store today and got the only thing that works for me - Sudafed 12 hour - the real stuff, behind the counter - not the fake PE stuff.  Also got some Ny-Quil and cherry flavored Halls, so now I am set for this cold.  Within one hour of taking the Sudafed when I got home, my sinuses started clearing out. YAY!

So, does anyone out there have any suggestions for the next round?  I would like to try to do more homeopathic stuff and not rely on the pharmaceuticals (but this time desperate times called for desperate measures)...I have read about ginger tea, tea with lemon juice, cayenne pepper and honey, peppermint essential oil facial steam baths, etc.  But I am looking for something that you have tried and it WORKS.

Cuz when I am sick, there is no time for messing around.  I have got too much to do and can't be down for the count.

3 comments:

Leigh said...

So sorry to hear you've been sick. Sinus problems are the worst, I know because Dan has a history of sinus infections that have always plagued him. What he's found that really helps, is an herbal nasal snuff. It's made and sold by H.E.A.L Marketplace, out of Rutherfordton. You'll find it from their home page > Herbal Products > Oils, Gels & Poultices > scroll down about 3/4 of the page to "nasal stuff." It's a members only website, so I can't get it to give you a more direct link, but you should be able to find the product. Dan uses this as soon as he feels pressure in his sinuses and has averted 99.9% of his sinus problems. We are members because their products work. Membership is only $20 a year and can be added to your order. The snuff is reasonable for an herbal product, I think. It's $7.50 an ounce and an ounce lasts forever. Their e-newsletters are really informative too.

Helen said...

Get a nettie pot (the actual Nettie pot not some other kind) use sea salt and dont bother with the packets they sell at the store for the mix. Avoid all starch and dairy (that means no bread) because it increases the inflammation ad mucus production. Eat raw garlic ( cut into pill size chunks and swallow as if it is a pill.) Healing naturally is about the whole picture. The only way to have one thing fix everything is to get sudafed. Don't eat a lot of food. Your body needs it's energy stores to heal and can't be bothered to digest food. Drink broths and herbal teas/medicinal teas. Alpha cold and flu is a really good homeopathic remedy that works well.

Tina - Our Rustic Roots said...

I was going to say a neti pot, too. I have a knock off one that works great and I make the salt and water rinse, too, just like Helen said. If you have an old shirt you can sacrifice, slathering vapor rub on your chest and back will help while you try to sleep reclined.

Hope you feel better soon.