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Saturday, January 11, 2014

when mama gets sick - a list of natural home remedies for the cold season

Well, let's face it, when mama gets sick, life goes on.

It is mama who suffers, in silence, with the occasional whiney text to dada who texts back things like "I am SO sorry" which, he means well, but, that doesn't take away the pounding sinuses and it certainly doesn't do the dishes or clean out the litter box or make pancakes for the little three people who want pancakes, and etc.

We soldier on.

Because that is what we do.

Meanwhile, I remember all the doctoring I did for all the little people who were sick a few weeks ago. (I never got "the pukeys," by the way. Baby toddler was sick for days, little miss was fine, dada was sick for 48 hours, little man did "pukey" once. Me? Nothing. SO now my body is like "HA HA HA. PSYCH! Here, have a happy new year hacking cold and cough! YAY FOR YOU. Bwahahahaha!!! Yes, my body talks in an evil villain voice. Today anyway.)

So, yes. I remember all that doctoring two days into the evil cold and its like, "Oh, yea, right, I should do that for myself too I guess, huh?" Nobody is as bad a doctor for mama as mama. Right???

So, for the past 24 hours here is all the hippie crunchy healthy goodness doctoring I have been doing for myself. And I post here because 1) this is how I record and remember things like this for future reference and 2) I would LOVE you all to read comments about other hippie crunchy doctoring goodness ideas you use that work.

Meanwhile I have been taking Nyquil every night. Ha. I am a dichotomy like that.

Ahhhhhh, NYYYYYQUIIIIILLLLLLLLLLL....

So here is my hippy crunchy list of things we do at our house to fight colds and icky yucky sickies. Anything to add? Please leave your ideas in a comment!!

1) Moist air - Large pots of water boiling with drops of tea tree oil and eucalyptus oil in it. This is also to address the arctic-like weather that sucked all moisture out of the air.  (Poor baby has developed eczema!)

2)Elderberry syrup - This was SO easy to make, and I need to make another batch. Perhaps I will post a "how-to" post here soon? It includes elderberries (my sister has a bush on her farm! we are totally planting some this summer...) cinnamon, Thieves oil (we use Young Living Oils) and honey (always use GOOD honey medicinally, not the crap from China and etc in the stores in the plastic bear containers...I read a report that most honey from China is full of toxins from the pollutions and that they thin it with PLASTIC. Ew. Also, we are friends with a local beekeeper so....)

3) Homemade Vix - made with coconut oil (of course, you must include coconut oil in any home remedy list) and drops of lavender, eucalyptus oil, tea tree oil and thieves oil. Use on the feet under socks or on the chest.

4) Thieves tea - hot water with a single drop of thieves oil, a single drop of peppermint oil and a spoonful of honey. This is POTENT STUFF. Sip cautiously! I usually sip in tiny sips over several hours and also refill the mug with hot water halfway through. This is also great for bad stomachs/flu and as an immune booster.

5) Honey Lemon Ginger tea - this is great for sore throats. I do hot water in a teapot with the juice of one lemon (using real lemon juice is important because the enzymes are still active...something like this...) cut in slices of ginger, just a few, you can also use powdered ginger. Now a generous spoonful of honey. I also put in either kombucha, just maybe 1/2 cup or a splash of apple cider vinegar (the good stuff with "the mother" in it. I have been making my own since summer and its so easy to do!) On bad days I drink this all day. This is also a great immune booster and detox tea.

6) Homemade Cough Syrup - Slice one lemon and maybe an inch of ginger root into a small wide-mouthed jar. Cover with honey and store, covered, in the fridge. Take a half teaspoon or so for coughs or mix into a mug of hot water for a nice tea.

7) Cinnamon Honey Cough Cure - Mix powdered cinnamon and honey (good honey!) in a small container. I use a jelly jar size mason jar. Take for cough attacks. It really works. I did this last night when I was having a cough attack and trying not to wake the sleeping kids. Must. Not. COUGH. Must. Not. WAKE. KIDS. Ugh. The worst.

8) Mullein Ear drops - So, you can buy this in the store, but as I discovered that the tall, fuzzy leaved plant that grows around here is MULLEIN, I made some myself this summer. You just use the blossoms and let them sit for awhile in olive oil, then strain out and store the oil in a jar. I dab some in sore ears (always with colds for me) on a q-tip. You can also do warm olive oil with a few drops of tea tree oil, or you can use garlic infused oil.

9) Nutrition - This is of course the time to break out the yogurt containers full of homemade bone broth in the freezer. I made chicken pot pie the other night with some of this. You can also sip mug fulls of it, watered down, especially after the flu as a first food or with bad colds when you have no appetite. I also try to beef up the probiotic intake with yogurt, kombucha, and kefir. I would say with my nice fridge full of fermented veggies but, alas, I have none right now. Why?? Because the gut really is the first line of defense! You need a healthy gut to have a healthy immune system!

10) Liquids - Of course, this is logical. Lots of liquids to keep mucus flowing and prevent sinus infections. (Which is why taking Nyquil and other cold meds really is dumb of me. it stops of the flow for awhile and makes you feel WORSE when it wears off. But. I take it. Because I need to sleep. Also...AHHHHH....NYYYYYQUIIIIIILLLLLL...)

11) Vitamin D/C/etc - I also take mad doses of Vitamin D like, 10,000+. (400 IUI is the recommended) Also a packet or two of Emergen C (fizzy vitamin drink) daily. Also fish oil (we are using

12) The Neti pot - A handy little device for when colds are coming on or to moisten dry sinuses because of hayfever type allergies, etc. For me though, I really dislike using the neti-pot when I have a full on cold. It feels like I am going to drown.

So, what else do you have for me mamas??? That is about my list. There might be things I have heard of (colloidial silver being one of them) but this is what I actually do. What do you do??

Now, is it bedtime yet? Mama wants her NYYYYYYYYYYQUUUUIIIILLLLLLLL.

Here are some pictures for you, of a blue jay out on our deck during the arctic freeze last week. Because pictures of me sick or making homemade coconut oil/honey/ginger/teatree oil remedies are boring. HA.




3 comments:

  1. When we left the farm after christmas, mom sent me home with silver water, and although I have always been a skeptic, I started taking a few tble spoons of it with drops of Thieves as soon as I started getting sick. I was still pretty miserable for a few days last week. But when I get sick with a bad cold its usually for a few weeks so if it helped my cold only last a few days I'll take it!!! I think it really helped! I also drank two or three cups of really strong ginger tea and I'm sure that helped too. Like you said, most of our immune system is in the gut. And not sure if you mentioned this, but be carful with eucalyptus, it is not meant to be taken internally. I know you know that but just wanted to throw that out there for your other readers! Feel better soon and enjoy the heat wave :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. interesting on the silver cari. I should try it one of these days. and yes. none of the above remedies using eucalyptus are internally taken. As I said above, I only use it in hot water steam or in the homemade vix.

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  3. We do most stuff you have listed! and also we rinse our sinus and keep mucus out, you can use a neti pot or use the pre-mix ones, this works very well for us for years to avoid cold/flu and sinus infections!

    ReplyDelete

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