Desperate Times

Peppermint

Have you ever heard the expression that "Desperate Times call for Desperate Measures?"  Well, this is one of those times for me.  I woke up yesterday morning with an extremely sore throat and by early afternoon I was running a fever and had a really bad headache.  This is not the time of year that I want to be sick (really I don't want to be sick anytime of year, but especially not this time of year) and combine that with the fact that my youngest grandaughter has an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist in Tupelo on Monday, well, let's just say I don't want to be sick.  Since Amanda has asked me to go with her to Tupelo I decided that I need to attack whatever this crud is, (and fast), because I know that I don't need to go into this clinic of child heart patients while running a fever, coughing, and sneezing.  If it had not been the weekend I probably would have gone to the doctor, but since it WAS the weekend I searched through all of my herbal remedy books and searched the internet and here's what I've been doing. 

Ginger root tea (ginger is a warming herb and helps stimulate the immune system as well as increasing blood flow.  It's also helps settle the stomach.  I usually add a little bit of peppermint (fresh or dried to my ginger root tea. )

Cinnamon tea (soothing to the throat, decongestant, and also a warming herb)

Cough Syrup (made with licorice, mullein, and thyme)

Raw onion and garlic (I made a salsa using fresh tomatoes, raw onion and raw garlic with lime juice, salt and pepper to eat with tortilla chips.  I ate the WHOLE thing by myself.  Needless to say my family is staying far, far away from me:)  Onion and garlic both have anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties so I figured they would be good, but I cannot stomach the garlic tea.  It's much easier to eat this way.  Also, I boiled a potato with onion, mashed it up and added raw garlic to that.)

Garlic Foot Bath (Several cloves of garlic chopped into a small pan of water.  Bring to a boil and let steep for about 15 to 20 minutes.  Pour into a shallow pan and soak your feet for about 30 minutes.  I don't know if  the garlic had anything to do with it or if it was just the hot water, but I began to feel better in a short period of time.)  (The foot bath is supposed to help draw out lung toxins.  It's also good for athletes foot.  Just thought I would throw that in there :)

I don't know if what I have is just a brief sinus thing that would be gone within a day without doing all of this or not, but since the flu and strep have been making rounds through our church I decided to take action.  Today, my sore throat is almost completely gone and I have no fever.  I'm still drinking the teas and also eating some raw onion and garlic.  My head congestion is gone and my nose isn't running.  The only real thing I have going on today is that after eating all of the raw onion and garlic, as you can imagine, my stomach isn't feeling all that great.  Nothing major and ginger root seems to be helping that.   Anyway, it looks like, unless I get worse over the course of today, that I will be able to go with Amanda  to Tupelo tomorrow.   Maybe it's all in my head, and maybe these things didn't help as much as I think they did, but I feel better and that's all that counts.