Gala's Magical Guide To Getting Well
[ 20 October 2009 ]
Recently, I was stricken with the death plague. Okay, it wasn’t quite that bad, but it was about a week of major congestion, epic nose-blowing escapades, a wicked cough & a voice that belonged to a cartoon crocodile smoking a cigarette. It was not fun, & despite being in a warm house (& hardly ever leaving it), wearing lots of clothes & eating good meals, I couldn’t seem to shake it.
...Until I asked my Twitter fiends friends for help, of course! The ideas poured in thick & fast, & I decided to give a whole bunch of them a try. Here’s what I did & what worked best. Hopefully they will help you too!
Eat a clove of raw garlic
Okay, not the most delicious thing, & it makes you stink. Not your breath, interestingly enough — but pretty much as soon as you swallow it, the smells starts to leak out of your pores. It’s quite funny really! It is excellent for keeping away vampires, obviously. So the best way to do this one is grab a clove of garlic, peel it, chop it into little pieces & swallow each piece with a big gulp of water like you were taking a pill. I swear that of all the things I tried, this did the most good. I did it twice, over two consecutive days, & I am convinced it took me from 20% health to 75%.
Liberal applications of Vicks Vaporub
Another stinky solution, yes, but it totally works! I rubbed it into my neck (front & back) & then wrapped up in a scarf. I also applied some to my chest & to the bottoms of my feet, & then put on big thick socks. You can’t really overdo Vicks, so don’t be afraid! I put it all over myself just after my raw garlic treatment & drinking my magical potion (see below!), & then climbed into bed (with my scarf & socks on), turned my electric blanket on, & slept for 5 hours. It was so good!
Put arnica cream wherever you’re sore
Typically when you’re sick, your muscles ache too. While a bath is probably the best cure for this, I was, at the time, staying in a house which didn’t have one. (Sacrilege, I know.) So the second-best thing to do is rub arnica cream into your sore muscles. Arnica is what they put on horses when they injure muscles, so you know it has a bit of oomph! Have someone loving rub it into your back, & thank me later.
Make yourself a magical potion
This one would be most fun if you were wearing a big black witches hat at the time, but if you can’t manage that, just pretend. My magical potion consisted of the juice of one whole lemon, two tablespoons of Manuka honey, two dissolvable painkillers (like Aspirin or Disprin), a big whack of ginger grated right into the cup, a generous pour of brandy, & a whole lot of boiling water. Stir it up & drink it down. If it gets cold, you can always microwave it. It would probably be a good thing to make a big batch of it & just sip it throughout the day, but I imagine you might get a bit blitzed. If that’s okay with you, go for it!
Rest
Easier said than done, sometimes, I know, but if you can manage it, get as much sleep as you can. Sleep is the time when your body is actually able to heal you up & fix you, so, to put it simply, the more sleep you get, the healthier you’ll be. If napping during the day is a luxury you cannot afford, just go to bed way, way earlier than usual. Isn’t your health worth more than an episode of The Girls Next Door? I thought so too!
Take insane “cold & flu” pills
Ideally the ones people use to manufacture crazy drugs from (i.e. the ones which contain pseudoephedrine). They tend to work the best. I haven’t taken cold/flu medicine in America, but my #1 recommendation in New Zealand is Codral. Nurofen Cold & Flu used to be my saving grace during winter, but they recently changed the formulation & it just doesn’t work like it used to. Boo. So anyway, pop some of those, they will make you feel human again. At least for a little while. But don’t take them forever, because you’ll build up a resistance while simultaneously destroying your liver. Gross…
Take your vitamins
A good multivitamin should be part of everyone’s daily routine, but if it isn’t, now’s a good time to start. Echinacea is great in large (& I do mean large) doses, & you should load up on some of those fizzing vitamin c tablets, too!
Stick your head over a steaming bowl of hot water
This is one of the best ever ways to clear out your sinuses. It’s also really good for your skin but that is just an incidental bonus! Boil the jug & pour it into a big bowl. Then stick your face over it, & throw a towel over your head to trap all the heat inside. The idea is to breathe in as deeply as you can. It will clear up any congestion you have very quickly. If you have peppermint or eucalyptus essential oil on hand, a drop (just one!) of that added to the water will work miracles too.
It seems like everyone gets sick when the seasons change! What’s your #1 tip for curing the death plague? Your tips will definitely help out a sniffly nonpareil somewhere around the globe!
RADICAL self-love & stardust,
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It is so true about garlic!
I made myself pumpkin soup and accidently put too much garlic in it, the next day everybody in my house came down with swine flu except for me. I swear by it now!
I Hope you get better soon x
Oh, garlic! The wonderful bringer of immune happiness! I find a homemade tomato sauce with a tonne of garlic and fresh basil on pasta always does the trick. Another good natural thing is lots of white tea (as in the green tea-esque stuff, not black tea with milk) because it helps hydrate the body and has lots of antioxidants.
I hope you feel better soon! x x x
Tylonal sinus was my savior last year, and it contains pseudoephedrine! It saved my life to the point where I was carrying the box in my purse wherever I went. So many people came to me when they were sick because of these magic pills!
I also REALLY want to smell like garlic for a day, so I almost hope I get sick-ish soon. It could be fun (except for me, being sick means upset stomache, not congestion…)
Cook up a big fat bowl of the soup of your choice, and chuck in as much tabasco sauce or chilli powder as you can handle. It’s keep you warm, nourished and hydrated when you’re cold and tired, and the spiciness will blast all the goop out your nose
My grandmother used to make a “magic potion” similar to that and give it to me & my siblings when we were really sick to knock us out and make us sleep.
I bring on soup with lots of garlic & hot spices and vitamin C (in whatever form I can get it) when I’m sick. Having a reliable slave/boyfriend/sister to do your bidding is good as well.
Oh, I have one tip for blocked noses and colds… Eating wasabi at a sushi restaurant will clear any sinuses or blocked noses for the rest of the week, that thing is powerful Just don’t eat too much of it, you might pass out!
Get well soon! :D
Aw, it’s mama Gala! My mum always used to make us sit over a steaming bowl of water (with vicks in it!) with a towel over our heads. It always worked.
Just one little note – it’s sometimes not safe to take Aspirin and Ibuprofen together, so be careful! look here:
wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_you_tak…
Garlic is SUCH a big help but I really can’t deal with the smell (and neither can my boyfriend!). (PS Gala, I got this email 3 times: the first one ended at the cold & flu pills suggestion, the 2nd one at vitamins, and now this 3rd one included the hot water… ?? Not sure if you meant to do that or not!)
LAKSA!
My mum swears by seafood, but I definitly prefer the chicken. All the yummy (healthy) stuff in it cures all.
supergirlieque — Haha, that’s because I had some issues posting this. Sorry!
Oil of Oregano… tastes horrendous, but it works! About 5-6 drops on a spoon (w/something that tastes better) 3x/day will totally help
So far I have managed to avoid all sorts of sicknesses that are going around my university. However, if I do end up getting sick I will def. use this article as a reference point!
Fingers crossed for no illnesses though!
I had a terrible cold not too long ago and I read to drink Apple Cider Vinegar. It tastes horrible but it completely cleared my sinuses in 5 minutes. Mixing the ACV with water helps, I mixed 1 1/2 tablespoons of ACV in 1 cup of water. Glad you are starting to feel better!!
Don’t know if you’ve tried, but – Echinacea drops. They’re like magical fairy droplets; taste absolutely foul, but will get you better muchly and soon. I just swallow a teaspoonful and feel instantly better!
I’ve never tried the garlic because of the smell thing, but hear so many good things about it! They also sell it pill form if you want to avoid the taste (not sure on the odor though).
And it’s too true that the things that are best for you always taste the worst :/
Edith! Laksa is a malaysian cuisine, when i had some that my mum cooks, it makes me all sweaty and warms me up in the insides. and its super tasty. and spicy!
penang laksa is what i’m used to lookie here this is how it looks like, looks red hot and spicy. i think it wud somehow cure any sudden cold not that i’ve tried it when i had one tho, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File
I have a magic drink i always do:
1 /2 cup of hot boiling water
1/2 cup of pure vodka
a lot of honey
1 fresh lemon smashed into the drink
you drink it while it’s hot and then sleep… in the morning you are better.
But where I come from there we also have a thing for extreme fever cases called vodka socks or vodka massage.
Vodka socks work in a way that you take a pair of regular cotton socks put them into a cup of vodka which is diluted half with water and then put the wet socks on and then woolen socks on top of them. Everybody does it from little kids to grown ups and it works.
Vodka massage is only done rarely with veryvery high fever, and I guess it needs no explanation!
Nothing picks me up like a hot bowl of soup & a day on the couch with my laptop running and bad TV on in the background!
I can’t believe my favourite lifestyle blog has a post on being sick just when I am! Clearly you are on the nerve woman and listening the vibes of your readers.
from Finland!
Evelin — OH MY GOD, vodka socks, that is the most amazing thing I have ever heard!!! So you wear wet socks?! Really?
Awesome photos!
I guess it has something to do with the fact that we used to be in Soviet Union earlier where vodka was cheaper than water and was used as home medicine. but the weird thing about this is that it works!
probably because it makes your blood circulation faster and all the toxins will go out of your body!
I agree with Evelin (apparently my fellow estonian; we do know the magic of vodka socks). Vodka socks make high fever disappear like magic – I once had fever around 40C (about 104F) and a wet pair of vodka socks dried on my feet in a matter of minutes. I was that overheated, but I felt a lot better after that and the fever also went down drastically.
I also wanted to comment on the steaming bowl of hat water (I’m sure you meant hot, but I would love me some hat water!). It does work, sometimes even miracles, but it is not very good for you, because when your sinuses are already irritated by the stupid cold virus, the hot steam upsets them even more. My mother told me once about another inhalation system/thing/not sure exactly what which is done with cool water and is a lot better for your health, but I don’t know about it. You have to be really careful with all the hotness. :)
This week I got hit by a sinus thing, so I didn’t have to worry too much about aches and all, but still. I swear by those creepy neti pots and nasal irrigation things—I use them once in the morning and right before bed and I swear, it makes SUCH a difference!
I make a magical potion, too with hot apple juice, grated ginger, 1-2 lemons, large amounts of honey, whiskey and boiling water. it always does the trick.
other than that i’ve tried EFT a couple of times when i’ve been feeling a cold coming on and it has worked WONDERS.
The vitamin bit is really important! I used to get crippling sick at least twice a winter, but I’ve been taking a multivitamin and a good dose of Vitamins D & C, my doctor suggested the two extra vitamins on top of a daily multivitamin because they do tons of good things for women especially! Also, pretty important, your body actually has trouble absorbing Vitamin C by itself, but Vitamin D assists in the absorption and does wonders for your immune system.
Even if my doctor hadn’t recommended taking daily vitamins, I would still be doing it because of a friend of mine who works as an EMT. How do they avoid from getting sick? They’re in ambulances all the time and constantly around sick people! They all take daily vitamins, and it takes care of the majority of sickness dangers.
Hope this helps someone. :)
1) Ginger & Lemon magical potion (ok, it’s a tea, you can google the recipe, since I don’t remember it very well!)
2) Hot milk with honey and brandy/cognac = suuuuper sleep (and sweat, if you have fever)
3) Cuddling up in blankets, pajama, and silly-fluffy slippers, whining stupid things to someone who can cuddle you! (like mom, aunt, boyfriend, dog, stuffed animal, etc)
4) Watching your favourite childhood movie while eating chickensoup with funny shaped pasta
I’m figuring out that I tend to regress to childhood when I’m ill!
ooops, sorry, I forgot about EFT ;)
I too rely upon the magical potion – which I call a hot toddy, a term that applies to almost any hot alcoholic drink, and makes me sound like a sleazy 1950s salesman – with whiskey. I usually drink it just before bed – it knocks you out, and if you’ve got a fever it helps you sweat it out, too. Though, as with the cold and flu tablets, it’s best not to have this too often, as it too can build up a resistance and wreck your liver, I’m sure!
This is all great advice, except for one thing: Please, please, PLEASE don’t mix pills with alcohol!!! It’s a bad idea; people can and have died from it, and I don’t mean in an on-purpose, overdose kind of way.
Aww glad you are better! I came down with a bad cold in a day and that weekend i ate lots of raw garlic! By the end of the second day i felt the cold going away.
On top of this lots of tea; i hear that green tea is meant to help with fighting viral infections, and peppermint is good for congestion? Where or not this is true i love tea and wrapping up with a mug of tea definitely made me feel better mentally. I usually take garlic tablets, vitamin c with zince lozenges morning and evening and i’ve heard vitamin d is good for fighting bugs!
I wouldn’t mind eating a whole clove of garlic, in fact, it’s one of my favorite foods. And I’m pretty sure if you eat enough, the only vampires it’ll repel are mosquitoes
I’ve been battling a sore throat for 2 days and read about this method: instead of gargling salt water, apply the salt directly to the back of the throat. Tilt your head back, sprinkle the salt on the back of the throat, let it dissolve. I just tried it and it works much better!
Hmm… My MWAH dissappeared from the previous reply. Well, Mwah, anyway. ;)
I’m going to second Moni’s advice- mixing aspirin with brandy is probably NOT a good idea, since I just looked it up and apparently it can increase your chances of stomach bleeding, and overall blood alcohol level too!
That said, I’m definitely bookmarking this article for future reference- everyone on my college campus is getting sick like crazy. Thanks Gala!
Ah. This couldn’t have came at a more appropriate time! I’m starting to feel very under the weather myself. Galadarling, you are lovely. :D
I think this is a great post!
But, when I clicked on the tag for more how-tos, the article archive didn’t come up. The tags haven’t been working for a long time…will they be fixed soon?
Whenever I get majorly sick (I hardly ever take time off work since I love it so much and its hard to find cover when you need it) I wear my adult size polar fleece onesie with bright red woollen socks and eat and eat and eat as well as drinking the standard lemon and honey. People always forget that you need to massively fuel your body for the all out attack its going to launch on the germs.
Also, for congestion ( I know this sound INCREDIBLY gross) but when your head is completely stuffed up and you can’t seem to blow the snot out? Get someone to blow UP your nose. My boyfriend and I have a running taunt where we try to catch each other out by huffing up each others noses and the other day while he was sick I got him good – pretty much my entire mouth over his nose and blew super hard. After that he stopped sniffing and was able to breathe again!
Oh, and sometimes here in NZ I’ve heard that some cultures actually SUCK the boogers out of their babies noses to clear the sinuses. Gross but effective.
Just eat eat eat up a storm. That’s what always helps me most when I’m deathly ill (or just a bit sickly). Of course I don’t have much of an appetite, but I force myself to eat a little more than normal. Your body needs all the energy it can get to thrown that sickness right into the trash where it belongs! Also rub a little VapoRub right under your nose. You’ll breathe beautifully through the night.
The last time I felt a cold coming on I got this herbal tea called “Be Well” tea from the supermarket and drank it pretty much instead of anything else for two days – it’s echinacea and lemon, I think, it’s delicious and more importantly, it worked!
Also whenever I’m sick the rest thing totally comes into play. You know what’s important? Trashy tv or really shameful guilty pleasure dvds to watch on your laptop in bed…like Dawson’s Creek. So your brain can switch off and your body can heal.
As a pharmacy assiastant I’ve pretty much heard most of the crazy crap people do when they have a cold. So do not mix asprin and ibuprofen together, they r from the same family so ur basicly overdosing and please don’t mix cold n flu tabs with alcohol. My suggestion, go to a good pharmacy and buy everything the pharmacy assistant tell u to, they know their stuff!! Well at least I do anyways!! Ps sinus irrigations n vaporisers r the bomb!!!!
Magic potions sound delightful! But I actually wanted to let you know that you really should not have to take a multivitamin. If you are eating properly you can get all of your nutrients from your food! A lot of people are actually overdosing on vitamins because those multivitamins have 100% of what you need in a day for a 2,000 calorie diet which many of us do not have! Then you have all your food on top of that and you’re getting far more than you need! Really, vitamin companies just market them so you THINK you need them!
Is it safe to mix any sort of alcohol with aspirin and the like? I didn’t think it was?
Good old lemon and honey mixed with water works wonders for me. :)
For a really nasty sore throat, I gargle a glass of water mixed with chilli powder and salt every half an hour and it works like a charm! It sounds like it’ll agitate the throat more but it doesn’t at all; the mixture kills the bacteria and makes swallowing / coughing so much more bearable. If you don’t have any chilli powder, you can also use turmeric, Tabasco, paprika or white pepper too.
I second the hot water trick too! I drop in a tablespoon of Vicks Vaporub into the water and that works great as well.
If you’re going the natural remedies route, I suggest a mixture of colostrum, Elderberry extract, oil of oregano and Emergen-C packets. I got very sick during the tech rehearsal week of The Crucible, and these things save my life.
On another note, taking a combination of Nyquil and a mug of Thera-flu will knock you out for the night.
A note for anyone who is prone to illness because of immuno-suppressive drugs they might be taking (chemo, certain drugs for auto-immune diseases, &c.) — you should not start taking any big amounts of zinc or echinacea or anything herbal like that without talking to your doctor first! It might seem like a good idea, and a great way to counter-act the things that are lowering your immune resistance…except, there’s a reason you are taking drugs to destroy your immune system (or at least, there ought to be) and taking “natural” supplements can totally screw with that. Really, if you’re taking any kind of regular meds at all, you shouldn’t go for any herbal/natural kinds of treatments without consulting with your regular doctor first.
Just saying.
Best ideas ever Gala!
I always get the craziest case of cold and I’m definetly going to try these handy tips next time I’m sick. Thanks Gala!!!
Courtney.
Eat raw ginger. Funny faces will occur, but works A+.
If you’re looking for super strong, super effective cold drugs in the US: DayQuil and NyQuil are the best. Just be sure to space out the doses so you’re not taking them on top of each other since they are SUPER STRONG!
I wrote a similar post a while back: redsonika.wordpress.com/2009/0…
I am sure I have a garlic addiction! I dont often get sick either.. I like to make REALLY garlicy butter & melt it ever so slightly on toast. MMMMM! Or in homemade hummous.
I am currently experiencing THE most blocked up sinuses of the century. Steaming hot water here I come!!
(Thank you so much Gala, this is just what I needed).
I have severe sinus issues year round it seems! I know a thing or two about zee death plague. Chugging vitamin c helps a lot, and also milk and dairy products increase the amount of phlegm you produce, so that’s not the best thing to have when you’re sick.
My mom said homemade chicken noodle soup is really good when you’ve got a cold, so she always makes it for us during the winter.
NETI POT 4 LYFE
Hey Alyssa, I agree that we shouldn’t have to take a multivitamin but a lot of women have trouble getting all the vitamins they need regardless. Especially people who have allergies, certain foods they can’t eat or even are lactose intolerant. And you can’t really ‘overdose’ on vitamins with drugstore brands like centrum or gnc unless you are either a) gulping down entire handfuls of them instead of taking recommended amt (for example too much vitamin A can cause liver damage) or b) you have a medical condition you need to keep an eye on. Any excessive vitamins in your system are flushed out in your urine so it doesn’t harm you.
Ooh! My mom almost never gets sick and she SWEARS by these remedies.
1. Aloe Vera, as a preventative measure
2. Oil of Oregano pills, supposedly they work as a sort of natural antibiotic
3. Vinegar tea, its NASTY, but its hot water mixed with vinegar and honey. I guess its similar to a hot toddy
4. Some Korean medicine, its more for stomach aches, and sadly I can’t read the label.
5. Melatonin to aide sleep and rest well =]
6. Garlic
I’m so excited reading all these tips, I’m going to take notes, thanks Gala!
I love the Netti Pot for preventing and treating colds! It’s basically like the over the counter saline spray except it completely cleanses the entire nasal passage and the sinuses. The only downside is you look a bit silly as you have water running out one side of your nose in a light stream, but I swear it works. Gets rid of congestion and helps prevent sniffles from seasonal allergies. It’s also really great to hydrate your nose if you suffer from dry nose in the winter time.
I also found that last year I ended up getting so many colds because I had so many undiagnosed allergies that my body was just working on overdrive, so making sure you know what you’re allergic to (for me it’s foods) will definitely help.
Finally, I go to a Naturopath and she told me that a lot of people are Zinc deficient which could lead to a person getting more colds. She gave me a little bottle of Aqueous Zinc and told me to take a teaspoon twice a day until it started to taste disgustingly metallic. Haven’t gotten a cold since AND when I feel like I’m getting one I up my dose a little bit and it seems to do the trick. (if you’re deficient the zinc tastes either sweet or like water. If you’re not, it tastes like metal).
My boyfriend makes me a magic potion when I’m sick. I’m not certain what’s in it, but I know for sure that it has lemon, honey and a huge slurp of whisky. He’s a pharamcist too, so he probably knows what he’s doing. _
I also like to make a huge batch of soup, with ginger and garlic, chicken stock onion, and loads of orange vegetables. Orange vegetables (like carrot, pumpkin and sweet potato) all have beta kerotene, which is brilliant for your immune system. It works a treat, plus it’s lovely for a sore throat and achiness.
I LIKE THIS. Better not get sick during exam month >.<
Hmm another magical solution is a vitamin called Wellness Formula. When you feel you are going to get sick, take one or one every three hours. WORKS WONDERS.
Gala! I need some help, honey! I’m a student in high school, and yet I feel soo old just because of all the stress and just being overwhelmed! Help me dear! I want to be absolutely STRESS FREE!! :|
gala can you please make a guide to getting well after a break up? i feel terrible in ways that these methods just won’t cure
chicken broth with lots of hot red pepper flakes is very nice for a sore throat.
i feel like it burns the germs away.
however, tylenol cold pills am/pm (pm puts you out like a light, tho) are excellent as well. pop those babies every 4 hours and you’ll be able to function well enough to get through a day at university AND sleep through the night without waking up because your throat hurts or you can’t breath.
{ end commercial } haha
NeilMed SINUS RINSE!
Alright I second (third?) OIL OF OREGANO!!!
This stuff is actually pure magic. I take a dropper of it in the morning when I feel sick or feel like I have a cold or flu coming on and by the afternoon I’m fine. If you’re really sick take it a couple times a day and you should be fine within one or two days. There’s something so strong about it that it actually kills the virus instead of tranquilizing the symptoms. Magic.
Whoa, a good post! You’re back!! I’m so happy.
I never get sick. That’s because I never, ever, ever touch my eyes or my nose. I really believe that. Bacteria usually enters your body through the mouth, but a virus (cold&flu) usually enters your body through your nose and eyes.
(Example: strep throat can come from not washing your hands before you eat because it’s a bacterial infection, but you can’t get a cold from unwashed food) because it’s a virus)
Don’t touch your nose or eyes EVER, and you won’t get sick. Don’t rub your eyes when you’re tired. Don’t wipe your eyes with the back of your hand after you cry. Don’t use your finger to take the sleeps out of your eye midday. Don’t put eye makeup on with your fingers. Don’t scratch the inner part of your nose with your finger if it itches. Don’t pick yr nose.
Use a clean cloth/tissue for everything. If you must use your fingers (contact lenses, etc) wash your hands carfully, especially the cuticle part around the fingernail where all the germs are.
If you don’t touch your eyes and nose, you’ll basically never catch a virus unless someone sneezes right in your face. I can’t even remember the last time had a cold, but it must have been years ago.
It’s true about oil of oregano. That stuff really works.
But prevention is the best cure, don’t you think?
I’m a big believer in holistic medicine and have tried almost all of the above. I’ve gotten the best results from: a raw clove of garlic a day (best to do this EVERY day to keep your immune system strong, in fact I’m going to take my garlic pill right after writing this), vitamin D + ester C everyday, hot toddies, pure lemon juice first thing in the moring, probiotics to kill bacteria and keep your digestion working, the Dayquil/Nyquil combo to alleviate symptoms, and well, oil of oregano I just started using to treat foot fungus (ew, I know) but I will also try it in water next time I’m sick.
I just recovered from a week of flu and now everyone in my office is getting sick. I“m just hoping not to reinfect.
Two things that works for me that I haven’t seen mentioned here: weekly acupuncture and pure iodine placed right on your tonsils. Iodine is the most powerful natural antibiotic, and I have chronic tonsilitis so I do this every night to control it. Better than getting my tonsils removed. Both these remedies were prescribed by the holistic doctor I started seeing to help me get over mono and my damaged immune system. So I know a thing or 2 about boosting immunity and natural remedies.
Be well everyone! And thanks for the awesome post, Gala!
Ms Darling you are fabulous…again.
I’ve had a nasty nasty flu for a month, no kidding, and have tried everything. Even my trusty lemon, ginger and honey drink didn’t work.
Until I read this today and raided Mum’s alcie cabinet for brandy and added in some disprin. Now I can breathe through my nose for the first time in weeks and my head is clear. Here’s hoping for a good sleep tonight.
And hopefully I can sneak some brandy into work tomorrow to sup throughout the day, haha.
I also have CFS – which makes me incredibly prone to winter colds and flus – and my secret, a magnet underlay on my bed. It helps with aches and pains, makes your blood flow, helps you sleep and generally makes you feel better. Since I have had it my symptoms of CFS have improved so much, it’s a lifesaver.
Olive leaf extract 5 times a day. Powerful stuff.
Raw cloves of garlic cure yeast infections too, true story. Just peel, wrap in a layer of cheesecloth, and stick it on up there. Cures ya in 12-24 hours, chemical free.
Oh oh, the Vodka socks!!!
I have a similar “strange concoction” tale only this one conjured up in Cape Town, South Africa!
For high fever when I was little, my grandmama used to place peeled potatoes, yes POTATOES people, onto my forehead & under my feet [kept in place with a piece of cotton fabric]
A VERY fashion-forward moment [!] LOL but it did the job; It would draw out the fever AND dry the potatoes! I thought it was bizarre-fun, as you would as a little-ly :D
I adore, as we call it, “old wives’ tales”.
PS: the potatoes were binned after aforementioned ‘ceremony’! :>
This helped me out so much :D Thank you!
I usually just drink peppermint or honey tea. But I’m going to be trying a lot of these suggestions.
Also, I agree with you on the Nurofen thing, they don’t work well for me either anymore. I tend to just use Codral as well now.
Vodka socks sound quite incredible really, haha.
I swear by the neti pot too. I made my own using a small squirt bottle with a small opening. I put 16 ounces (1 pint) of lukewarm water with 1 teaspoon of salt. (Some people add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda to buffer the solution and make it gentler on the nose). It takes a bit to get used to doing properly, but once you get it down, miracle! I’ve used it when feeling a cold coming on and, bam, cleared my sinuses right up.
For hard to kick stuff, pseudoephedrine is the way to go if you’re not sensitive to it. You cannot buy it right off the shelf in the US though you have to take a little card to the pharmacy counter, they check your ID and then sell it to you. A bit intrusive (thanks to meth manufacturers) but the stuff they have on the shelf now (phenylephrine) does NOT work.
I was ill last week and I found I got the most comfort from just drinking lots and lots of hot drinks. Your body needs lots of water to get better, and if you drink it hot you get the added benefits of being warmed up and I find hot drinks seem to wash away all the nasty mucus from the back of your throat too. It is also quite soothing if you have a sore throat/cough. My favourite comfort drink is hot chocolate – it has no particular medicinal benefits, but its yummy, and we need treats when we are feeling crappy! Different types of tea will have lots more healing qualities, and coffee will perk you up a bit (but obviously don’t have too many cups). Basically any hot drink will do, especially if you can drink it all curled up in a blanket watching a movie!
gala, this was exactly what i was hoping for… loved this article!!! so glad to see something like this on her.
another piece of advice: cover your lips in vaseline and your nostrils too- i know the nostrils sound gross, but it protects from any blowing and running of the nose you might have and prevents redness and dry skin!
I’m not sick (yet), but that potion actually sounds pretty fantastic! I might just have to make it for chilly evenings at school…
I live pretty far north, so I have tons of experience with evil death colds. My standby method of dealing with colds is lots of tea (I switch up which kind so I don’t get bored), lots of super hot showers (same idea as the head over hot water… but you get clean too!), and lots of spicy food.
Add a regular sleep schedule and its yet to fail me :D
I didn’t know garlic worked so well, i’ll have to try it next time i’m sick. Glad you are feeling better though!
Oh Gala, please could you magic up some similar spells for a girl at home with a broken ankle? I am surrounded by novels and jigsaws and cake…but am terrified at the idea of 5 weeks in a cast! I am going to miss running, and exercise so very much, and I am a special needs teacher and I will miss my beautiful class too. Please help if you can!!!!! Thanks Miss Lumiere x
I’ve heard of the vodka drink bit, but with crushed peppermint added as well.
Mom use to make us drink Lemon Lime Gatorade when we were little and sick. I can’t drink it now unless I’m sick. I’ve been scarred.
I almost wanna get a cold to give these things a try. Weird, I know. :D
Vitamin D!! I swear it is so vastly underrated, it cures/prevents pretty much everything, from influenza to cancer! I strongly recommend you to do a little search on the subject ♥
Curry. Every time I’m sick, I eat lots and lots of curry. That, and sniffing salt water. Works like a charm. OH! And a lot of vitamin C tablets… they’re my little miracles!
not a fan of tea but my mom always makes hot tea, then adds 2 tbsps of sugar, a piece of lemon, a cinammon stick and bayleaf. She calls it the “witch’s brew”. My significant other has tried it and says it has worked.
& my uncle once gave me a shot of Wild Turkey, which was about 110% proof. That really clears your sinuses right up.
& if you’re feeling nauseaus, suck on a lime or lemon. It really helps your stomach.
Hey, those wear some really good tips. If I am in pain, I just bathe myself in hot water/or take a Calpol or if I am sick, i just drink something hot or simply follow the bird remedy: when birds get sick, they do nothing, eat nothing, just lie down/sleep the whole day and everything gets alright!
Please don’t mix alcohol with other medication! Eeeee! I thought alcohol suppressed the immune system anyway, so it’s more a ‘feel better’ rather than ‘get better’ thing . . ?
I like to keep it old-school with a big slug of honey and some lemon juice in boiling water, adding cold water to make it drinkable once the honey has dissolved.
Oh finally!! I’m so glad you’ve talked about Arnica.
It had cured many a bruise on my knee.
But then again, I prefer alternative medicine.
Have you tried Oil of Oregano?
Right when you feel a cold coming on, swallow two drops and follow it with a glass of water (because it burns a little).
It’s completely natural and it works miracles.
Make sure to cut out the green stem inside the garlic to remove smelliness!
This couldn’t have come at a better time— I’m home sick today and I swear I have the plague. Thanks Gala and all you helpful commentors!
with any sort of oils, just mix it with orange juice. it makes the icky tasting oils go down easier, while giving you the vitamin c you so desperately need. the taste doesn’t disappear entirely, but its so much better than straight.
I am appealing to Gala or any other sugar bunnys on suggesstions for curing gastro! Sick with it for a week now! :-S
My tip for getting better from a ghastly flu is garlic sandwhichs. Spread a piece of bread with butter and a generous amount of crushed garlic, fold inhalf, zap in the micowave, smush together, enjoy!
Gala, as usual, you make everything magical. I almost wanted to be sick after reading this…almost knocks on wood.
Tiff,
Lot’s of plain probiotic yogurt(says live active cultures on the side) and ginger always works well for me, but that’s if you can stomach it. I eat the yogurt twice a day, and sip water that had ginger boiled it throughout the day.
My grandma used to give my sister and I sage tea. It didn’t taste very good..well it was awful but our symptoms were gone the next day!
M – I’m lactose intolerant :( so i can only tolerate yogurt in small amounts, good suggestion though! Any other ideas lovlies?.... gala?
Another way to open your sinuses, and get some antioxidants, is to put a single drop of peppermint oil into a cup of hot green or white tea. It’s good for mental fatigue and depression too, which is common when we’re sick anyway.
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