I've been sick with a cold the past few days... it started with a sore throat that kept getting worse. No one likes being sick, but I dread having a cold or sinus infection because I can not take anything that contains Pseudoephedrine, and just about every cold/flu medicine has it as an active ingredient (Sudafed, NyQuil, cough syrups, etc.). Pseudoephedrine makes my heart pound/race and keeps me awake. It's what I would guess taking speed would be like... I didn't figure out this sensitivity until a few years ago, and then I had to start looking into other options for finding relief - there aren't many! I always try to head off a cold by taking Zicam at the first signs of getting sick which works most of the time. Not this time...
Surprisingly what works best for me, to heal a sore throat is a gargle recipe that my Granny used to make for me. It really does do wonders, though it took a couple of decades for me to catch on that it really does work. Here's the recipe, though I never measure it out so these amounts are guesstimates.
Salt Gargle
1/4 cup warm-hot water (microwave 35 seconds)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp honey
The salt helps reduce inflammation, and the honey soothes. I make roughly this amount and gargle it (don't swallow) until it's gone. I do this a few times a day - usually in the morning, right before bed, and in the middle of the night if needed.
So, after having another bad cold this year I realized that my guesstimates above are off... sorry!
ReplyDeleteI use 1 tsp of salt, and 1 tsp of honey. You should be able to taste the salt, and it shouldn't taste good. If you can't taste the salt then you don't have enough!