Sick Day 2

After another day of feeling like death and waiting for Nicole to get home to relieve me of my crippling ennui, I decide to stop being a victim and take matters into my own hands. Armed with my laptop and a wealth of information at my fingertips, I research homeopathic remedies for colds and sinus infections and devise a plan (insert evil laugh here).

I drink tea. Echinacea, said to boost your immunity, is best ingested in tea form - especially if you add honey and lemon which also have healing properties. I can't say that it made all that much of a difference for me, but it sure did make an awfully yummy tea and any day that I get to squeeze honey out of a happy little bear is a good day.

I pop pills. In addition to the decongestants, antihistamines and Zy-Cam nose swabs, I take Vitamin C, zinc, and a multi-vitamin. But truly my favorite is the Benedryl for sleepy time.

I gargle. As a kid I was told that gargling with warm salt water will help heal a sore throat and I've come to learn that this is no wives' tale. It actually works. Take a glass of warm water and dump in as much salt as you can handle. Don't worry, that gagging reflex is completely normal.

I steam. Breathing in warm, moist (I can't believe I just typed that word, ugh) air helps to open and nourish the nasal passages. There are two ways to do this. The first is to take a scalding hot shower and turn your bathroom into a rainforest. Not only is it 70 degrees out and the last thing I want to do is take a hot sweaty shower, it's a waste of water. So I opt for option B, leaning over a boiling bowl of water with a towel on my head. Added bonus - it's a facial too! And it works , especially when I add a little bit of eucalyptus and peppermint essential oils. Ahhhh....

I eat garlic. Raw. And lots of it. Garlic has been used for centuries for it's medicinal properties and ancient Indians believed it was an aphrodisiac (who are they kidding?). When consumed raw, the acids in garlic have been observed to kill 23 different types of bacteria including salmonella. This is great! Surely it will cure those nasty germs that have taken up residence in my sinuses. I ate six, yes, six, cloves of raw garlic in one day and I believe my burning esophagus and tearing eyes were every bit worth it. And boy did I smell good.

I eat hot sauce. Actually, I drink hot sauce. Spurned by a number of favorable reviews for a "tomato tea" I found online, I heat up some V8, add a few dashes of lemon juice, a couple of cloves of garlic and a healthy dose of Frank's Red Hot Sauce and sip. Supposedly the tomato juice provides an ample amount of vitamin C, the garlic, as discussed above, has various benefits, the hot sauce clears the sinuses and I have no idea what the lemon juice does. Sipped a couple of times a day, I actually enjoyed the way the warm tomato juice felt on my throat and the hot sauce had me constantly reaching for the tissues.

I drink apple cider vinegar. This is a new one for me and, I'll admit, a desperate attempt to get better. Through my research I discovered that many people swear by a concoction of 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (ACV) with 8 ounces of water drank first thing in the morning or slowly throughout the day. Not only do folks attest to the clearing of sinuses but many other great benefits like improved digestion, less heartburn, more energy, and a clearer complexion. Careful to not believe everything I read about this wonder cure, I'm still quick to text my dear girlfriend to bring me home a bottle of ACV. The smell reminds me of coloring eggs on Easter and is almost comforting. The taste isn't even that bad... kind of like drinking watered down apple cider with a splash of salad dressing. Whether it actually helped or whether I was already on the mend, I don't know, but two days later I was breathing a whole heck of a lot better. And still smelling damn good too.