Sickling

I was tooting my own horn before Christmas when everyone was getting the crud that was going around. Earlier in the month, I had stocked up on all kinds of immune building potions from Whole Foods and I never did get sick. I told everyone about my natural cures... Mrs. Mother Earth.

 Well, last night, it caught up to me. I went to bed with a little bit of a sore throat but it really kicked in at 1:30 in the morning with my whole body aching like I had been hit by a semi. I couldn't get warm despite my flannel sheets and space heater.

Finally I decided to take a hot bath with lavender mint sea salt. I took a spoonful of honey, chewed on a on a slippery elm bark throat lozenge (special potions from Whole Foods) and by 2:00 AM I was back in bed asleep. Ha! I had kicked it!

Well- By 7:30 I was searching the Internet for which essential oils work best for flu like symptoms. Peppermint and Eucalyptus- perfect! I had both. I rubbed some on the bottom of my feet, on my temples, and directly onto my achy back. I was determined to knock this out, naturally. After all, this is one of my New Years Resolutions! New year, new medicine cabinet.

I fixed some hot water with lemon and honey, I took my vitamins....I used my Neti Pot. Apparently I added way too much salt to the water because it burned my nose and made my eyes water. Not pleasant. Those were all the "natural cures" I could muster. It wasn't working. I needed relief!

Around 9:00 I shuffled my way into the kitchen and made myself a blueberry smoothie for some sustenance. Anti-oxidants, right? Had to help. It took me about 10x as long as it normally would have to make the smoothie because I was so weak and achy. Every few minutes I'd have to pause and rest because I kept getting light headed. Back to bed.

 I tried to lay on the couch and watch TV for a change of scenery, but the lady's voice on the Today Show made me angry and hurt my head. Back to bed again.

Throughout the morning I had been texting my mom telling her how miserable I felt. She told me to take some cold medicine...that it wouldn't kill me just this once. I refused. I had to be NATURAL.

1:00 PM- I shuffled into the kitchen again and made myself some brown rice with chicken broth. The whole 30 minutes that it was cooking, I went back and forth in my mind about whether or not I should break down and take some medicine. By the time it the rice was ready, I'd had enough.

Thank God for 800 mg of Ibuprofen and my heating pad. It's now 2:30 PM and I'm good as new. I gave it my best shot.