Beating the cold.

In the past weekend, a cold was working its way into my system. It started in my throat and managed to work its way into my nose and sinuses. Luckily I have a few tricks up my sleeve to beat it!

Soothing the throat: Angi-Forte spray

Mum brought this home one day, but for hygiene I got a bottle of my own. When you feel there's something amiss with your throat, simply spray it in your mouth twice, three times a day. I'll warn you here: this stuff is absolutely rank! I try to spray it as far back in my mouth as possible to avoid the taste, but it still leaves me in disgust. It does do a great job at clearing up the throat again, so in the end it's worthwhile!

So what is this magic? Unfortunately I don't have an exact ingredient list, but it is a mix of different herbs that fight bacteria and viruses. I believe these are solved in alcohol, but don't shoot me if I'm wrong! It contains eucalyptus essential oil, ravensara or clove nutmeg, spanish sage and tinctures of purple coneflower, propolis and sage.

Clearing infected sinuses: saline solution

After having sniffed my way through Sunday, I remembered having seen an episode of the Dr. Oz show in which he talks about neti pots. This is a pot which is used to rinse the nose and sinus cavities with a saline solution. That way the blockage disappears and you'll be able to breathe again. As I don't have a neti pot, I just found the recipe and used a milk pot. It is a true miracle worker! I tried this before bed and slept like a baby, as opposed to the night before in which my breathing was constricted.

You'll need 1/4 of a teaspoon of non-iodised sea salt in one cup of water. Boil the water and leave it to cool down to about body temperature and dissolve the sea salt in it. Pour it into one nostril whilst keeping your head tilted and let gravity do its job. The water will run through the sinus cavities and come out through the other nostril. Then do the other side. Some people say you can do this every day, even when you're not sick, but it's best not to do so! Your nose is not designed to be rinsed with water every day. There's even been a study in which people did this for a year and then stopped doing so for a year. These folks had less infections in the year in which they had stopped rinsing their nose. So I recommend to only use this technique when you have a cold!

A few more tips
You can mix some almond oils with eucalyptus essential oil and rub this on your chest and under your nose to help you breathe. And of course eat loads of fruit & veg, and get enough sleep to support your immune system!

Those were all my tricks! Do you have any other?

Sincerely,
R.