On Monday of last week Big D woke up with coughing, sneezing, runny nose and itchy eyes. I was not really surprised since the pollen level for trees was listed as "Very High". Two years ago we had Big D tested at the allergist and we know that he is severely allergic to oak tree pollen as well as a variety of other trees and things, but mostly oak trees. So when the pollen level went through the roof last week, I knew what was going to happen. I had been giving him his preventative allergy meds in anticipation for this day, but it seemed to not matter. The poor little fella was just struggling. I maxed out his doses of allergy meds and sent him to school on Monday morning. I kept him inside Monday afternoon and repeated the maximum allergy medicine on Tuesday and sent him back to school. By Tuesday night his temp was 101.4. Of course at that point I realized that this was a virus and not just allergies and I'd likely exposed all of the kids at school to this and of course our family. Big D is always playing, kissing and hugging on Little D, so I knew what was likely to happen for our week.
Amazingly on Wednesday, Big D woke up without a fever and significantly improved cough, less sneezing and runny nose stuff... drastically better. We had a low-key day of laying around in our jammies watching cartoons. Wow. I was so happy I thought, you know it's a 2-day virus and even if the rest of us get it, then it's only 2 days. Of course as soon as I thought that Little D started showing symptoms. It started with just a little cough on Wednesday afternoon and then we were up all Wednesday night with poor Little D coughing and stuffy nose, not able to breathe. He was pitiful. I ended up sleeping on the sofa bed with Little D propped up in my arms in the hopes of letting Handyman and Big D get some sleep. Little D and I ended up getting a total of 3 hours of sleep on Wednesday night. Thursday and Thursday night were equally as rough. Unfortunately Friday was even worse, so a trip to the doctor was in order.
By Friday afternoon I knew that I had it. Handyman took night-duty with Little D on Friday and Saturday nights. I was at the end of my rope physically, so I was extremely thankful he was still well and able to take care of everybody. The worst part of this virus/cold is that my nose is so stopped up, but then it's drippy at the same time. I just can't hardly get past the inability to breathe. I hate taking medicine and try not to, but I had taken Tylenol Allergy to help with the drippy nose, but it didn't help with the nasal congestion. I even tried one of those nasal bottle things (like a Neti Pot) that's suppose to rinse our your sinus cavities - clearly these were desperate times, people!! I knew I was in trouble when I pushed 3 oz of saline solution into my nose and nothing came out either side. YUCK! So I had to find something else...
I googled Homeopathic Remedies for Nasal Congestion. The 2nd page that came up was this:
http://www.earthclinic.com/CURES/sinus_congestion.html
They list a recipe for Tomato Tea. It sounded weird but mix, heat and drink warm. I made a slight variation since I didn't have fresh garlic or celery salt. My version is as follows:
Recipe:
- Add 1 cup tomato juice
- 1 pinch garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp of hot sauce
- 1 tsp lemon juice
(See the full original recipe here.) I decided to give this a try and let me tell ya, it's pretty awesome. I have to say now that after having not been able to breathe out of my nose for 2 days, I have finally got some relief. I sipped down nearly the entire cup and WOO HOO! It was spicy hot and steaming hot. I felt it burning its way down my throat. By the time I was finished with it, I had to sit down with a box of tissue. That was 2 1/2 hours ago and I'm still breathing well. I'll probably have another cup in the morning if I get stuffy again over night, but WOW and Thank God! It's amazing what the right ingredients mixed together can do (without having to take medicine and worry about side effects etc.) So go make some tomato tea if you've got the crud. Let me know what you think.
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