Friday, April 23, 2010

I am going to live....

Ok never was at deaths door but seriously....3 days of waking up with splitting headache, sore throat and serious couch with well I'll spare you the details. It was a "productive" cough, versus one of those dry irritating coughs, this was clearing stuff out of my lungs. So yesterday when I woke up with a minor headache, could breath and did not have the morning ritual of clearing my lungs like old men seems to do all the time, I knew I was on the mend.

So when you find yourself sick and Ironman is 12 days way you get serous about getting well. Sleeping like a brown bat, who by the way sleeps 19.9 hours a day or 82.9% of the time. After all bats have to conserve their energy so they can hunt.


Okay so maybe I did not sleep that much....but a lot for me. So after sleep what next- thanks to my many friends I received a lot of good advice and remedies. I stayed away from mainstream meds, not interested in masking any symptoms.

So I started Wellness Formula (thanks CG) which is designed to support the immune system when under physical stress. I wish I had it day 1, which they say is most effective. Zicam, zinc based homeopathic medicine which claims to reduce the severity and duration of a cold when taken at first sign of a cold.

V8, heck vegetables are always good for us right?

Kombucha, now this is interesting if you have not tried it. Basically it is a fermented tea that is imbibed for medicinal purposes. I purchased this stuff a few months back and after opening it on a hot day after a long run took a long pull on it and nearly spewed the contents all over the car. It was fermented thus slightly fizzy, had solid mass of microorganisms called a kombucha culture or mushroom floating near the bottom and it made my eyes water. I took about 3 days to finish it. But now desperate and reading all the possible immune boosting effects I trudged to Sprouts and stocked up. Warning, if you drop the bottle on the way to the car, DO NOT, I mean DO NOT open it in the car. It is more carbonated than a soda, or so it seemed, and spewed fermented tea with globs of microorganisms all over my car. It actually smells worse than my son's lacrosse pads, which we say smell like rotten cat pee. Not easy to get out of the carpet either. I am acquiring a taste for it and am drinking a bottle a day and will up to Ironman.

And the last Batherapy. Nothing like hot bath when you feel like crap...claims to bathe away aches and pains- worked for me.

So all that, some good Chicken Noodle Soup and lots of good healing thoughts and words of encouragement from my friends and family and life is returning to normal....8 days to Ironman and I think I just might make it!!!

I almost forgot the cough medecine.....so when I was a kid, I remember when I was up coughing and coughing, my mom would heat brandy, honey and lemon in a mug and feed me a few spoonfulls. Gee no wonder I was always coughing...so when I realized the cough was going to keep me up, I pondered Nyquil and then went for the home remedy. Had to sub and orange for lemon....but frankly it worked wonders. So I drank the whole cup...thus the sleeping right!

1 comment:

  1. Kombucha is definitely an acquired taste. Glad you're feeling better.

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