Okay! I’ll take my medicine!!
Source: mommax6.blogspot.com
A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, or in my case, a teaspoon of unpasteurized honey mixed with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and a cup of warm water helps ease a sinus infection. Thanks to seasonal allergies that started almost four weeks ago with the local oak tree population and is currently still going with mulberry and hickory, I went from just blowing my nose a lot to blowing my nose a lot, not sleeping well and a headache accompanied by exhaustion. (Probably from not sleeping well.) Last Sunday I went through over two full boxes of Puffs Basic tissues… the BIG boxes. I looked like I stumbled out of a Nyquil commercial, my hair awry, still in my pajamas, nose bright red and breathing? Good Luck. I now have at least a little bit of an idea of what my cousin, who has Cystic Fibrosis, goes through when she has to be on oxygen AND eat at the same time.
I am not a fan of overmedicating, and I’m really not a fan of taking antibiotics unless I really, really have to, therefore I searched the Internet for home remedies for sinus infections.
First up – steaming my miserable face over a giant pyrex filled with boiling water and “healing” herbs. In this case, garlic, onion, rosemary and oregano. It smelled good, what little scent I could get – which was mostly tasted as I was lodged in “Mouth Breather” territory. Then as I felt my eyelids burning off of my face, I opened my eyes and started to watch the sweat drip off of my face and into the bowl. Needless to say, the garlicky concoction didn’t seem all that appealing after my mini sweat-lodge session.
Next up – apple cider vinegar and honey in warm or hot water. Since I wanted to drink the mixture right away, I opted for hot tap water, and while not the most pleasant tasting thing in the world, it wasn’t bad. The apple cider vinegar is supposed to loosen up the gunk in the sinuses and the honey has antimicrobial and antibacterial properties to it (that’s only for raw or unpasteurized honey). I downed three or four mugs of that during the day.
Mmmm delicious onions. You smell that? Neither did I.
Source: greedoandhan.blogspot.com
Finally – eating raw onions. I was slicing them to caramelize for my burger anyway, and again, antimicrobial/antibacterial properties in the onion (not to mention anti-kissing) and I could barely taste or smell anything anyway at that point so I noshed a few slices of the raw onion as I cooked the rest.
By bedtime, I was feeling a little bit better, could breathe out of one nostril and was getting pretty full of myself and my brilliance at hitting up the home remedies.
Then Monday happened and I woke up feeling pretty damn good even though I had to sleep sitting up most of the night. I could breathe out of both nostrils, I flushed gunk out with the neti pot and then I headed off to work where I felt wonderful again all day. I even rode my 6.8 mile bicycle circuit when I got home!
Tuesday morning came and blame – all clogged up again on one side. I laughed in the face of the home remedies on Monday and was paying for it Tuesday. Wednesday found me using them again as much as I could, Thursday was busy and I forgot again and now it’s Friday!
So today, I’ll hit the vinegar/honey concoction again. I’m also using Veramyst (prescription steroid to help with the allergies) and I’m feeling pretty good! I’ve even slept horizontal the last few nights!
Here is hoping to having a snot-less (or even better a snot-free) weekend!
Do you suffer from seasonal allergies? Which allergen hits you worst?
What is your go-to treatment: over-the-counter medicines, prescriptions or home remedies?
Musings of the Amusing Muse 
Allergies are the devil. I’m sure of this. They keep trying to kill me (I started getting allergy shots when I was 3 because the doctor was worried I might succumb to one of the bajillion opportunistic infections I always had), but I keep refusing to let them do that. Home remedies haven’t worked for me, simply because I’m allergic to *everything* and in a super-hardcore way; that said, I know I’m not the norm and that they do work well for lots of people. We’ve gone nuclear with the antihistamines, and they do help — but it was the allergy shots that saved the day for me.
I hope you feel better soon — it’s great that the honey and apple cider vinegar worked, and hopefully it’ll kick this nastiness to the curb soon. 🙂
Damn, Lillian! It would truly suck to be allergic to everything! I’m happy to report that the Veramyst seems to be saving the day as long as I remember to take it every night!
I struggle with allergies every year ! Steam and washing my face a lot helps a lot ! I use Allegra if things get really bad ! Pure raw local honey mixed with hot tea helps a bit ! I like to eat spicy stuff to shock my senses! Horseradish has some kick ! LOL ! That hot mustard you get at Chinese restaurants make my eyes get really big and its like breathing fire through my nose ! LOL I cry ( a lot ), I laugh ( as much as possible ), I wash my face/ flush sinuses and normally can sleep ! Depends on the severity of the sinus struggle though ! Happy your working through the remedies and getting some rest ! (o:
I love horseradish! Really! Doesn’t matter that it makes my eye water and sinuses begin draining almost immediately to the point where I look like a Hot Mess!
Oh dear. Poor you. I suffer from very mild hay fever and that is bad enough and involves a fair amount of tissue usage. Your condition sounds a lot worse, and we both share a dislike of taking medication
I try to keep my medicine taking to the bare minimum, but I do have to give kudos to the Veramyst this time – it made camping this weekend bearable.
I have allergies, too, but they result in a constantly somewhat-drippier-than-average nose rather than progressing to the stage of resembling a serious cold. I guess I prefer it that way…cats, on the other hand, make my immune system CRAZY.
I’m iffy about home remedies; sometimes I like to try them, but generally I’m happy enough to mainline antihistamines. Glad they’re working for you (when you remember to do them)!
Oh no about the cats! My two are missing the protein that causes bad cat allergies and I’ve never reacted to pet dander – probably since I grew up on a farm. I’m generally one to scoff at the home remedies, but the cider vinegar and honey had tons of fans online and thought I would give it a shot – thankfully, it seemed to work well!