Ooph. I'm not feeling well. This has been a prolonged period of what I first thought was a bad case of allergies. That morphed into what I thought was a cold. Now I am feeling on the edge of a flu. For all I know, it could be all three taking a turn. My new insurance doesn't start until November so I'm doing my best to avoid a trip to urgent care. It's a quite unpleasant feeling that doesn't seem to have gone away yet, but it doesn't feel urgent. This is a long post talking about what's going on lately and one thing I'm doing for it.
I learned a long time ago that there are herbal supplements and "remedies" that help relieve symptoms. I try them as a first line measure, resorting to medicines if the home remedies don't do enough. Sometimes I use them in tandem. Well, as this whatever-it-is has ramped up in the last couple of weeks, I took to yard and garden to round up herbs for a tea elixir.
I've made this before. It has a pleasant flavor and is easy to make. I forget all of the properties of each of the ingredients off the top of my head and have no motivation to do the re-research right now, so I will just mention the beneficial properties I do remember later.
A little about what's going on. When the heat got into the upper nineties with a heat index into the 105-110 range, I developed a rash which spread from my ankles to my chest stopping at the level of my armpits. At first I thought it was bug bites but the appearance and behavior and length of time eventually made it clear it was a rash. Seeing how I've had heat rash before that was the new theory. Aggressive treatment with antihistamines, both h1 and h2 blockers in combination with quercetin, were taken for a total of about a week. After the first two days the rash was dramatically reduced and by day 4 totally gone. No trace of it.
There were other allergy symptoms that remained, but that was pretty normal for me. So I just powered through (not really. I don't power anything anymore). I just chalked it all up to my normal allergies or recovering from that pretty significant allergic reaction, thinking that the sudden excessive sleepiness was a result of the meds and the recuperation. For a couple of weeks I was really tired, napping off and on all day. Quite unusual for me because I have horrible insomnia usually. I thought, eh, I'm just catching up finally.
Next ushered in the return of severe migraines that was nearly constant for 2 weeks. Yes, I know, migraines aren't supposed to last for more than 72 hours. Unfortunately I'm that exception to the rule. During this time I was experiencing pain my left neck and shoulder which I attributed to my shoulder shifting slightly out of place which it still does from time to time. It has been an issue ever since I was in a car accident in 2004. It caused severe issues for at least 2 years before it was identified and treated, leading to significant reduction in my quality of life, nerve impingement, and affected how my organs were functioning due to the impact on hormones. So, I thought the migraines were from the shifted shoulder. The good news with that injury is that It's no longer constantly out of place and when it is, it's only slightly, often going back in after aggressive physical therapy exercises and laying flat on my back. Such was the case this time. The shoulder pain eased up, the migraine seemed to subside.
After that seemed to pass I began having worsening digestive problems. Notably severe stomach pains, lack of appetite, and nausea. The insomnia and sinus congestion came roaring back, too. I chalked it up to the old familiar routine because all of these things have been going on for a long time. Sometimes they are much worse than others and they like to take turns giving me a hard time. I thought this was one of those instances. Because of the lack of sleep and the horrible stomach pain, I had one pretty jarring episode of falling asleep at the stove while I was standing there cooking hot cereal. Trust me, I know that's dangerous. You don't have to tell me. It's also scary.
The digestive stuff seemed to fall back yet the sinus congestion and insomnia remained. The migraines returned but came and went every day. I had some wheezing for a few days that went away after taking selenium. By this point I was convinced all of this was due to allergies because at the time, as well as currently, there are high levels of mold and pollen in the air. Specifically ragweed.
There have been a couple of stressful events that went on during this time which did not help matters, but also did not cause it. Nothing super stressful or unexpected, but at the same time had me more wound up than I had been in a long time. A week later, I was getting nauseous again on top of the "usual". Still thought it was allergies. Time has been a blur most of this summer so I'm not exactly sure of the timeline. I'm probably forgetting things as well. What I do know is the weather went from being very hot and arid to overcast/humid/wet.
A week or so ago I started getting a really sore throat. Started feeling feverish off and on. My chest was hurting and I was getting body and nerve pain. That's the point I thought maybe this was actually a cold instead of allergies. The allergy meds weren't doing any good so I thought I would try something else cold specific to see if that helped. The first thing I did was make this tea.
I am still not feeling well. At all. Actually this evening I started feeling more flu like. BUT. This tea has been helping very much. Besides just sharing what's been going on lately I also want to share this recipe, as it's something you most likely haven't heard of before. I am comfortable making and taking this but I am not telling you to. It's just one of the home remedies in my arsenal I hope you find interesting.
By the way, I am not looking for diagnosis or a pity party or anything. I'm just sharing because this has been dominating me most of this summer and for the one post a week I'm barely squeezing out, this is on my mind right now)
Anyway, this is my favorite all purpose feel better herbal tea elixir. To start, here's a neat photo of the cuppa tea.
The first thing to do was go collecting all the ingredients outside. Next is to wash them well. Isn't the little stainless steel colander cute! I found it at Dollar Tree. It's about 5 inches in diameter. Perfect size for this type of application.
The flowers and herbs I used this time are Mullein (center), purple basil, chocolate mint, pineapple sage, sage, common yarrow, and lavender. Mullein is supposed to help with the respiratory tract, i.e. opening the airways and clearing mucus. A natural expectorant. The chocolate mint and basil are good for nausea and upset stomach. Basil is purportedly an anti-inflammatory. The sages also help with the gi tract, low mood, and my headaches. Common Yarrow is supposed to help with circulation and gi symptoms. Finally, lavender is for headaches, low mood, and insomnia.
I put them whole into a pot of about 4-6 cups of filtered water. That way I can fish them out easy because I'm too lazy to get a strainer dirty. Plus, it's pretty seeing them float in the pan. What I like to do is set the timer on my induction cooker for 20 minutes at a temperature of 220 degrees. It'll come up to temp slowly. Once the timer goes off, the unit turns off. I let it steep for a minimum of 10 minutes, sometimes longer.
Because these are fresh herbs, it takes longer for the oils to infuse in the water. I also do this so I can make a concentrate. I can add a little, or a lot, diluting with filtered water to my taste. This prevents me from having to make this from scratch each time I want a cup. I usually only drink this a couple times a day for a few days, or until the one batch is used up. As with most herbs, I don't do them indefinitely. I think it's important to treat medicinal remedies like any other medicine. In intervals. People forget that herbs can sometimes be harmful if too much is ingested.
Today I steeped this about 10 minutes. I usually make it a stronger brew but I was impatient as my stomach was really nauseous. Usually it is a deeper brown.
While the tea was still hot I added 8 tablespoons of agave. I like my teas sweet. This tea actually has a really nice flavor. The sweetness makes it even tastier. Yes, 8 tablespoons sounds like a lot, but this batch will make 6-8 cups after its diluted. Sweeteners also mix better in warm liquid which means you can achieve the desired sweetness with a smaller quantity. I'm not sure if this is true with agave, though, since it's already a liquid. Although, supposedly agave requires less than the amount of sugar someone would use to get the same sweetness. Again, I'm not sure if I believe this. In my personal experience, I think I use agave as a 1:1 substitute with sugar.
In my cute little mini liquid measuring cup I measure 2 ozs at a time, diluting with water, to get the right strength. For the first cup I mixed 6 ozs with 6 ozs of water, so half and half.
And to cheer me up, I drank it from my colorful bird mug.
I've only had one cup of this today. I'll probably only have a cup a day since I'm now taking cold medicine which is reducing the symptoms the most. This tea is tasty both hot and cold. When I'm feeling feverish I drink it cool. When I'm feeling cold I drink it hot. Well, there you have it. My home remedy.
I'll keep on resting for the time being. Sorry to anyone who has been commenting on my posts that I have not replied to. I'm not getting on steemit but once a week because I don't have the focus or energy to engage much right now. Thanks for listening instead of fixing.
Thank you kindly for reading what's on my mind at the moment...Please consider upvoting, resteeming, following, and commenting if you like.
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