Greetings!

Many times, I wake up in the morning with a heavy disturbance from catarrh (runny nose plus heavy sneezing), possibly caused by coldness during the night. However, I experience this a lot, and this morning (Saturday morning) wasn’t an exception. It’s actually a day when I can’t sneak out to take a nap or rest due to how busy it is for me. In such a situation, the only solution for me is to take medicine to get relief from the runny nose, otherwise, it will put me off in a bad way all day.

However, catarrh medicines often come with a side effect – they make me sleepy. I don’t know why these medicines tend to do that, but today is a day I really don’t want to sleep, especially because I have customers coming in and out.

So what’s next?

This is where coffee comes into play. Before now, I was fond of taking caffeinated drinks to counter the drowsiness whenever I took such pills on days I didn’t want to sleep. But recently, I’ve been opting for coffee because of its caffeine content, and it’s been working like magic...fighting drowsiness

The most interesting part is that the coffee I’ve been buying is much cheaper than the caffeinated drinks I usually take after the medicine. So this morning, I had a very light breakfast of ripe plantain, took two pills of the medicine, and then went to the shop close to my house.

I bought a 3-in-1 sachet of Nescafé for ₦300, made it with warm water, and a little more water than usual to fill the cup. I was sipping it slowly, using a spoon, in a way that made it seem like it would never finish. How do I mean? I was taking it little by little, and because of how much water I added, it took me almost an hour to finish it. I was sipping it very slowly while scrolling through my phone and enjoying the weekend, even though I had a lot of work ahead of me.

One thing about the medicine I took is that its effect is felt instantly—meaning the sneezing and runny nose disappear almost immediately, and drowsiness sets in just as quickly. But with the coffee I was sipping, which also works instantly, I didn’t feel the urge to jump into bed to sleep, even though I felt relieved of the sneezing and runny nose.

This is like using one stone to kill two birds—or can I say three? The coffee serves as a counterforce to the drowsiness caused by the drugs, keeping me active for the workload ahead. It also serves as a refreshing treat—come on, the feeling of sipping coffee in the morning is out of this world! And finally, it’s very cheap.

I’m not sure if this combo (the medicine and coffee) has any health risks, though I highly doubt it since I haven’t experienced any issues since I started using this method.

Thanks for reading.

Photos used are mine