I'm going to preface this entire article by saying that I am single and childless. For those of you that have little ones to take care of, this might look a little different. I know that. I do consider myself very fortunate to be able to take me time as needed (as long as my patients, students and athletes have already been taken care of).
I also want you to know that I try my best to take care of myself even when I'm well. I regularly take my supplements (Kelp, multi-vitamin, lysine, d-mannose, vitamin d), I eat minimal processed foods, sugar, dairy and grains. I make 90% of my food at home. I drink bone broth on the regular along with kimchi and kombucha. I've started adding gelatin to my coffee. I'm a huge advocate of keeping the gut healthy to prevent getting sick in the first place.
But, sometimes we still get sick. I'm notorious for getting too stressed out about things. I've had a lot of sick patients as of late and my receptionist was even home sick for a few days just before I came down with the same cold. So, when my throat started hurting Saturday evening I was annoyed, but not overly surprised.
I sprayed my throat with echinacea throat spray and put 3 drops of oil of oregano under my tongue every hour that I couldn't sleep. And 3-5 times throughout the day after that I gargled with hot salt water.
I put peppermint oil under my nose to open my airway. This burned the skin but made a huge difference to my breathing.
I kept myself propped up on pillows as I tried to sleep to help drain my sinuses.
Regardless if I could sleep or not, I laid in bed with no electronics, no lights, no distractions simply so I could get rest so when I was able to fall asleep, I could. I also took a nap between jobs, if I had time. Sleep is so, so, so important for your body to recover. I took Best Rest
Formula to help me fall asleep, too.
I drank as much water as possible. I felt like I was always thirsty. This is also why I ate so much fruit. I often crave fruit when I'm a bit dehydrated.
I got adjusted, took an Epsom salt bath and went to hot yoga to sweat a bit. It helped that I was in the middle of a Whole30 challenge because I wasn't consuming any sugar other than what was in the fruit I was eating. Sugar feed viruses so stay away from it especially when you are sick!
If possible, try to start these interventions as soon as you feel an inkling of a cold coming! Scratchy throat? Tired? Extra irritable? Sick kids, colleagues, partners? Start the cold fighting process as soon as possible! Self care is very important. If you don't take care of yourself, who is going to take care of you and how are you going to take care of everyone else?