Back to the story:) It was not but a few hours and I knew I was in for a rough time. Throat getting sore, nose dripping constantly, continuous coughing, sweating, weepy eyes, headachy.. yup, I was a mess so had myself to document!
I took my temperature every few hours, and never did get more than a tiny bit above normal, so was not concerned about making sure the herbs I decided to use were specifically anti- pyretic, (fever preventing). This lack of fever also helped me decide I was going to probably be experiencing a cold and not the flu. Either one is due to a virus so the first thing I need to do was decide which anti-viral herbs I would use. I started by making a big pot of tea with elderflower (also an anti-catarrhal) , lemon balm ( also a decongestant) and mullein (also analgesic,anti-inflammatory and and anti-spasmodic)in it. Mullein is one of the herbs of my Materia medicas . Mullein is an old friend of mine. It grows all over our area and was easily encouraged to grow in the gardens of Comfrey Cottages a few years ago. With the calming effects of the tea I was able to think clearly and get things ready for this journey. I don’t know about you, but when I start to feel unwell I also get a general feeling of nervousness so I really was grateful when I started to just relax and accept the fact I had to slow down and rest.
Before I got feeling completely in the thralls of this roller coaster ride, I made sure and placed in my bedroom boxes of tissue, my teapot a pitcher of water, and laid out handily several changes of bed linen. When someone is sick it is important to keep the room as fresh as possible, both for the sake of cleanliness and to encourage the return of health, but also to make the unwell person feel fresher, cleaner and thus better also:) Time to pamper myself! I keep spray bottles of just plain water and lavender in the kitchen and in the bath room, as an everyday anti-viral spray for surfaces and the air, so I decided to make a third one for the bedroom to freshen the air periodically and also for the surfaces I touched. I also spritzed the sheets with it when I left the room so that was nice to return to when forced to lie back down:) Since my everyday scent was lavender, for this spray, I added essential oil of lemon to my sick room spray. Lemon is a bright and cheery scent right? And strong enough I could actually smell it! On the stove I kept a pot of water with hyssop essential oil added it to it. Hyssop is also an anti-catarrhal herb and one that really helps me when I have the type of cough that is spasmodic and continuous.
My throat was just a mess! The constant draining of mucous and coughing was keeping it so raw and was making me so gaggy and my glands were swollen so decided the next thing to do was to make throat spray. No picture of that as I just didn’t think to take many pictures at all during the illness:( I made the spray from tinctures of plantain, cleavers, yarrow, mullein and horehound. I took spoonfuls of the different honey infused herbs I had on hand such as horehound,(another herb I have grown for a long time and one of this lessons Materia medica herbs), marshmallow root, and hyssop. I sucked on homemade lozenges made with both horehound and mullein leaf. This is my recipe:) It is more taffy like than like a hard candy
1 cup honey ( I use herb infused honey. For this batch I used horehound and mullein infused honeys as I am studying those two herbs and both were useful for my condition)
3/4 cups water ( I use a decoction of both horehound and mullein)
1 teaspoon vinegar (I used an herbal vinegar of sage and thyme I already had made in the larder)
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
2 tablespoons of real butter
2 cups organic sugar
In a heavy saucepan I combine the sugar, vinegar and salt. I stir in the honey and herbal decoction and stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Continue stirring over heat until the mixture starts to boil, and then just let it cook undisturbed until it reaches the soft crack stage at about 270 degrees. Then add the butter. Have a buttered and lipped cookie sheet at the ready, and pour the mixture into it. After it cools enough to handle, butter up your clean hands and stretch, pull, and fold the taffy onto itself, repeatedly for about 15 minutes. Then roll it out into snake like rolls of about 1/2 inch in diameter. Butter a knife or pair of scissors, and cut these rolls into one each pieces, wrap them in small pieces of waxed paper, twisted to close:)
A nice recipe for a respiratory syrup , which I found to be very beneficial. I did take pictures of that:)
Another herbal helping action I took was to use herbal steams and saline rinses. For the herbal steams, I would cook a pot of mullein, horehound and water until it boiled, added some essential oil of hyssop, poured it all in a big bowl and tented my head with a towel as I leaned over the vapors and inhaled.
Big herbal and honey hugs to all who visit Comfrey Cottages xx
