{"id":3440,"date":"2012-11-26T08:49:20","date_gmt":"2012-11-26T15:49:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.organicmamacafe.com\/?p=3440"},"modified":"2017-02-07T07:34:03","modified_gmt":"2017-02-07T14:34:03","slug":"om-cafes-medicine-pantry-what-to-do-if-you-wake-feeling-congested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.organicmamacafe.com\/home\/2012\/11\/om-cafes-medicine-pantry-what-to-do-if-you-wake-feeling-congested\/","title":{"rendered":"OM Cafe&#8217;s Medicine Pantry: What to Do if You Wake Feeling Congested"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/wp.me\/p1GpYg-oC\" target=\"_blank\">My previous post was on staying healthy<\/a>. But even the most careful of us succumb to that winter cold from time to time.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s what we do to recover fast.<\/p>\n<p>1. <em><strong>Rest!<\/strong><\/em> You knew I was gonna say this right? When my kids or husband show signs of illness, I send them to bed for naps or early bedtime. Sometimes, we avoid illness completely with a few extra zzzzzzzzz\u2019s. This is not a time for a ten mile run!<\/p>\n<p>2. <em><strong>Moisturize<\/strong><\/em>. As in, sinuses and lungs. I make my kids take 2 (short) steamy showers a day when they\u2019re congested before putting them back into bed. We shut the door and steam up the room. Then, I encourage them to breathe deeply and get that steam into their nasal passages and lungs. A cold mist humidifier is another great tool once they\u2019re back in bed. And for mom or dad, a warm washcloth on a congested head or cheek sometimes works wonders. I don\u2019t recommend it for kids.<\/p>\n<p>3. <em><strong>Saline<\/strong><\/em>. Neti pots or even sprays like Simply Saline (no preservatives) are great solutions to both moisten the nasal passages and kill bacteria that leads to more serious problems like sinus or ear infections.<\/p>\n<p>4. <strong><em>Extra fluids<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0Extra fluids are imperative when the body is fighting off illness. I push liquids like a drug kingpin when my family is sick. And, while I encourage water, sick days are a time I like to boost my family\u2019s liquids with extra nutrients. Here are a few favorites:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Lemonade<\/em> \u2013 Lemons contain Vitamin C and won\u2019t create extra congestion like orange juice will. Simple squeeze a fresh lemon into 2 cups of water (more or less to taste) and add some raw honey or maple syrup. <em>I\u2019m not talking about Aunt Jemima\u2019s corn syrup stuff, people!!!<\/em>\u00a0Use real maple syrup.<\/li>\n<li><em><a href=\"http:\/\/wp.me\/p1GpYg-bo\">Cherry Cough Stop Tea<\/a> \u2013 <\/em>If you want to get fancy about your drinks, this is a great one! I posted it previously after compiling from several similar recipes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>5. <em><strong>Echinacea tincture<\/strong><\/em>. Available at local health food stores \u2013 tinctures are simply the properties of herbs extracted into a liquid medium like glycerin, vinegar or alcohol. We only use a few drops of the tincture at a time and drink at regular intervals till we see improvement.<\/p>\n<p>6. <em><strong>Vicks<\/strong><\/em>. Yep. It\u2019s an old remedy but it works. Our kids have very sensitive skin so we use it on the bottoms of their feet and cover with old socks rather than rubbing it on their chests. It still works! I know purists won\u2019t like that it contains petroleum jelly but for mainstream parents\u00a0it\u2019s more natural than a lot of other options.<\/p>\n<p>7. <em><strong>Eucalyptus essential oil<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0Place a few drops (seriously, not more \u2013 it\u2019s strong!) \u00a0in a humidifier or even on an old rag near the bed for surprisingly powerful lung and nasal passage opening action! If the eucalyptus is too strong, adding a few drops of lavender will balance out the scent.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>DO NOT leave Essential oils ANYWHERE that a child can access them.<\/em><\/strong> Essential oils are the most concentrated and therefore, most dangerous version of herbs. Treat them like the powerful medicines they are and don\u2019t leave them anywhere your kids can reach them!<\/p>\n<p>8. <em><strong>Avoid over the counter medications like cough syrup and decongestants.<\/strong><\/em> We haven\u2019t ever used these with our kids. These medications often contain dyes or ingredients we don\u2019t want our kids to ingest. They also mask the symptoms of illness and create a false sense of \u201chealth\u201d that encourages the user to keep working instead of resting and kicking the sick bug. Result? Longer illness cycle. Just GO TO BED!<\/p>\n<p>9. <em><strong>Elevate!<\/strong><\/em> This one is from my mom. When we had coughs as kids, she\u2019d have us sleep a little more upright \u2013 with pillows or lifting the mattress a bit. It works!<\/p>\n<p>Can\u2019t imagine life without your cough medicine? Do an experiment. PUT DOWN the cough medicine and use old fashioned common sense instead. It might take your body a few cycles of illness to figure out what to do but you\u2019ll be amazed at how much better you feel after a while! Plus, think of the money you\u2019ll save not buying that stuff!<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve heard me say it before and you know I\u2019ll say it forever. The best remedies to get healthy and stay healthy are rest and nourishment! Don\u2019t look for ways to mask your symptoms. Symptoms are your body\u2019s way of telling you what is wrong and what you need to do to get better.\u00a0Some of these tips seem so very elementary and non-magical but when we follow them at our house as soon as we feel sickness coming on, it\u2019s only at our house for a day or two versus dragging on for weeks. <strong><em>Sometimes the simplest remedies are truly the best.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Give it a try and be well!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>*As always, I\u2019ll remind you that I am not a doctor. \u00a0These are common sense remedies I use for my family, especially because they support the immune system rather than simply masking the symptoms of illness. I have taken the time to research any herbal recipes carefully myself and have consulted with my local herbalist and doctor. I encourage you to always do the same before choosing to take or administer\u00a0<em><strong>any kind of remedy,\u00a0<\/strong>whether herbal, prescription or off the shelf at a local drugstore.<\/em>**<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My previous post was on staying healthy. But even the most careful of us succumb to that winter cold from time to time.\u00a0 Here&#8217;s what we do to recover fast&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1GpYg-Tu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.organicmamacafe.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.organicmamacafe.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.organicmamacafe.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.organicmamacafe.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.organicmamacafe.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3440"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.organicmamacafe.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4912,"href":"https:\/\/www.organicmamacafe.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440\/revisions\/4912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.organicmamacafe.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.organicmamacafe.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.organicmamacafe.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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