Sick to hale-n-hearty in no time !!

I would have continued on my previous post about my LA trip with my friend, but I have been sick since the past 10 days. Its been horrible. I think I got the flu "with the works" - cold, cough, excessive sweating, the shivers, sore throat, eye infection, sinus, migraine, swollen eyes - anything you name and I have it.

I get the flu at-least once every year without fail. I dread having the flu, and try to avoid it as much as possible. I generally dont fall sick, but if I do, then its pretty intense. It goes to the extent that I lose my voice and end up talking in funny tones LOL. I try to sleep as much as possible when sick, but the funny thing is sleep evades me even when I take medicines which are supposed to make you drowsy.

Even at night, I sit up in my bed coughing for 15 mins straight. Its terrible !! I wouldn't wish this for anyone... And this time, the flu has been the worst so far. It just killed me through and through whenever I coughed. The headaches wouldn't go away and some nights I would wake up as if in a daze and sit on my bed for a long time not even realizing that I was sitting there with a blank face probably. Then after a while, I would realize I am sitting on my bed in the middle of the night and then go back to sleep. All the sleepless nights caused my eyes to swell up and my days were exhaustion personified. Not a single ounce of energy to do anything, not even to take a single step. So, I sleep all day too. It was really tiresome. Caused me to waste 10 days of my life and I dint even move a pin.

Here are some remedies that gave me a lot of relief. Never realized the importance of home remedies and stuff like that until this time. I started following these only since 3-4 days and I am almost back to normal now... So here goes:

1. Warm liquids: Drink lots of warm liquids, like warm black tea, warm soup or even warm water. It relieves you of your sore throat and soothes the itching in your throat.
2. Don't drink milk: Milk is so not good for your phlegm. If you have lots of phlegm / mucus, its better to stop drinking milk. Milk increases the phlegm and causes it to thicken.
3. Drink turmeric-milk: I know I said not to drink milk, but this is not really milk. Heat up around 3/4th cup of water with a tsp of turmeric in it. Then add 1/4 cup or less of milk to it. (Do not heat milk with turmeric in it. Milk will curdle and split). Turmeric has lots of medicinal properties and can cure lot of symptoms of your cough. Drink this liquid when its hot. Dont let it cool down a whole lot.
4. Gargle salt water: Heat up half a glass of water with lots of salt in it. The water should taste really salty. Take mouthfuls of this liquid in your mouth (dont swallow) and try to take it down into your throat as much as possible and gargle it. The salt can relieve you of any infections in the throat and it also relieves you of the itching in the throat.
5. Use an inhalant: You can buy a Vicks inhalant and inhalant medicine from a pharmacy store. You just have to add water and the medicine and plug it in... Inhale the steam for at-least 10-15 mins every 3-4 hrs and it cleans up your nasal passages.
6. Steam Therapy: The home-equivalent of an inhalant is boil some water in a saucepan and add a few clove twigs and peppercorns to it. You can even add Vicks to the boiling water. Then inhale the steam produced from this liquid. This gets rid of your cold symptoms in no time at all. 
   Tip: Have a tissue roll next to you because this treatment cleans up your nasal passage and you might need those paper towels, if you know what I mean.
7. Cough Drops: Always have cough drops with you and pop one into your mouth when you feel a cough bout coming up. It helps keep the cough at bay for quite some time.
8. Don't eat oily and greasy foods: I was never a person who would do this if I fell sick, but this time, I stayed away from oily foods, because I just could not take the torture anymore. The oil or grease aggravates the sore throat and itchiness and increases the infection. The greasiness also thickens your phlegm.
9. Kashaya / Spicy Tea: Boil 3 cups of water in a saucepan. Grate some ginger and garlic into it. Also add couple of teaspoons each of turmeric powder, coriander powder, jeera / cumin powder and 1/2 tsp of black pepper powder. You can even squeeze some lemon into this mixture. Strain the liquid, mix in some honey / sugar (honey is better) and drink it when it is hot.
   Instead you can also prepare a mixture of honey, ginger juice, pepper powder, turmeric powder etc., and swallow a tbsp of this mixture every 4-6 hrs. All the above ingredients contain a lot of medicinal properties which can kill germs and soothe the infected throat area.
10. Rice porridge: Pressure cook some rice with more water than normal and eat the porridgy mixture with some salt and some sour indian pickle - like lemon, dhodli etc., Rice contains a lot of starch and gives you instant energy when you eat it from time to time. Also the pickle allows your taste buds to experience some taste since during sickness, all food seems bland and tasteless.

Do follow these simple steps and I am positive you / your loved ones will get better in no time.

Special extra tips for all my readers out there... 

Always use disposable paper towels and wash your hands with soap and warm water frequently. Clean your nose often and sanitize your hands. Cover your mouth when you cough and cover your nose when you sneeze. This helps to prevent spreading the viral infection. Change your bedsheets often. Try to take a walk and inhale some fresh air if you dont feel too tired or dizzy. However, dont go out if it is too cold. That could aggravate your flu.

Got a early flight to take tomorrow. Hope I feel at my best to travel :)

- So