My little one and I have recently been hit with the dreaded cold/flu that hits around 3 times a year. As a holistic therapist I try to not use medication if possible and treat the symptoms all naturally. A lot of people will automatically reach for painkillers and anti inflammatories, and that is ok every once in a while if you feel really ill. But when you do this every time you have a headache it can be doing more harm than good. I often get a lot of sinus pain and blockage and so I will run through what I use to treat all these symptoms naturally.
Cold- The best thing to do is to do a steam inhalation, twice a day if possible. Add 2 drops of Eucalyptus oil into a bowl of steaming hot water. Hover your head over the steam and cover your head with a towel- for as long as possible. Try and breathe through your nose if possible. This will also help to clear the lungs and any chestiness that may have developed through the cold symptoms. A lot of people believe that the feeling they get in the nose is all the congestion caused by mucus. In fact it isn't, the feeling is caused by the swollen blood vessels in the nose. A natural anti inflammatory is garlic, ginger and onions. So Increase your intake of these and the cold may pass quicker. Make a spaghetti bolognaise and abundantly add all these ingredients ! Some people I know {not that I am suggesting you do this!) will eat a raw onion at the slight feeling of a cold.
Sore throat- Gargle 3 x daily with Himalayan Rock Salted Water. Salt is a natural anti septic and will help reduce the bacteria in the throat. Follow with a warm water, lemon juice and Manuka honey drink to help soothe the throat. Manuka honey is also anti bacterial as well as soothing and will help ease the pain.
Throughout the day take small amounts of coconut oil to help soothe when needed- but be warned coconut oil is calorific so not too much ! Little and often folks.
Sinus Pain- I have this regularly and it can be very very painful. I find the thing that helps the most is the steam inhalation. I add a few drops of Eucalyptus and peppermint to boiling water and steam as above. Once I have finished seaming I add a cold compress to the facial areas in most pain- usually forehead and cheeks. You can use a cold flannel if you have one....I use a muslin cloth usually soaked in Tea Tree oil (as this will help my congested skin at the same time). You can do this process as often as you like- the hot and cold treatments will help restrict the blood flow to these areas so it is less painful. I also use an old method to help drain the sinuses if they are really bad. stick in tongue on the roof of your mouth and press upwards. At the same time press quite firmly with 2 fingers in between the eyebrows and hold for 20seconds- this helps to drain the sinuses. After around 30 minutes I will use some coconut oil mixed with either Eucalyptus or Tea Tree and will massage the areas in most pain. (I usually use fingers to press pressure points around these areas too).
Also taking an Echinacea supplement may help the cold/flu symptoms disappear quicker as it encourages a healthy immune system. As with any illness, a healthy immune system to begin with will increase the chances of the symptoms disappearing sooner- so if you can practice a healthy lifestyle by increasing veg and fruit in your diet, plenty of protein and water for cell repair and carbohydrates for energy. A balanced diet can work wonders and can help ward off these illnesses that may be appearing more often than you like. Take a decent vitamin and mineral supplement and try to do some exercise daily, outside if possible to help keep your vitamin D level up.
Stress is also a game changer when it comes to health. Stress can put unnecessary pressure on every organ and process in the human body- so if you are stressed there are less resources available to the body to help build an immune response to illnesses. This is why when people have a large stressful event happening they suffer with colds/flu/digestive problems/arthritis etc. It is because the body has less resources to give because it is dealing with the stress. I will be completing a separate blog post on stress soon so keep a look out.
No comments:
Post a Comment