This past week I’ve been all sniffs and snuffles, a bad head cold has left me feeling like I’ve got a head ful of cottonwool, I’ve felt so absolutely and utterly wretched and I’ve ended up taking comfort in making myself a poorly bed on the sofa where I’m surrounded by tissues, salves for my nose (which is so red I look like I’m auditioning to pull Santa’s sleigh) satsuma peelings, my favourite Austen heroes and cups of hot cordials to help ease my throat…..
I’m so thankful I made all the hedgerow syrups back in the Autumn, the elderberry and haw syrup is best taken cold like a cough mixture (it’s a bit too much like hot Ribenna for my tastes otherwise) but the amber coloured syrup made from rosehips, haws and crab apples is delicious stirred into a cup of hot water….just the thought of all those sun ripened berries in such glorious jewel like colours does me the world of good, and I’m happy to drink it even when I’m not feeling poorly, and I’m not sure how much this really helps but drinking it out of the prettiest cup when I’m feeling all snuffly and woollen headed makes it taste that much nicer too.
Over the years I’ve found that when I get a cold I need to just let it run it’s course, fruit teas and honey and lemon elixirs, steam inhalations, oil scented tissues help me get better gently …it’s not an over night 24 hour fix it but in the long run it seems to suit my system better.
I seem to spend half the day with my head over a bowl of steamy water which helps my ears from popping, I’m a great believer in using essential oils and make a sniffs and snuffles synergistic blend of equal parts of eucalyptus, lavender and tea tree to use when I’m under the weather, then I use one drop of this in a steam bath, add a couple of drops in an oil diffuser, use it with a carrier oil as a chest and back rub or dropped onto tissues…it’s a nice soothing scent which doesn’t over whelm me….there’s a faint reminder of Vicks inhalers about it….
As well as home made remedies for feeling better I also tend to use only the gentlest home made beauty preparations too, anything too scented or scratchy makes my poor nose feel wretched and I find washing my face with a tea spoon or so of porridge oats in a little warm water to be very soothing, if I need to use anything a bit more lively then I make a scrub made from almond oil and a tea spoon of ground almonds, it doesn’t seem to irritate my delicate inflamed nose and helps exholifate away any sore patches that are peeling (man, I’m a right catch when I get a cold.)
Actually when I hold my head over the steam bath breathing in the “sniffs and snuffles” blend, I massage my face before hand-with a drop or so of a face oil I make up with rose and geranium rose essential oils, almond oil, jojoba oil, rosehip and argan oil. Normally I just use this at night before bed or on a Sunday when I’m not going out anywhere, but when I have a cold it’s an extra treat for skin that’s all sore and dehydrated, it seems to helpstop me looking a complete fright and at least feels a but like a pamper.
The rest of the time I’m bundled under a blanket with my furry poppet never very far away, a bowl of Heinz tomato soup (yeah I could make a nicer home made one soup, but when I’m feeling really, really poorly this is what I want…no other brand, no other flavour…I don’t really care for it any other time) favourite books are close to hand and maybe some very easy peasy knitting…and when I can’t concentrate on reading or knitting then it’s box set time…having a cold and being confined to a poorly bed on the sofa is what they were made for…perhaps watching Colin Firth as Mister Darcey or Jonny Lee Miller as Mister Knightly would make me feel a little bit better……
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