How to have the best cold of your life

My son came home from grandma and grandpa’s house at 2:45 am recently. They said that he was crying and coughing and he couldn’t stop himself. Since he has asthma whenever a virus (a cold, in this case) strikes him, my parents had taken several inhaler treatments throughout that day, following his morning announcement that he had a “sore throat,” always a bad sign in our house. A parent of a child with viral-induced asthma knows that a simple cold will be anything but boring.

As the mother of an asthmatic child, I do whatever it takes to keep viruses at bay. It’s not that easy here in the Midwest when we spend a lot of time indoors together for half the year.

Below are some of the techniques I use now to get over a cold.

1. Take a warm bath morning and night until you feel better.

2. Blow your nose until it is clean.

3. Take the paracetamol/ibuprofen without (much) complaint.

4. Sit under a towel with a steaming bowl of water and eucalyptus essential oils for a few minutes throughout the day with a damp washcloth pressed to one side of your face. (More on this below)

5. Let me rub some kind of oil on the tip of your nose/upper lip. (Again, below)

A warm bath is relaxing, helps distract you from feeling bad, and loosens congestion. Nose blowing is just obvious; Get that garbage out of there, for God’s sake! The constant stream of pain relievers/fever reducers helps your body focus on healing, not managing a sore throat/congestion in the face/head area. Yes, I’m all for letting the body do its job of fending off those pesky viruses on its own, but allowing a child to cry/suffer with fever/congestion/pain doesn’t seem like a smart way to handle things. I know that fever is the body’s natural defense and that it does us good. Save it for the adults, I say. What culture has ever existed that did not do what was within its power to alleviate pain? I don’t know of any, except (perhaps) the Shakers, and, well, most of them are gone. Will a child grow up to be a better person and have a stronger constitution if he has these? Maybe. I, for my part, give my son a painkiller and take it myself when I need it. Kids, especially, need to “be tough,” in my opinion, but that can be encouraged when it comes to a scratch, bloody knee/elbow, or shot at the doctor’s office.

As for the eucalyptus oil, I don’t use much of it, just a couple drops in the glass bowl (okay, it’s a rectangular Pyrex type container) after the 1-2 inches of water has been microwaved. I have my son lie on the bed on his stomach with a pillow between him and the water, or if it’s daytime, sit at the table with it. I cover it with a towel and set the timer on the stove for about 3 minutes. The towel is the size of a standard bath, so a lot of air still gets in. Once this is done, we blow the nose, and then I apply whatever oil we have on hand, usually scented with a few drops of lavender as well. Lavender is calming and somewhat speeds up healing, and is especially effective when skin is damp from steam. Doing this helps my son keep his nose from getting red and inflamed from so vigorous blowing/wiping with old tissue or the (tasteful) toilet paper roll that is a constant companion in our house every time who catches a cold Oh, I forgot to mention that if my son complains that an area of ​​his face is sore, such as one side or the other due to sinus congestion, I also ask him to hold a microwaved wet washcloth to the area, while he is under the towel. He doesn’t know it, but he added a little olive (or other) oil to the cloth, along with a little lavender to make him smell good. Once again, my focus is on moving the healing process forward.

As for our environment, I do a few things in my attempts to stop the spread of the disease. I say attempts as we tend to share here. As soon as my son gets up, I open the windows in his bedroom to get fresh air. I put a new pillowcase on his kid-sized pillow so he’ll have something clean to lie on later, and because pillowcases often double as Kleenex, too, when no one’s looking. I wipe common door handles/light switches and always have a separate hand towel for my son. However, I know that he often forgets to use his, so he pulls out a new one every day.

Chicken soup, of course, is a must, as is a cup of tea in the morning and at night. In our son’s case, I encourage him to drink it down without complaining (after all, that’s ANOTHER thing to do!) leaving him with a spoonful of honey, local of course, and pouring/stirring the tea. He’s 6 years old, and that might sound a bit dangerous, but we’re talking about a small water jug ​​with ½ inch of water in it at best. We were out of honey when this newer virus appeared. Once the weekend was over, my son and I drove a few miles to the honey lady’s house and picked up 3lbs. – only $9. I see it as a little adventure for us (him) and as a way to encourage the old honey lady to keep doing what she does.

I would say that we spend half an hour in the morning and then in the evening on the tasks mentioned above. I make the time to do this because we go through a cold in about 3 days when I follow these steps. A mild cough may persist, but I usually stop giving any pain relievers etc. by the end of day 2, and I can stop excessive baths/steam treatments by the end of day 3.

I hope the tips above help you have your best cold and manage your asthma.