Tuesday, May 2, 2017

surrounded by eucalyptus

My trip to Palm Springs was lovely.  There was the crystal bath meditation, beauty of the high desert and great food.  I remember during the meditation having the slight irritation at the back of my throat.  Prior to the healing beginning, it was advised to not snore or cough as the sounds would be amplified due to the structure of the building.  I did snore (a little before being tapped to wake up) and I struggled to contain the coughing.  I suppressed that urge by telling myself to not do it under any circumstance.  I could taste the incense in the back of my throat, I remember.
The change in weather started affecting me on Sunday night.  I remember waking up and being congested and needing to run to my bathroom to find some Kleenex.  On Monday, I chose to inhale salsa and green chile as a way to combat the congestion.  I went a little crazy with the salsa and almost immediately had acid reflux.  I am not a fan of this and so I bought tums to remedy the situation.  It helped or so I thought.  I still had the irritation in my throat.
On Tuesday, still congested, I drank some lemon water.  I felt okay and was mostly concerned with sleep during my 9 day work stretch.  On Wednesday, I went into work and could feel the cold coming on.  About 5 pm, the decline began.  Rapidly.  I went from normal speaking, to a lower grade and eventually no voice.  It was insane how quickly it happened.  I realized that I had not been hydrating properly which sped up my laryngitis.  Oh, there was a fire alarm on Monday night which I sat through.  It is one of the most intense fire alarms and for whatever reason instead of going outside for relief, I remained indoors.  My ears rang for quite some time after the alarm.  The reason I mention all of these factors--change in weather, fire alarm, acid reflux, little hydration, less sleep--I think, is how quickly I attained laryngitis.  And once it took hold of me, I had no voice or choice but to alter my diet.  Thankfully, I had cough drops at my house.  And lemons, hot tea and essential oils.  I could gargle eucalyptus salt water and rub eucalyptus oil on my chest.  I had a necklace from Shari that held cloth which would absorb essential oils which would emanate the eucalyptus all day.  I read up on laryngitis and found that apple cider vinegar was extremely useful, too.  I had no idea how much I would rely on apple cider vinegar until I felt relief.  I love the stuff.  Well, with honey and cayenne.  I found a thai restaurant that served this delicious hot and sour soup.  I also utilized garlic and ginger. I must say, I am incredibly hydrated now.
It sucks.  It is tiring to only hydrate and believe that you are sick.  Eventually, you must return to what is normal. For me, that includes wine.  I indulged in a hot toddy to relieve some of the irritation in my throat on Thursday and Friday.  It helped.  I've been sleeping more which further aids in my healing and returning to normal.  I feel better, I do.  I recognize that bathing in eucalyptus did, in fact, help me tremendously.  I was grateful for being introduced to essential oils and that I love those particular scents--eucalyptus, lavender and peppermint. 
I have the next few days off.  I will continue my healing crusade and introduce some wine back into my diet.  Danielle, my old boss from Santa Fe, is considering relocating to Denver.  She is apartment hunting the next few days.  We are planning on meeting up for a wine lunch on Thursday.  Then it is cinco so there will be a silver coin or 3 in my future, Friday.
Life is grand~

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