Herbal remedies

Had a really fun Christmas, visiting a bunch of friends and their families. Unfortunately I also ended up getting really sick...I guess all that socializing doesn't come at a cost mid-winter. It was pretty bad, at one point I went 6 days without talking to anyone face-to-face, other than the grocery store checkout chick. Once I started getting a little better, but still not well enough to train, and I was going out of my mind, I looked up natural remedies for my ailment on the net. Then I went to the store and bought all of them.

The first one I had was a teaspoon of turmeric in milk. I decided they could be categorized by effect/effectiveness, and this one fit into my first category of remedies: preventative. As in, so awful, I'll be more careful to not get sick again, so I don't have to take it again. :)

The next remedy was sliced onion, drizzled with honey. It wasn't very specific about how to do it, but I figured cooked onion couldn't have any magical properties, or I'd be better already (onion, pepper and salt go into nearly everything I cook).

So I cut a slice off an onion, cut that in quarters, and drizzled the honey. In hindsight, I shouldn't have used my organic onion, because I find they have quite a bit more kick to them. Regular raw onion has enough kick.

For the first five seconds, I thought, hey, this is pretty good. The honey really tones down the onion. Then the burning started. First my throat started burning, then my lungs felt like they'd been lit on fire. Not unlike having waaay too much wasabi on your california roll.

So that remedy went into the 'quite possibly works' pile. The way I look at it, if the bugs can handle that sort of treatment, I'm pulling out the guest bed for 'em.

Next up was eucalyptus oil. I have fond memories of eucalyptus from the homeland, both the light fragrance of bush-walking, and the slightly more potent vapours from salves and such. The directions told me to boil some water, add 15 mL of eucalyptus oil, and inhale the fumes. I did as directed. Holy smokes! Did I accidentally make napalm?! Or, more contemporarily but no more politically correct, had I just unleashed chemical warfare on myself? My eyes stung, my throat burned...category two remedy, for sure. And then a few seconds later, it was over...no more vapours or smell. Interesting. Let me try that again...