A Reduce our Waste Cold

I had a great time during the Christmas holidays and New Year’s Eve, however, with all the mix of people, I caught a cold.  I actually hadn’t had a cold in all of 2018 and I had attributed it to my decreased consumption of meat.  Maybe it was simply a question of luck (and frequent hand-washing).  In any case, by the time I went back to work on January 3rd, I had a sore throat and a congested nose. 

Since I am continuing on my “reduce our waste” journey in 2019, I decided to try a more “natural” approach to treatment for a cold.  Many bloggers have written about the benefits of using a reusable hankerchiefs instead of disposable tissues.

Tissues vs. Handkerchiefs (Zero-Waste Journey)

My Dad used to carry around a hankerchief. My recollection is that it was not particularly appealing nor sanitary. After some thought, I decided that I should give it try before deciding it was not for me. My mother in law, Nora, had given me these vintage hankerchiefs and some of them were awfully pretty:

I figured that the time had come to try them out. Like Scarlett in Gone with the Wind, I felt quite like a Southern belle, who ought to curtsy and flutter her eyelashes. However, I do declare that I was concerned about germs and contamination.  In all cases, tissues and hankies are holders of germs.  However, with tissues, you can throw them away. Well actually, they are compostable. In both cases, the key is to have fresh tissues and hankies.

https://www.health24.com/Medical/Flu/Spreading-the-flu/tissue-or-handkerchief-which-is-better-20170601

I quickly discovered that I needed a lot of hankies. The 6 that I had did not allow me to last a day.   Plus, surprisingly, my nose was getting a bit irritated with the hankies that I was using.   I don’t know if it was the age of the hankies but they were definitely not softer than a tissue. From a quick on line search,  I found that  “everyone” claims that a hankerchief is softer than tissues.  This was not my observation. Maybe I need to make my own hankies from an old flannel shirt. Short term, I ended up switching to the less environmental option of tissues.

For my nasal congestion, I tried my mother’s favorite:  steam.  I put boiling water in a large bowl with a towel on it. 

It worked wonders for my nasal passages.  The only issue is that this is really difficult to do at work!  But when I did it before I went to bed, I slept much better.  Two pillows also helped.

After a few days, my nasal passages were clear but a cough was starting up.  In the past, I would have gone to the pharmacy to get cough syrup.  A friend of mine who became a doctor told me that cough syrup was basically useless. He said the best thing to do was drink liquids. This time, I tried drinking a lot of water and camomile herbal tea with honey and grated ginger.  I found that I had to drink a lot of water to keep from coughing but it did work really well.  Plus I found that warm tea was very soothing for my irritated throat.

After that, I did my best to rest and go to bed early.  And guess what, after 10 days, my cold was gone.  Almost no pharmaceuticals needed (I will confess to taking an Advil at the start of my cold due to a headache).

Challenge for the Week:  How do you fight the common cold?  Do you have any zero waste or home style remedies to share? Thanks to my daughter Natalie for suggesting this blogpost idea!