Oh, the weekend… Sometimes it doesn’t work out the way you planned. Sometimes the sun is shining with all its early-autumn glory, but you wake up with an awfully sore throat and a cold, because why not.

Instead of pills…

Yes, I’m the kind of person who tries to take medication only when really needed – but of course, sometimes you got to go to the doctor, let’s all be responsible. So, before I start next week at the crowded waiting room of my doctor, I tried to fix myself up as much as possible. As we all know, prevention is very important, especially now that autumn is here, so let’s all boost our vitamin levels, shall we?

OK, enough about the lecture… As you can see, I wasn’t that good at prevention, so here’s how I dealt with my illness this weekend.

Herbal tea

Herbal teas are one of my trusted helpers when it comes to illness – now I used a mixture of linden flower and plantain leaf. For one cup of tea, I use about one large pinch of each herb, and I drink about three large mugs of this infusion during the day. The linden will make you sweat, so it’s best to drink it under blankets and then rest a little. For an added goodness, pour some honey into your tea BUT only after it cooled down a little, as the hot temperature can destroy all the superb benefits of the honey.

Ascorbic acid

You can get large packs of ascorbic acid at various places (drugstores, supermarkets, etc.) – it’s vitamin C without the additives you can find in the pill forms. When I’m already ill, I use more than I would usual: I put about half a teaspoon into a glass of water and repeat this several times a day. Just be careful as it has a pretty sour taste – instead of drinking a lot at once, put smaller portions into your drink throughout the day. You can also add some lemon or ginger, maybe some honey to your ascorbic acid infused water to make it taste better.

Resting

This is one of the most important things to do. Give yourself some time to get better, even if you have tons to do – the faster you get better, the sooner you can get back to all of those things. Light a candle, diffuse essential oils like lavender, watch a movie, read a book, sleep, you get the idea. I snuggled up under my blanket with a cup of tea around, and watched the movie "Brief Encounter" from 1945 – it was a really good one, so give it a try if you like old movies with brilliantly written dialogues.  

So this is how my weekend went down – it wasn’t the most exciting one, it wasn't packed with adventures but this happens.

Do you have any good-old home remedies for sore throat? How was your weekend?