I suffer from a lot of rather pitiful ailments. None of them is very serious, but they do make my life miserable on a pretty regular basis. Still, I am reluctant to go to the doctor because I know I’ll just get some pills or drops that only mask my symptoms and often cause worse ones to occur. Don’t get me wrong, I am not going to let myself hemorrhage to death, and if I think I have a concussion or something I’m all about the emergency room. But for a headache? A sore throat? An earache? I think I can handle that.
A cure for tummy aches, earaches, and sore throats.
I have been getting mysterious earaches for the past couple of years, and I think that most of them can be simply explained by water/wind getting into my ears. After my shower a couple of days ago, I forgot to put alcohol in my ear (to dry up the water), and then I went out that night (the weather is quickly cooling off here, especially at night) and sat in a smoky bar (smoke is a contributing factor to ear infections in children). Basically, I was destined to wake up Saturday morning with an earache. I took ibuprofen (which didn’t help), suffered through four hours of work, felt temporarily better at a baby shower because of all the friends and food, then went home and crashed, convinced that a few drops of olive oil in my ear (something that usually works for me) and a couple of hours of sleep would cure everything. At this point my earache was summoning a migraine, so I spent a quiet evening at home with a few friends, popped a few more ibuprofen before bed, went to sleep (very early) with a cool towel on my forehead (for the headache), and told myself that I’d be better in the morning. When I woke up yesterday morning, my ear only felt worse. I was actually pissed off at that that point, because John and I had crafternooon plans, and I was not letting a dumb earache spoil those. So I did some digging around the internet and looking for natural remedies. One website recommended drinking mint tea for an earache. I was a little dubious, thinking that only something deposited directly in my ear was going to offer any relief at that point. Still, I grow a lot of mint, and figured it would be dumb not to at least try it. I read on another site that heat really helps earaches, so I held the teacup as close as I could to my ear in between sips. The combination of these two things (and absolutely no ibuprofen, because I’m pretty sure my kidneys couldn’t have taken any more) worked very well, and by the time I got to Turby and John’s house around lunch time I was fit as a fiddle. I’m not sure if it was the tea itself, the heat from the tea, or both that did the trick, but when I find a combination that works I don’t fool with it. I am adding mint tea to my current earache arsenal of rubbing alcohol and olive oil.
P.S. More about crafternoons coming soon!
