Home Remedies

As a nurse by profession I have an interesting relationship with home remedies. On one hand I want scientific proof that they work before my patients start messing with them (which few remedies have been studied.) That said the active chemical in aspirin comes from willow bark which was used in the old days for pain and fever. So it's not all snake's oil.

Last Monday though I was coming down with a sore throat and cold. Being a nurse I have seen many a patient with my symptoms and when they come to me there's not much I can do. Get lots of sleep, drink lots of water, etc. None the less I didn't want my cold to put me out of it for several days since that would put me behind in school work. So I was a bit desperate. What did I do? Salt water, lemon and honey tea.

1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp honey, 1 cup boiling water
(It tastes really good despite it's suspect appearance)

Salt water gargle is actually backed up by some science, and anyone who's had as many teeth pulled as I have knows it well. A lot of bacteria that invade our bodies can't survive salt water. While you may not want to literally rub salt in your wound (please don't it will really, really hurt, your better off with traditional antibiotics) it's perfectly good for cleaning out your mouth and the back of your throat.

Lemon and honey tea. I have no idea how bacteria react to lemons, but most bacteria aren't big on acidic environments. Add to that the fact that honey has some antibiotic properties (and tasted good) and you've got about as good a cold fighting tea as you'll get. Not to mention that warm liquids tend to sooth the back of the throat when it get's irritated.

The end results was a 2 day cold which I pushed through with only minor inconviniences.  Of course
correlation does not infer causation as we say in my stats class . . . but it helped me get through it.