Last night, my throat felt a little scratchy and, when I woke up this morning, I had a full blown cold. It’s inevitable that I get sick often because I am a teacher. My students are usually sneezing and coughing around me all day long. I try everything from having sanitizer in the class to making them take antibacterial soap with them to the bathroom in order to avoid getting sick. Unfortunately, I always end up getting sick anyway. As a matter of fact, myself and my two boys all had Swine Flu last June and I suspect that I am the one who brought it home from work first as I was the first one that got sick.
All of us have our own unique ways of nursing a cold or the flu. A lot of it probably has a lot to do with our cultural backgrounds. I grew up in Spain and my Grandmother swears by Chamomile Tea as a healing agent. Personally, I can’t stand the stuff because she always forced me to drink it when I was sick. Actually, I think it’s probably because of this that I have such a taste aversion to it. Whenever I got sick, she would make me drink Manzanilla (Chamomile Tea) and make me breathe over a pot of hot water and Eucalyptus leaves. The vapor from the leaves did work because it would clear my nasal passages, however, it was a rather tedious practice. She also swore by Vicks Vapor Rub and its healing qualities. This is one practice that I have actually kept and freely rub it on myself and on my sons when we are sick. My husband is of Latin descent also and his family uses Vicks to cure colds too. Believe it or not, most of the Latinos that I know swear by Vicks when they are sick so this is actually a stereotype that has a bit of truth to it.
We can’t have the cold remedy conversation without talking about Chicken Soup. This is probably one of the most universal ways of treating a cold or the flu. Every culture has their own unique recipe for making Chicken Soup and these family recipes are often passed down from generation to generation. My Maternal Grandmother made the best Chicken Soup that I ever tasted and she was raised by an Irish Mother. I recall that she made the chicken broth and all of the other ingredients from scratch. No matter how sick I was, her soup always made me feel better immediately. Maybe it was the combination of good ingredients and love that she put into it.
I am greatly interested in some of the other remedies that are being used around the world. So, tell me, what old school cold remedies or remedies from the “Old Country” do you or your family use to keep those germs at bay or to get rid of them once you become sick? I’m sure we all have a lot more in common in this department than most of us probably think…
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