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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Frozen Socks

So far today, I'm feeling a lot better than I was yesterday evening *cheers and applause*   Since feeling better has persisted into the evening, I'd like to believe that I'm actually better. (We'll see tomorrow, though)

What did I do? Let's see:
  1. Let Taylor love me. Ahh, always the best medicine! 
  2. Rest. Though I didn't get into bed till 10:30 (see below for why), I slept until 8:30 this morning.  Sleep is the best thing for getting better.  ['Course, this becomes a problem when one is too sick to sleep well. Yuck.]
  3. Homeopathic remedies, including: neti pot; hot shower; lots of fluids (spicy soup, too); vitamin C, D, concentrated garlic, and fish oil; hot tea. 
  4. The "cold wet sock treatment."  Yes, this is also a homeopathic remedy. And yes, it does sound rather bizarre. I didn't even remember about this until I was already in bed (at 10 pm) but I'm glad I got up to do it. Bizarre, yes, but kinda fun. Here's how you do it: 
You'll need one pair of cotton socks and one pair of wool socks.  Prepare a nice hot water bath for your feet (add some tea tree oil or eucalyptus to clear your sinuses a bit).  You want it really warm, but not so hot as to scald you.  Before you soak your feet, drench the cotton socks in cold water and squeeze them out well. Put them in the freezer (yes).

Soak your feet for at least 10 minutes. You want your feet to be very warm and cozy.  When you're done soaking, dry your feet off very well and get your cotton socks out of the freezer and (here's the worst part) put them on!  Immediately put on the (dry) wool socks and bundle yourself up and go to bed under warm covers.  In the morning the socks should be dry and you should be feeling better.

The idea is to trick your body into heating itself up and killing whatever-it-is that's making you sick.  I don't recommend this treatment if you already have a fever.  Also with this treatment, the sooner you do it, the better.

Our (naturopathic) doctor told us this is what doctors used to tell their patients all the time "back in the day," before the advent of widely-available antibiotics and medications.  And it seemed to work for me this time (hooray!).


Of course, it could have been the special chocolate we got today
(because Sundays are always special)

1 comment:

  1. I have heard of the "cold sock" thing with your whole body..... that is taking a really hot shower, then getting out and wrapping your self in a towel that has been frozen and then getting into bed all bundled up. The just socks sounds a lot better!!

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