Well, the story begins about a week and a half before Christmas when I got hit with a bad cold....that never left completely. It decided that it got tired of just being a nagging stuffy nose and morphed into a raging cough, sore throat, congestion, runny nose, low energy bug about a week and a half ago.
That was after I took Alyssa to the Phoenix Children's Hospital Urgent Care on Jan. 10th for a three-day high fever and found out she had a UTI! So, she was on an antibiotic for 10 days and then was well.
The week after that, I took McKay to NextCare Urgent care (what is it about me and waiting until the weekend to take my kids to the doctor/urgent care?) We found he had a double ear infection. He had one at about this time last year as well...hmmmmm, something to consider. So, he went on an antibiotic.
A couple days after my raging cough started, he got a fever again and started coughing....so did Ethan....then Alyssa! Shawn was able to resist for about a week, but in the end, it conquered him as well and he stayed home from work yesterday.
Yesterday, Alyssa woke up with goopy, icky eyes and super stuffed nose and a high (103) fever. Maybe most moms would take them to the doctor right away (I did leave a message for my doctor's office to call me..which they did, but I missed the call) but I didn't.
For a long time I have wanted to gain more understanding of and confidence in using herbal remedies to treat my families illnesses. Of course I would go to a doctor for something if I felt to, but I'm just getting tired of the whole antibiotic thing. I have been exposed quite a bit to herbal remedies and I believe they work...slowly...but surely they allow the body to heal itself. (Starting off with a healthy immune system is best...not like we have done it!) Anyway...I have decided that it is finally time for me to make the effort and take the time to learn and educate myself about it...and this seemed like a good opportunity.
Long story short, I made two trips to Desert Sage Herbs to get Peppermint, Yarrow flowers, Elder flowers and Cammomile and some other herbal remedies for the kids to help us fight all this junk we are dealing with. My sister-in-law Wendi and sister Jerilynn have both made something called a Children's Composition using these herbs and vegetable glycerine that they give their kids when they are coming down with something or are already sick. I wanted to give it a try.
All day Alyssa's fever came and went but remained pretty high - at one point it was 104 degrees. She was miserable. I had been giving her eyebright and echinacea for her cold to begin with but I knew I needed something else. So, I had read about giving children a warm bath with lavender oil when they have a fever to open up the pores and stimulate the circulation and help the toxins to escape through the pores. I gave that a try. She loved the bath and it did calm her well. Then I put an echinacea tincture (one drop) in her ears along with a drop of garlic oil and then put cotton in her ears. (She wasn't enjoying this, but I had to do it.) Then, when the home-made medicine was done, I gave her just a 1/4 teaspoon of it at about midnight. She was really hot at that time. But she went to sleep. I also gave her some Ibuprofen to at least help her feel a bit better to rest.
Results?
She slept the best she has for days! (Oh I guess I should also say at this point that she cut her first tooth on her 7 month birthday on the 29th...so this COULD have been related to that...hard to know.) She woke up with no fever at all! She was happy and back to herself again...although she did have icky eyes and nose still. I was soooo grateful to Heavenly Father for His help and for the faith I had that it would help her. I know we aren't out of the woods yet, but I am sure grateful that we could stop the fever she had and help her rest.
So...I tried giving the Children's Composition to Ethan and McKay and they liked it! It tastes really minty and sweet.
So it looks like I'm on my way to becoming a bit more well-versed in the "alternative" medicine arena! Don't know what you think about it, but I'm really excited!
