Day 40 and Feeling Like Cr*p

Here it is, about 20 days away from the end of the 60-day Challenge.  And I'm not doing a darn thing.  I fully intended to get busy, but then I ... got busy.  And I got sick.  So now I don't feel like doing anything.

I seem to have the annual tradition of getting a horrible cold.  It starts in my head, where I feel kind of "odd" for a few hours, then the congestion hits, and I start sneezing, coughing, and blowing my nose a lot.  And then it gets worse.

Back in 1995, when I was pregnant with my third child, I got really sick.  I tend to avoid doctors as much as possible, but when it reached the point where every breath was so painful I wanted to cry, I went in.  Turns out I had pneumonia AND pleurisy.  Not a fun combination.  I am pretty sure that's when this cold thing became an annual beginning-of-summer/change-of-weather tradition.  And because of that, it always ends up being a horrible chest cold.

In my experience, this thing always lasts at least 2 weeks and often 3, and I spend several days coughing so much that I think one of my lungs will finally come up my throat.  Sometimes I do cough enough to throw up.  I go through a LOT of tissues.  I start stealing and hoarding all the pillows I can find, so I can try to make myself a recliner in bed with which to sleep propped up.  I dose myself with Nyquil so I can actually get some sleep.

I'm now to the stage where the glands in my neck are swollen and painful, and I can feel the congestion settling into my lungs.  I'm really hoping this time around I can beat it, but we shall see.  I'm trying to take vitamins/herbs/supplements to counteract this nemesis, but I'm also pretty forgetful.  Some of the things I have been, or should be taking or using are as follows:

• Colloidal silver.  You can buy this at many places, but we actually make our own.  It's pretty awesome stuff.
• Vitamin C.  I was completely out and just bought some more yesterday, so now I have to remember to take megadoses of this wonderful vitamin.
• Immune supporting herb combination capsules.  I had a couple different brands of these, but they contain things like echinacea, goldenseal, myrrh, and other stuff that I can't remember right now.
• Herbal teas, made with things like yarrow, mullein, rabbit tobacco, mint, and whatever else I feel like adding to the mix.  Most of these are herbs that I wild harvested and dried myself!
• Garlic.  Like, a half a head of garlic to a pint of soup.  Yum!
• Broth.  Good, homemade broth, from whatever animal I've recently eaten; chicken, pheasant, goat.  I like to add onion, garlic, and ginger to the broth.
• Congestion rub.  Something like Vick's, but without all the nasty petroleum stuff in it.  I found a recipe online, and made some myself.  My husband said it needed to smell like eucalyptus, though, to be "real", so I added some essential oils to the finished product.

I'm sure there are other things I could be doing, but I can't remember any of them right now.  Oh yeah, SLEEP! I should be doing a lot more of that!  Like, right now, in fact.

Please add to my list in the comment section.  Maybe I'll actually try some of them!

Day 26, and a Cleanse

How am I doing on the Challenge?  Not so well.  I haven't been doing my T-Tapp regularly, maybe only a couple times a week.  The scales haven't moved.  My clothes don't seem to be any less tight.  I just haven't been consistent.  My own fault, completely.  Only a few days left of our small group challenge, but I still have another month of my own personal challenge.  There's still time!

A couple weeks ago I got a yeast infection.  I can't remember the last time I had one, but it's been a very long time.  Back when OTC "remedies" were the only thing I knew to use.  This time around I employed the use of garlic, tea tree oil, kefir, cranberry juice, and coconut oil.  I have had a mild case of athlete's foot for many years, and it occasionally goes beyond a couple small spots.  A few days into this yeast infection I realized that the yuck on my foot was (and had been) worse than normal.  Smack me upside the head - the two were connected!  Yikes!  I guess I figured I had a systemic yeast issue, but since it never really bothered me, I ignored it.  I am definitely a sugar addict, which hasn't helped any.  It was hard to stay away from sweets even for a day while fighting this thing!

About two years ago I read a great book titled Coconut Cured, by Dr. Bruce Fife.  I highly recommend this book.  In one of the chapters he writes about various fasts/cleanses/detoxes employing coconut in one form or another.  I knew that one day I would have to try the coconut oil detox (you can read that section here), but I kept putting it off for one reason or another.

Well, yesterday I did it.  I started the program.  My initial intention is to do seven days, so I can kill off the yeast.  However I am now wavering on that resolve.  I like coconut oil.  I have been known on several occasions to simply scoop some out and eat it plain, right off the spoon.  This is a little different, though.  This is extreme quantities of coconut oil!

I talked my best friend (my wonderful long-suffering husband) into joining me, for at least three days.  He reluctantly agreed.  He does NOT enjoy coconut oil, so I was grateful for this supportive gesture.  I was doing fine, though a bit hungry, mid-day; he was already complaining that he was dying.  By bedtime I was joining him with stomach cramps and nausea.  After visiting "the facilities" in the middle of the night, I felt much better upon waking.

Neither of us rushed downstairs to have "breakfast" today, and it was almost noon before we had our first dose of oil.  I broke down last night and allowed my dear husband to have his oil in chicken broth (homemade) so that is how he got his all day.  For mine, I heated the lemonade and let the oil melt in it.  I just couldn't bear the thought of eating it off the spoon again. 

We have felt tired most of the day, though the lawn did get mowed.  Having never done any sort of cleanse, I wasn't really thinking about the not-really-much-fun aspect of it.  I know it's good for me, but I'm not enjoying it, that's for sure! 

I tried the oil mixed with plain yogurt this afternoon.  It probably would have been okay if I had only put 2 Tbl of oil in, instead of 4.  Trying to get more in at one sitting isn't necessarily the best way.  Tonight I gave in and did the broth for mine as well.  Much tastier! 

We have one more day, and then I will decide how to proceed.  I'm not sure if I have enough coconut oil on hand to make it through the week, at the rate of 10+ Tbl per day.  I have an order coming sometime this week, though.  I am considering continuing to drink the lemonade and consume a lot of oil, but add foods like broth, yogurt, and scrambled eggs - things like that.

I'm not really sure how we'll manage tomorrow.  We have to be back to work in the garden.  Will we have enough energy to make it?  How will we manage to get the oil in throughout the day?  Perhaps we will only work in the morning.  I guess we'll figure that out tomorrow.