I was just thinking, oh good, I didn’t get bad allergy this
year. I spoke too soon! Within a few days, I started to get
sore throat and the tight sensation in the chest during night. Now, I remember I had uncontrollable coughs in the middle of
the night and slept with cough candies in the month for several nights last
year. This year, I did differently.
In the
last post, I described properties of several essential oils. One of the properties of eucalyptus essential oil is expectorant, and it's in commercial
vapor rubs.
First, I rinse the nasal cavity with a
Neti pot with warm saline solution and 1 drop of eucalyptus oil at least
twice a day. (Update: I found 2
drops may be better although it causes sneezing.) I made a salve with organic
body butter I had and eucalyptus oil. Before going to bed, I put it on the neck, chest, under my nose, and feet (see below). The first night I woke up with coughs
from tickles in the throat, I put the salve around the throat, and I could go
back to sleep without more coughs.
Next day, I found a recipe and made a different rub with coconut oil, eucalyptus oil, peppermint
oil, lavender oil, and tea tree oil.
It is liquid because coconut oil melts in the warm room temperature (I
didn’t care for the smell either, so I would use unscented body butter). Again, I put it on the neck, chest,
under my nose and feet. When my throat tickled at night, this time, I massaged gently with the oil along the
throat, where it tickled. The
tickling stopped immediately, and I could go back to sleep. Since then, I haven’t woken up at night
from coughs. The tightness in the
chest is gone, but I still feel tickling in the throat at night, so I keep
putting on the oil before going to bed.
The reason I put the salve on the feet is that reflexes on
the feet correspond to the parts of the body (reflexology). The
toes and the front and back of the upper feet correspond to sinuses, nose, throat, lungs, chest and lymph. It also feels really good to massage
feet. I will discuss more about
reflexology some other time.