I feel like I have been out of commission for over a week now, but today is only day 5.  Last saturday I spent the day baby sitting and then sunday evening I quickly came down with a soar throat.  Monday was awful and I spent the whole day on the couch, drinking hot tea and watching a marathon of Ridiculousness.  (I'm in love with Rob Dyrdek).  Except for making one trip to Bandera with James, in which I brought a cookie with me to make it better.  It wasn't until tuesday morning that I realized I had strep throat, not just a common soar throat.  So I quickly got my game together and started medicating myself more seriously.  I know the severe risks of letting strep throat go untreated and I monitored myself carefully, but I decided to go all natural for 48 hours at least before even thinking about going to get antibiotics.  I know there is a time and a place for them, but I also believe in treating ourselves naturally as much as we can, and when I do, I always see the results and know I am making my body that much stronger in the end for it. 

Once I started treating it seriously and taking all of the natural remedies every two hours, within 12 hours I have seen a dramatic difference.  I woke up this morning with almost no throat pain and feel so rested.  I know that once you start to feel better its easy to just stop medicating yourself, so I have to be firm with myself today and make sure I still continue my regimen heavily throughout today, and then some for the next 8 or so days.  And not overdo myself.  All I can think about this morning is all the orders I have not made and shipped out this week, all of the unanswered emails, and of the things not attended to, my filthy house, etc... I have to make myself go slow and take lots of breaks for the next several days, which is so against my normal way, especially when I'm preparing for one of the most exciting collections Ive ever made to be shot in early December.  I have to remind myself that these are all self imposed deadlines and I have to treat my health first.  That is a hard one for me.  Alot of times I allow my body to come last, which is something Ive been trying to work on, so now, here I am, faced with the decision to make myself a priority above all else.  And of course it would happen a few days before Thanksgiving when I am suppose to be loving and hugging all over my family I haven't seen in ages.  Yeah, that part sucks the worst.  But the timing of these things is something I have no control over, so be it.

In case you are wondering how I treated myself I will list it below, but know this is what worked for me, and you should always seek your own treatment and what is best for you...

- every 2 hours I chewed a tablespoon of finely chopped raw garlic (1-2 cloves) with cayenne, lemon and honey
- 2-3 times a day I took an emergen-c pack
- 2-3 times a day I took 15 drops of grapeseed oil in a capsule
- vitamins + spirulina + fish oil daily
- oregano oil on my feet throughout the day
- hot echinacea tea with lemon, ginger, honey and rosemary all day long
- hot soup as food (no solid food as its harder to digest, except I had some yogurt and blueberries)
- gargle with really warm water with apple cider vinegar and cayenne
- sip on water with apple cider vinegar and honey
- tons of water
- tons of rest
- peppermint oil on my forhead for headaches

(things I would of taken if I had them would be colloidal silver and elderberry syrup)

I also religiously checked my temperature to make sure I was okay.

What are some of your personal at home treatments for colds, strep or flu?

And as you can see above, since its been cold and rainy outside all week, all of our babies have been snuggled up too and we have been building alot of fires!!!

p.s. I had planned on having a Small Business Saturday sale, so if I can get it together I will.  Watch out for announcement on the blog for it.  It might be for the whole weekend!