A 40-hour anatomy of a head cold (or how to kick a head cold in 40 hours):

Wednesday, 3:30pm Walking down the block to meet the school bus I notice that my head feels rather full in the sinus area. Uh-oh, I think. I race home and take 4 homeopathic Aconite after a Sinus Rinse. Aconite can often stave off a viral infection, especially if taken at first sign.

Wednesday, 6:30pm The aconite must not be the right remedy and I’m feeling lousier by the minute. My nose is both stuffed and runny, I’m tired and ready for bed. But first, I brew some Throat Coat tea along with 3 chopped cloves of fresh garlic and the juice from 1/2 a lemon I found in the fridge (have you heard about garlic tea? Very potent.). I let it all steep for 15 minutes, then top it off with a teaspoon full of local honey. While my throat is not sore yet, my lymph nodes feel swollen and I think all the herbs in there that provide respiratory support will be helpful. Most importantly, it doesn’t contain echinecea, which I want to avoid since I have multiple sclerosis. While I wait I do another Sinus Rinse.

Wednesday, 8:30pm I steal the humidifier from one of the kid’s rooms and set it up near my bed. I feel like a Pink Floyd song, “My head swells up just like a balloon…”, but I am so far from being “comfortably numb” that I toss and turn all night. My sinuses are full and the pressure is very uncomfortable. I take some homeopathic Hepar Sulph, which is good for colds with thick mucous and homeopathic ColdCalm to try to relieve some of the symptoms and make me more comfortable. Another Sinus Rinse, a round of Sinusin homeopathic nasal spray, and I head to bed.

Thursday 7:00am I get the kids up and on the bus and off in the carpool and head directly back to bed with large glasses of orange juice, chamomile tea, and water. I switch to homeopathic Natrum Mur, a remedy helpful for relieving blockages like the one behind my eyes, crank up the humidifier, stack my pillows to keep my head elevated, and sleep on and off all day until I have to pick up a kid after Spanish at 4:15pm. (As a working mom, getting to spend a whole day sick in bed with no one needing anything from me was a treat, even though I wasn’t feeling well!) Of course, there were several Sinus Rinses in there, too, followed by squirts of Sinusin.

Thursday 9:00pm Back in bed with mint tea with honey. This time, the night passes restfully.

Friday 6:00am I awake with an empty head and breathe a sigh of relief. With a shower I feel close to human again, with energy to tackle the day. Sure, my nose still needs to be blown regularly, but the pressure is gone and what’s left won’t hold me back. I corral three 4-year olds for a preschool field trip to see the Junior Symphony Guild’s Tiny Tots program, navigate downtown streets to fight an unjust parking ticket, and run errands the rest of the day.

While I’m not 100% better 40 hours after onset of the head cold, I’m back to being a functional human being in record time with the help of homeopathy, herbs, warm mist, and rest. I was pretty impressed with this as my neighbor got the same head cold a few days earlier but was sick and miserable for a week.