Colds, Sinus Infections and Fevers Oh My!

Asher, Raf and I have all been sick pretty much none stop since the week before Halloween.  It has been a snotty mess around these parts let me tell you!  Asher and I got colds, then Rafaan got a cold and laryngitis (which took weeks to clear up).  Asher was better and snot free for about a week, before the nose faucet and coughing started again,  turns out he had a sinus infection.  The poor guy’s sinuses were so backed up that he actually had mucus coming out of his eye…yea, HIS EYE!  A couple weeks later I promptly followed suit with a cold of my own, which was directly followed by a yeast infection and all this time I’ve been having pretty bad round ligament pain (I’ve ordered THIS puppy, let me know if you’re interested in hearing how it works out), so much so that I’m left hobbling around after a super active albeit sick toddler.  HOW DO TODDLERS HAVE SO MUCH ENERGY WHEN THEY’RE SICK?!

So yea, we clearly have not been having much fun around these parts.  Asher’s sinus infection affected his sleep and caused him to wake up often during the night, which resulted in little sleep for sick and pregnant mommy.

Well, this last time, I said enough is enough, and I took to the web to research ways to kill a cold.  I found something about taking “apple cider vinegar with the mother” that seemed like something I would be willing to try, although I was highly skeptical, but since I was sick of having colds that lasted 10 days I was pretty desperate. This stuff works!  Or at least it did this one and only time I’ve tried it.  I can’t speak to the how well it works in general, but people seem to swear by the stuff.  I haven’t looked for any evidence based research about it but you better believe I’ll be taking it at every hint of a cold from here on out.  I took 2 tablespoons twice a day, morning and evening (roughly 10 hours apart) and after the third dose I noticed a DRASTIC change!  My symptoms were all but gone.  Granted I didn’t start taking it on the first day of my cold, but still, the change was so sudden, I couldn’t help but notice.

Here’s the blog post where I learnt about using this kind of vinegar.  The key is to get Apple Cider Vinegar with “the mother” , which “is made up of the yeasts and fermentation byproducts that are produced when the cider ferments to vinegar, and you should shake the bottle up to evenly distribute it before you use it. The big commercial companies filter it out, because it makes the vinegar look like it’s growing something–which indeed it is.”

Have you had any experience with home cold remedies that actually work?  I’d love to hear about them!