I'm starting to feel a little better. I've still got a horrible cough, though. Last night was the first night I got to sleep relatively easily. I've had several nights this week where I was having such a dry, hacking cough that I couldn't sleep. One night I was so desperate for relief that went to the Internet. I found a home remedy that was made from ingredients I actually had. I was skeptical at first, but the stuff really helped and I didn't think it really tasted that bad (better than that Tylenol Cold crap). Here's the text from the web page just in case the page disappears for my future reference.

Home Remedy for Cough

By Bonnie K. McMillen, R.N, B.S.N., College Health Nurse, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Bradford, PA, mcmillen+@pitt.edu

For the adventurous and independent sort, here's a homemade cough syrup recipe that really works. The ingredients are a combination of spices and nutrients with no unpleasant medicinal side effects — no drowsiness, no dry mucous membranes, no cautions about using machinery or driving.

The recipe is from Herbally Yours by Penny C. Royal, 3rd Edition, June 1982. It seems to work for all kinds of coughs but especially for that dry hacky cough that keeps you awake and hangs on long after the cold is over.

One of our international students recently told me that her mother in India used to give her a cough medicine with similar ingredients.

It soothes an irritated throat and relieves chest congestion and phlegm. The bad news: it tastes terrible — it really does — but if you have a persistant cough, it's worth a try.

• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons water
  Mix and take by the teaspoon.

The recipe doesn't indicate how much to take. I took 3 teaspoons the first time because I had a bad dry cough for over three weeks, and I was desparate for some relief. It worked and I got a good night's sleep. I have been recommending it to others ever since, and many have confirmed my positive results.

Consider the beneficial effects of the individual ingredients:

• Ginger (zingiber officinale) has long been used and recommended for arthritis and bursitis, because it is a natural anti-inflammatory. According to Home Herbal, by Penelope Ody, D.K. Publishing, June 1995, ginger is a natural antihistamine. It has also been used for for motion sickness and nausea, and in addition, it's known for relieving chest congestion, according to Dr. Andrew Weil, Herbal Medicine Chest http://cgi.pathfinder.com/drweil/herbal/medchest
• Cayenne (capsaicin) reduces pain, according to Herbs for Health and Healing, by Kathi Keville, Rodale Press, Emmaus, PA, 1996. The same substance that makes cayenne peppers hot relieves the pain by suppressing a chemical that carries the pain message from nerves in the affected area to the brain. According to Home Herbal, by P. Ody, cayenne is warming and stimulating, it is a good cold remedy and eases chills and will even ease the lingering pain from shingles.
• Vinegar has so many healthful uses. See my article, Vinegar: Ancient Medicine and Popular Home Remedy in Connections Quarterly, Summer 1998 Issue.
• Honey, according to Home Herbal by P. Ody, will draw pus and poisons out of wounds and it is useful for relief from colds.
• Water is probably added to make it less strong tasting but it is still strong!

I keep the mixture in the refrigerator after I make it but I don't know if it is necessary.

The next time you have a cough that just won't quit, you might want to give this homemade cough recipe a try.

Sorry about my lack of presence this last week. I have been sicker than a dog since Monday afternoon. Marcus has been fighting this crud that has been going around work for weeks. He actually resorted to going to the doctor on Tuesday. I've been trying to fight if off for a while, but it totally got the best of me. I didn't even go to work Wednesday at all. I've been only medicating myself at night with NyQuil because I think it's best to let your body take care of stuff if it can. Most of my life I've over-drugged myself. I'd take tylenol or something at the slightest hint of fever. Take cough syrup to stop coughs. Suck on cough drops relentlessly. All it does in the end is prolong being sick. Well, I've been good up until last night. Since this crud moved into my upper chest and sinuses yesterday, and since NyQuil took out their decongestant (thanks to meth makers), I couldn't stop coughing last night. It took me forever to finally get t o sleep.

Marcus used up my NyQuil last weekend and he got some Tylenol Cold instead. That stuff is worthless and it tastes like you're drinking Scope. Yuck.

I had a horrible dream a couple of nights ago. It was one of those weird dreams where you're not sure if you're awake or not. I was in bed, Marcus was next to me and some shadowy figure was looming over our bed, strangling me. I was trying to scream Marcus' name so he would help me and nothing would come out. Well, Marcus was in bed reading while I was having this nightmare. He was concerned over the sounds I was making, so thankfully he shook me awake. I was so freaking scared. I've never had a dream like that—it felt so real.

Sorry this is so rambly. I've got more to say, but not up to it right now.

I used to have really bad heartburn all the time up until about a year ago. I thought it was the result of the carbonation in the excessive amount of soda I drank every day. When I eliminated soda from my diet last January, I stopped having constant pain. Since I've been back at work, though, I've started drinking coffee and hot tea and the heartburn is back. It turns out one cause of heartburn is our good friend caffeine. It relaxes the valve that keeps your stomach acid out of the esophagus. I guess that explains why chocolate also gives me heartburn. I guess I need to cut down on the amount of caffeinated beverages I consume. I don't want to use any medications to treat it, because I've read that those interfere with your digestion and keep you from getting nutrients from your food. I read that Ginger is a natural remedy and I've been meaning to try it. Supposedly chamomile is good, too. I had heard that peppermint was good for heartburn, but unfortunately it has the same effect as caffeine. When I tried that, it actually ended up making the problem much worse. I had totally forgotten peppermint's effects until a couple of days ago when I ate a bunch of Altoids after a particularly bad cup of coffee. Big mistake!

Sorry I haven't been around here much lately. Between a little bit of blog burnout and being under the weather, blogging hasn't been a priority. Between the grief of losing Skippy, my insomnia, the change in my schedule...it was inevitable that I get sick, I guess. Oh, and it's that time of month. For some reason, I tend to get sick around this time. Does the body's immune system drop or something? I keep meaning to research that. I know I tend to get cancre sores right before it starts. Oh, the joy of womanhood.

Not much is new here. I get my first full time paycheck tomorrow. Yay!! I've been given archiving responsibilies at work, so in addition to backing up the computer data, I get to file the hard copies of stuff that gets printed, too. The file room was a mess, so I've been sifting through and purging old stuff. It's horribly dusty back there.

When I got out of the shower yesterday, I looked in the mirror and the skin all over my face was dry and flaky. Ewww. I've also been scratching a lot and have noticed a couple of dry patches on my arm that aren't usually there. Since I don't have these problems in the summer when we're running our swamp cooler most of the day, it's got to be the result of the dry Colorado winter air. I do have a small vaporizer than I run when I'm sick, but it barely puts moisture in my bedroom, let alone the whole house. Plus, the dang thing is noisy! I know I need to get a humidifier to run when we kick the furnace on for the winter, but have you seen all the choices in the store? While hunting around online, I found a complete guide to buying a house humidifier. There's a page that breaks down the different types of home humidifiers as well as desirable features in a model. There is also some information on the top brands of humidifiers. If you suffer from dry skin and sore throats every winter as well, a humidifier just may be the answer—check out all the useful information at HumidifierInformation.com.