Take Vicks, two Hershey bars and call me in the morning

I really can’t stand being sick. Of course, no one can, except hypochondriacs.

Usually, I manage to avoid most illnesses, especially those of that are “going around.” I thought I’d dodged it again this year, but as winter presented its epilogue before the beginning of spring I came down with what turned out to be a bronchial infection. I just was glad it wasn’t the flu or the dreaded norovirus, or, as I call it, the Chuck Norovirus because it knocks the ... snot out of you.

Coughing is one of the things I dislike the most, and that seemed to be the dominant symptom. I coughed high, I coughed low, I coughed and coughed and coughed. I sounded like the tubercular Doc Holliday. I coughed until my abdomen was sore. However, it still didn’t improve my abs, darn it.

My sinuses swung between being blocked and draining. My throat was scratchy. My energy drained. I felt as if I’d been beaten severely about the head and chest by those little green critters from the Mucinex commercials.

Ultimately, I sought medical attention, getting an antibiotic and some cough medicine that must be good because it tastes so bad. Mentioning my plight on Facebook also brought advice and suggestions for dealing with it.

One of the more unusual ones involved Vicks salve and socks. You’re supposed to put Vicks on your feet, then put on socks and sleep in them. Several people pointed this out and said it worked for them, that it had cleared up their systems. So, Kim bought some Vicks and I followed the instructions.

I rubbed Vicks all over my feet, put on a pair of socks and went to bed, after washing my hands. It’s been a while since I’ve used Vicks, and when I washed it from my hands in warm water I was reminded of what an aromatic vapor that combination creates. That helped my sinuses a bit.

Then, I went to bed. My feet actually felt tingly. The next morning, while I still wasn’t cleared up, I did feel better. My head was clear, I didn’t recall coughing during the night, I actually felt pretty good.

Now, I’m not sure how Vicks and socks on your feet are supposed to help coughing plus chest and sinus suggestion, but it sure seemed to help. So, thanks to those who offered the suggestion.

Another suggestion came from Linda Masters. I’m not sure what we’d do without Linda here at Sixth and Hickory. She feeds us, helps keep us straight and is an all-around den mother for us. Anyway, Linda passed along some information from a pharmacist friend.

It seems that dark chocolate contains a substance that serves as a cough suppressant. Still having a cough after returning to work, I jumped at this idea. Hey, if Vicks and socks worked, who am I to question the use of dark chocolate as a cough medication. I got a box of Hershey’s dark chocolate bars (darn, that’s the only way the store had them), and ate one, strictly for medicinal purposes.

Odd as it may sound, I didn’t cough the rest of the afternoon. It actually was several hours before I started coughing again. Fortunately, I had an additional Hershey dark chocolate bar for medicinal use.

I know the antibiotic certainly helped, but these homemade remedies surely proved themselves, too. Sometimes, home remedies turn out to be as good as or better than even medical ones. Kim had made chicken soup, too, and that had wonderful healing properties as well.

It’s great to be back up and running ... well, in motion. Running never has been near the top of my priority lists. Thanks for the suggestions. Now, if someone out there can find a medicinal use for chicken wings ...