I am the type of person who rarely gets sick. I pride myself on the fact that I usually come down with a 48-hour cold once a year and that does it for my annual illness quota.
About every five years I get a vicious sore throat, which makes me stop in my tracks for a week. I consider myself lucky in this regard and credit a holistic and preventative daily regimen of vitamins and a good diet for my average overall sense of well-being.
Recently, I came down with a severe case of something viral that was threatening to take me down. The first day on the couch I knew if I didn’t do something about it, I would be out for five days. Not being able to afford that, I called a friend for advice and she recommended I find something called Oreganol drops.
A trip to Rite AID and the grocery store produced nothing, except a confirmation to me that something was definitely going around in the desert as seen in the sandwich board signs at the door greeting customers that said: “Whooping cough vaccinations now available in the desert!”
I have never been a vaccination girl. I get a flu shot and one hour later I will have the full-blown flu. I try to stay away from antibiotics even, feeling like most viral loads are meant to flow through and flush out of the body at a normal pace, and that we are well equipped without the introduction of chemicals to rid ourselves of most basic annual bugs.
I finally found the drops at Clark’s Health Food Store along with a bag of organic lemons and a jar of organic salt with pretty un-dyed, natural pink flecks. Two drops of the oreganol drops under the tongue every two hours, half a lemon squeezed in water alternated with hot tea every hour and gargling with warm organic salt water every chance I could get had me better overnight.
I always forget we have a Clark’s in our midst until I get sick and need some exotic element suggested by a friend. I am going to try to remember to go there more often to pick up everyday items that keep me well in the interim.