The Vicks remedy

Even though it was my birthday week, we weren't really in the right mood for celebrating. CH was feeling under the weather while I was down with fever and a terrible cough. It got so bad that I woke up every hour to cough until my tummy ached and face turned blue.

The antibiotics and cough medicine only made me weak and groggy. In the wee hours of the night, I stumbled around the house making hot honey water, looking for lozenges, Manuka honey, cough syrup and whisky. Yes, in my state of desperation, I drank whisky because it provides temporary relief. In fact, I might even consider drinking urine if it helps to make the cough go away!

To make matters worse, I had completely no appetite and had lost my voice and sense of smell. I could go on all day without food and not feel hungry. For dinner, I could only muster enough strength to cook fish soup with tofu. Poor SK and CH had to eat the same bland food all week.

Strangely the solution came on Sunday night in the form of a $4 jar of Vicks Vapourub. While googling for a remedy for night coughs, I came across a simple solution that seemed to have worked for many people. All I had to do was to rub Vicks oilment on the soles of my feet, pull on a pair of socks and go to bed.

That evening,  I was coughing so badly that I threw up over the sink. That was when I decided to get a jar of Vicks. I slathered the ointment on my chest and soles of my feet and went to bed looking quite ridiculous in a pair of Christmas socks.

The first hour was bad. My sleep was constantly interrupted by vigorous coughing. Then slowly, as the ointment took effect, I fell into deep sleep and slept through the night. I got up once to cough and  slap on more ointment. That was it. I woke up feeling better the next day. Even the sniffles was gone.

The same trick worked for me again last night. Finally I'm on the road to recovery. From now on, I'll keep a jar of Vicks by my bedside in case anything like this happens to me again.