How I survived from Cold Without Chemical Medicine

So, about a week ago, I got cold. A common disease when your immune system gets weaker. The pathogen microorganism such as bacteria and virus effortlessly invade your body and deteriorating your immune system. It could be caused by stress, climate changes, menstruation (in female), seasons, and environment.

I got cold mostly every 3–5 months. I still figured out why this happened. I realized this incident when I was in senior high school. I was looking at my medical record while my family doctor was writing on that paper.

My family doctor usually prescribed me some kind of medicine such as Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID) or medicine that has a function to ease inflammation inside your body. In this case, your upper respiratory tract inflamed. Another medicine that I remembered is anti-histamine, a decongestant (a substance to prevent stuffy nose because of mucus inside your nose) which mostly mixed with NSAID in the cough syrup or tablet, and antibiotic.

Since I went to the veterinary school and learn about many kinds of medicine with its mode of actions, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, effective dose, lethal dose, resistance, and so on, I learned about antibiotics resistance that might be some of us, do not realized about it. It feels like we created monsters because we carelessly using too many antibiotics in our life.

The last time I used antibiotic because I was punching a mirror with my knuckles and it turns out that I got two stitches in my right middle finger. I never used antibiotics since that.

So, I wrote my bachelor degree thesis about herbal medicine and I interested in herbal medicine since that. Furthermore, I learned about many kinds of plants that have chemical substances that can be used as an antimicrobial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, and so on which you can find in chemical medicine from the drug's manufacturer. Although using herbal medicine is not as strong as chemical medicine, so it will take a longer time to see the effect on your body.

Image source: theherbalacademy.com

The advantages of using herbal medicine are, first, it is cheaper because you can find it anywhere and you can plant that in your backyard or if you have a little space, you can grow it on the pot. Second, it is safer than using chemical medicine, and it helps you to decrease your waste if you are on zero waste lifestyle.

There are a few steps that you can do if you got cold.

1. Drink much warm water. It will help to wash away the thick mucus that caused itch on your throat. You also can drink warm water with a mixture of tea, rosemary, thyme, lemon juice, ginger, and honey. Those components have an anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effect. Or, If you are strong enough to drink a stew of green chiretta which called ‘king of bitterness’, it will accelerate the recovery. However, if you have a problem with your kidneys, you should not drink that.
2. Eat soup with mix herbs. I made a soup that consists of any vegetables or protein sources that I found in my refrigerator like mustard greens, corn, bok choy, tofu, eggs, and chicken breast (you can skip eggs and chicken breast if you are vegan. Try to substitute them with another protein source veggies). The seasoning consists of smashed garlic, pepper, and salt. Garlic also helps you to treat your cold.
3. The thing that really difficult to do is take a rest. It’s difficult to just closed your eyes or go to sleep when you have a stuffy nose and added by an intense cough or maybe started to little bit dizzy. Well, you can use a humidifier or mint aromatherapy to lessen your stuffy nose.

Since cold is a self-limiting disease and I tried to implement zero waste lifestyle, so I sacrificed my own body by not taking any chemical medicine such as paracetamol, and so on, and I followed those 3 steps. After followed those steps, I recovered from cold within 6 days.