Curing Laryngitis: Silence & Steam; Garlic & Ginger

Feeling sorry for myself, I posted this on Facebook last night.

Cures for laryngitis, please.

The advice poured in.  It fell into a few categories.

Quite a few recommended silence, no talking, not even whispering, that apparently makes it worse.

Many suggested hot tea. With honey.  Nettle tea. Throat coat herbal tea. Chamomile tea. Hot lemon and honey.

Garlic. Ok, I love garlic in cooking. Chomping it raw or steaming it into tea I can’t do.  Next idea.

Sucking ice.   Gargling with salt water.

Alcohol seemed prevalent, whether whiskey, vodka or bourbon. One friend admitted that she gave her daughter a swig mixed with honey one morning when she was in middle school. Turns out she bragged to all the other kids that her mom let her drink bourbon.

Chewing ginger. Better than garlic.  I found some sugar-coated crystallized in the cupboard. Had to stop myself from eating too many or my laryngitis would turn into a cavity.

Of course, chicken soup.  (I made some.)

And time.  Especially if I don’t talk.  That’s the hardest part.

One friend offered shopping. Hey, don’t need an excuse for that!

My piano tuner and his wife came this morning. They had ideas on how to cure my voice based on old-fashioned, non-medical, non-drug methods they’d learned growing up in Russia. As Gregory tinkered with the piano keys, Yelena,  an artist turned my kitchen counter into a laboratory.  She poured boiling water into a bowl, tossed in some baking soda and had me lean over the bowl and inhale through my mouth as I covered my head and face in a towel.  She turned the tap on high, soaked a towel in the hot water, wrung it out and applied it to my chest.

I’m feeling a bit better and that steaming provides a perfect at home facial!

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