SALT
That’s it, in a nutshell; Salt on your sore throat as early as possible can cure your cold.
To many it has been no secret that gargling, deeply, as early and frequently as possible, with the onset of a cold can circumvent, or truncate, the impact and duration of a cold. Doctors will tell you that salt and water is more effective than a commercial mouthwash but, to many, unscrewing a lid and pouring out Listerine, for example, is more convenient than stirring up some salt and water in a glass.
The challenge with this treatment, for me, has always been the necessary ritual of interrupting work, or even TV, to go to the bathroom to gargle as frequently as I’d like, in order to wage war successfully against the cold’s bacterial assault.
So, when a tickle in my throat grew sore and threatened to become a heavy cold right at Christmas this year, I tried something new. I poured some salt into a saucer and put it by my work station. (Later that night I would move the saucer beside the couch from which my TV is viewed.)
The sore part of my throat was on the right side, this time, so performing this treatment was, at least, slightly more dextrous than if it had been performed with my non-dominant hand.
I wetted and dipped the tip of my center finger into the salt dish, reached the salt covered digit deep into my throat, and applied the substance directly and repeatedly onto the sore spot. This didn’t initially even burn very much. Notwithstanding the original soreness spread, overnight, from where it had originated in my throat to my right sinus. Swallowing even hurt my right ear which suggested to me that the cold could become a bad one.
Applying the salt again, in the same manner, to the newly sore sinus opening at the back of my throat, burned somewhat this time, but it felt like it was doing something effective so I persisted until I felt that my salty barrage was enough.
The soreness at this sinus opening didn’t diminish with these second day salt applications and I can’t suggest a specific dosage other than to use your own discretion with regards to when enough is enough. When I felt that I had repeated the application sufficient times I stopped. Overuse could conceivably cause, more than cure, inflammation and damage from salt could conceivably be long-term.
That night was Christmas Eve, the night when we usually enjoy Christmas dinner at a nice restaurant. Throughout the day I had no appetite, due this burgeoning cold, and was concerned about being able to eat dinner. I need not have worried; I was able to consume a large, and satisfying, portion without difficulty. By the end of the next, Christmas, day the cold had disappeared entirely. The salt had shut down the cold’s bacteria factory in my throat.
This is a single anecdote of an ungainly and uninvestigated treatment. But it could spare you, and others, from the day-and-night runny nose, pain, coughing, difficulty breathing, watery eyes and, in general the whole miserable, fugue-like ague that could take up to 6 weeks to disappear.
* Note: Edgar Cayce prescribed the use of various salts for a great number of physical maladies including Carlsbad Salts, Caroid Bile Salts, Eno Salts, and Epsom Salts. According to Cayce there are sixteen mineral salts in the human system. He also dealt with colds in 279 readings each of which were personalized and significantly varied in cause and treatment. None of his treatments for the common cold involved the use of salt. As the father of holistic healing he often went to even more primary causes such as lack of systemic alkalinity.
Edgar Cayce’s Encyclopedia of Healing
~ Gesundheit! ~
