Happy New Year!  I hope your holidays were everything you hoped for 🙂  How crazy is it that we are into 2018?  One can only imagine what kind of shit show this year has in store, hahaha!

Our Christmas went off without a hitch, except for a wee set back.  The cold and flu have been sweeping through our house since Christmas Eve; enough already!  Poor Mairead has been battling the brunt of it, with Aaron and I trailing exhaustively behind her.  I am convinced that when the human race is wiped from this earth it will single-handedly be from respiratory failure!  It seems that with each cold and flu we get, it becomes harder and harder to breathe.  Unfortunately, there are a few high fevers thrown into the mix as well.

Whilst I am not a doctor or a nurse, I do have a few tricks up my sleeve (mostly in the form of essential oils) when it comes to cold and flu season.  One remedy that has been coming into the shower with me the last few days are my cold and flu eucalyptus shower melts.

I’m glad that the first time I made these I tried one out while I was still in good health and still had my sense of smell, otherwise I would have thought that they weren’t doing their job.  But after a couple minutes of a hot steamy shower and strong aroma of eucalyptus oils, I was breathing better in no time.  I’ve been known to carry a little bottle of eucalyptus oil and use it like a puffer, giving a little sniff when I’m feeling stuffed up as well.  Eucalyptus oil works by dilating the blood vessels and allowing more oxygen into the lungs.  Not just for the sick, this works for asthma suffers and other respiratory issues as well.  Give it a try, it can’t hurt 😉  It has certainly helped me a lot in the last week.  Cheers to your health!

Cold & Flu Eucalyptus Shower Melts

Ingredients

1 cup baking soda
1/3 cup water
Eucalyptus essential oil

What to do

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine baking soda and water.  Mix until fully blended and no lumps remain.

Spoon mixture into an oven-safe mold (ex: silicone mold, lined muffin tin — you will certainly want to use liners if going this route, etc.).

Bake for 15-20 minutes, remove from oven and allow to cool.

Once cooled, drop 10 drops of eucalyptus oil on each disc and store in a cool dry place until ready for use.

To use: place a shower melt on the floor of the shower, away from the stream of water and inhale while showering to ease symptoms of the cold and flu.  Feel better soon!

By Three Happy Folk