Home Remedies

My mom sent me an email recently about the AMAZING EFFECTS OF PEROXIDE!!! (It was one of those forwards that reads like an infomercial, incorporating a generous use of caps lock and exclamation points)

Like the dad's Windex obsession in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the writer claimed that your basic brown bottle of peroxide could be used in a multitude of ways--from healing foot fungus and gangrene, to cleaning your windows, to giving you soft, natural highlights (for this one they suggest a 50-50 water and peroxide mix, spritzed lightly on wet hair for several days, to avoid the over-orangey mistake our mothers made). If you're capable of overlooking the melodramatic personal testimonies, it was actually a worthwhile read.

So being slightly sickly this week, one particular tip came to mind that I figured was worth a try. The email suggested that for any sort of sinus stuff, you should spray peroxide in your nasal passages. It's supposed to bubble up and kill bacteria. Last night I eased into the experimental procedure by incorporating a little cotton swab action--not so bad. But this morning I figured I'd go balls to the walls and bust out my syringe. A careful droplet or two later, and all that my concerned roommate could get out of me through the bathroom door was, "oooaaaaahhhhh....it burrrrnnnnnsssss!!!"

It was the sort of pain where you actually have to yell to get through it. Like childbirth. The nasal equivalent of childbirth.

Turns out the exact admonition was the following (emphasis mine):

"Tilt your head back and spray into nostrils with your 50/50 mixture whenever you have a cold, or plugged sinuses. It will bubble and help to kill the bacteria. Hold for a few minutes then blow your nose into a tissue."

Well it more or less worked anyways. Time for round two...

*takes deep breath* Cue Rocky theme song.