Thyme Plant
The thyme plant I have not too long ago discovered, has many more uses than I thought. I currently have an assortment of herbs that I overwinter in my basement of which my thyme plant is one of them.
I usually just use my thyme plant for culinary purposes which one of the usual uses is in the production of homemade chicken stock and flavoring for an assortment of dishes.
However, while I was watering my thyme plant the other day I remembered just how amazing this plant really is.
You see, about the time that the Swine flu became a concern in my area of the country (Michigan) I developed a severe upper respiratory infection. I don’t like synthetic medications and tend to let any illness I contract run its’ course. But, this particular infection was problematic.
I struggled with the infection for close to a month. It got so severe at a point that I could not sleep because I couldn’t breath and for a good portion of time was only getting around 2-3 hours of sleep per night.
This lack of sleep and breath prompted me to look into some natural ways to clear up the infection. What I discovered was something that I always had on hand….the thyme plant.
What I did was to use the thyme plant to make a thyme tea. I infused a large quantity of thyme into water. I steeped the tea for quite a while. I also draped a towel over the water while the thyme was steeping and inhaled the vapors until it was done. I then drank the thyme tea.
I did this twice on the first day of trying this remedy. I do remember that although I like the taste to thyme, that making tea with such a large quantity of thyme made the drink incredibly bitter. If I had had some honey on hand at the time I think adding some would have made the tea more tolerable.
That night was the first good night sleep I had had in quite a while. I didn’t even need to sleep sitting up.
I made the same thyme tea again the following day and the recovery was surprisingly quick. At the time I remember thinking that I was miserable for almost a month and I could have gotten over my infection much sooner and easier if I had only thought to use the thyme plant and to make some tea.
One caveat though, since the tea was so bitter tasting it took me a bit of time to start appreciating the taste of thyme again in my food. This is a small inconvenience when you consider the health benefits provided by thyme.
Also always do your research before using plants for medicinal purposes for instance thyme is also a uterine stimulant so if you are pregnant you should avoid therapeutic doses.
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