★★★★★
- 1/4 cup of luke warm water
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegr
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon manuka honey
Initially, I tried this recipe with hot water, but it did literally absolutely nothing to help. I had been struggling with acute bronchitis and was unable to get a doctor appointment as we have a shortage of doctors and there is a 3-week wait. However, then I changed to use luke warm water, and the recipe worked!
Read below about why this recipe only works with cold or luke warm water:
My cough just got worse and worse. I tried all the over-the-counter things from the chemist, including an asthma puffer. Over the course of a week, I vomited several times from coughing. At times in the evenings these coughing spasms were so bad that I could barely breathe, and I was genuinely quite scared.
Eventually, I decided to search up about what happens at a cellular level in our body when we have these symptoms, and discovered that the wheezing sound occurs because our airways are resticted - but it is not from mucus! Rather, the airways are restricted from cytokines - in other words, this wheezing is being caused by inflammation. The airways are not restricted because they are full of mucus, but rathr because they are swollen up and inflamed!
I searched some more and discovered that studies in a lab have shown that ACV and lemon juice do help reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines, however heat kills off the ‘goodies' in the lemon juice and the ACV that enables that process to happen. So my only mistake (initially) was using hot water in this drink.
Armed with this new knowledge, I tried the recipe again but this time with tepid (25 degrees Celcius) water and viola - it worked like a charm! Within 30 minutes my cough had improved to the point that I could finally get some decent sleep for the first time in a week.
I have kept it going - having a new drink every few hours, and my cough and wheezing are both steadily improving. I have not had a coughing “spasm” since I started the drink. This is such a relief because those coughing fits were scary!
Best wishes x
