It'll cure what ails you?

Since arriving in Shimla four weeks ago, I’ve been plagued by a bad chest cold. I started off by having allergies, thanks to the amount of dust and mildew in our hotel room. This was resolved by buying our own pillows, sheets, and blankets – because who knows how old and unwashed (and therefore full of dust mites) the hotel’s pillows and polyester blanket were? But then I developed a hacking cough that had nothing to do with my allergies, which was sometimes accompanied by a runny nose and muscle aches. On top of which, I’ve been absolutely fatigued. Waking up in the morning is a chore, and I often feel drained throughout the day.

Perhaps my allergies had lowered my immunity, and perhaps the high altitude has prevented me from healing as quickly as I normally should. Either way, Danny decided it was high time I saw someone about it. There is an ayurvedic clinic up at Jakhu temple, and when we were there this past weekend, we stopped in. I explained my symptoms to Dr. Seth, and she looked at my throat and my nose and listened to my chest. She determined that my illness was not related to my lungs, as they sounded fine, but instead, it was something wrong with my throat.

I received a battery of medicine: a handful of red capsules, wrapped in newspaper; an herbal cough syrup, to be taken with hot water; nose drops; and a mysterious powder in an unlabeled bottle, to be mixed with honey and hot water. I’m not exactly sure what everything does, but they were all free! Dr. Seth said there was no charge. In fact, the bottles say, “H.P. [Himachal Pradesh] Govt supply. Not for resale.” So my guess is that the clinic is government-funded.

The pills go down easy, and the cough syrup isn’t too terrible, though I don’t look forward to drinking it. The powder is spicy, like it’s full of cloves and ginger, and I actually think it’s just a kind of chai (everyone here seems to think chai is a cure-all, so why not?). The nose drops are the worst, mostly because I hate the way the herbal tincture runs down the back of my throat and leaves me feeling kind of itchy there. In fact, I’ve given up on them, since I feel like the drops aren’t helping. I want to believe that these herbal remedies will make me better, but I still have the cough and I still don’t feel great.

We’ll be stopping in again, since Danny wants to ask Dr. Seth some questions for his research. She said she wants to give me something to boost my immunity. I’m definitely interested to find out what new herbal remedy I’ll be adding to pile – and if they’ll even work.