Episode 47: Home Remedies

What do you do when you start feeling sick? In this episode, Donielle and Khrystyna discuss home remedies, family traditions, and common treatments for everyday ailments. They compare experiences from different cultures, explore why some remedies become so popular, and share plenty of stories and opinions along the way. It's a fun and engaging conversation filled with useful vocabulary and cultural insights for English learners. 

Show Notes  

Transcript

D       Welcome to Coffee and Conversation for ESL Listening. I'm Donielle. 

K       And I'm Khrystyna, so grab a cup and join the conversation. 

D       Hey, hey, hey. New greeting. Hey, hey, hey. I feel like I'm always "Hello." "How are you?" So, hey, hey, hey. How are you? 

K       Today is hey, hey, hey. Yes. I'm doing okay, It's just, if we should tell our listeners the funny story of how many times we rescheduled recording for this episode. So I'm glad we finally doing this. 

D       Yeah. You know, between technical difficulties and scheduling issues- and people getting sick, it's like eventually- We got it. We got it. We're here. 

K       We're here. Yes. 

D       Any new business? Do you have anything interesting to report? Anything going on in your life that's fun? 

K       Oh, I feel like the last couple weeks were just nonstop, but this is the time for, end of school year- end of semester. There's graduation in [a] couple days, and for the college I work at, and I don't know if I told you this, but every year I read the names of the graduates.

D       Oh, I did not know that!

K       Oh yes, I do that. I've been doing this for at least three, four years now. 

D       Oh, my goodness ... 

K       So, yeah. And it all started with me reading names, for our students, right? Because everybody is afraid to read names for people from other countries. 

D       Yeah. 

K       And the funny thing is that I feel like for me it's easier to read names for people from other countries than it is to read American names.

D       Mm. Okay. 

K       Cause usually, people from other countries, the name is spelled, the way you say it. 

D       Yeah, kinda. 

K       For the most part. And American names, when you have all those O-U-G-H and- all that stuff. I don't know. So it started with me just reading names for our students from our department, and it kinda grew- into now I... there's two readers, and we split it half and half. 

D       Oh, do you have to, practice, look up the pronunciations or something? 

K       I do. I look through the list to make sure I can, I know how to pronounce the names. So it's kind of funny because people will spell it out and do the phonetic spelling, and it's pretty funny.

D       Well it’s helpful, you know.

K       No. It's fun. the only thing that I don't enjoy about this is that when our students come through, I can't give them a hug. 

D       Oh, yeah. 

K       'Cause I have to, I have to keep the line going. 

D       Exactly. 

K       So I can't just stop and give them hug and come back. So, but what's going on with you? Any new developments in your world? 

D       In my world, no. Same old thing. learning to play Mahjong, and I've been really getting into that. That's been fun. 

K       Yeah, that’s right. You’re doing that.

D       I’m kind of hooked. It’s bad. But anyway. Could be doing a lot worse things with my time, I suppose.

K       Oh my gosh. No, that's fun. You know what? It's always cool to lear- learn a new hobby or something new. I think it's nice. 

D       And you know me with games, so. 

K       Oh, yes, I do. I still remember when you lived here in town and you had a game room just full of games. And it's like we kinda remember every once in a while we're like, "Do you remember that game room in Donielle's house?"

D       Yeah. Well, now I have a game closet that's just jam-packed 'cause I don't have an extra room, sadly. Yeah. Anyway, okay. All right. Well, let's get to our topic today. We're talking about home remedies. I think every culture, every country, they've got unique ways of, handling a certain medical problem or-we're not talking about something major. And by the way, just as a disclaimer, we are not giving any medical advice today. 

K       No, no. Some of these home remedies that we'll be talking about are not tried and true, so... please do not try this at home, as they say. 

D       Try at your own risk. Oh my goodness. But anyway, did you ever see that movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding?

K       Oh, yes. Of course. 

D       And I was thinking about that movie the other day, and that's what made me think about this topic. The father in that movie, whenever somebody was sick or had a problem, an ailment, he's like, "Put some Windex on it." And just to be clear, Windex is this glass cleaner - it's supposed to be for cleaning glass. It's not for the human body. 

K       Chemicals to clean, yeah. Yes. Yeah. No. Nobody should be using Windex for any sort of health- 

D       No ... please don't. Geez. But I thought about that. And I thought about how a lot of cultures... 'Cause, you know, I know people from Mexico and- Mm-hmm ... well, I know people from a lot of places. My husband's from India. And so I hear a lot of different home remedies or things they swear by, that I'm like, "What?" 

K       Well, and you know, so the funny thing is it's something about, American culture where home remedies are not as prevalent. 

D       No. 

K       But I mean, I grew up in a culture where home remedies is pretty much all you do until you're about to die. And then you go to a doctor. But a lot of, the times it's the home remedies. And then as I'm talking to, you know, people that I know here, and students, and from other countries, yes, home remedies is where you default to, right? That's the first thing you go to before you take actual medication. And a lot of the people I talk to, they would say like, "Oh, I don't like to take medicine. I don't wanna take pills. I don't want..." "Try this," or, "I'll try that." Yeah. I feel like a lot of other countries and cultures around the world, they're just rich in the resources for home remedies. But here, not so much. In fact, any time…I remember when I just moved here, you know, my husband, "Oh, this hurts," or whatever, I would suggest a home remedy. He would kind of like make fun of me for that. 

I'm like, "Come on, man." We'll go into it deeper, but, one of the things I always, the first thing I went to when, I had upset stomach or something: mint. We always have either the mint tea... or put, a mint essence in a little water and take a, like a shot of that. So after a while, he, every time I would say my stomach hurts, he's like "Well, do you want some mint?" I'm like, "Come on." How about some mint? So yeah. Yeah. it's interesting. And it's really interesting though, as I talk to people to see if the home remedies for some sort of health issues, are they the same or different.

D       Yeah. I think there's definitely some crossover. And now some of them I'm like, have no idea. But for some of them I feel like they make sense and- 

scientifically you can sort of see. But we'll get into more of that later. Well, what is something that would that you would say ... Okay, obviously you said about the mint before. But what is something that you would say is your number one go-to for a home remedy, let's say if you just ... Maybe you have a cold? How about that?

K       If I have a cold? have become Amer- Americanized a little here.

D       Uh-oh. 

K       No, actually, lemon tea with honey. 

D       You know what? Same. 

K       Usually the first thing, when you feel stuffy and achy and, just blah. 

I don’t know how you put that in show notes. Blah. Yeah. So, for some reason hot tea, just the regular, hot black tea with honey and lemon. I don't know, it's comforting and it, clears out your nose, it makes your throat feel better. So I always ... That's my first thing. What about you? 

D       Again, I think that really makes sense because first of all, the warmth of the tea, and then the honey is… antibacterial property, which we can talk about that a lot, 'cause I think I use that for a lot of things. Antibacterial properties that honey has. Yeah. So you're doing that. Lemon is acidic, so it's cutting through maybe some of the mucus. 

K       Vitamin C. 

D       And vitamin C. So, it sounds maybe kinda silly, but I don't really think it is. I think it totally makes sense. 

K       Absolutely. 

D       And you can't, forget about the comforting part of it too, 'cause that's definitely something, Yeah. You know sometimes when I'm sick, like well, I used to have this; I don’t have it anymore because it broke, but for years I had a mug that I always used specifically for when I was sick. ‘Cause it was cute. It had Yogi Bear on it. And it was this ... It was super cute. And so it was like, "I'm sick. I need my sick mug." 

K       I was gonna ask you, do you call it sick mug?

D       Sure did. Yeah. 

K       You know what? The thing is ... So here's another thing. one of my coworkers here is from Democratic Republic of Congo, and I know when she's not feeling well- with, cold or something like that. When I see her in the kitchen in here making hot water with lemon and honey. She doesn't necessarily use tea, but she will warm up water and then will put like honey and lemon in it. 

D       Yeah. 

K       So I was like, okay, so this might be universal thing because I also know somebody from Japan, they make like lemon tea, but they also put ginger, root in it. And I know a lot of countries do that too, like ginger for like cold, flu, or stomach issues. 

D       Yeah, stomach too, yeah. and I think really natural things have so many powerful properties that- and, like you said, our culture we're all about, oh, let's go grab a pill. Let's get a prescription. Or I don't know why 'cause our prescriptions are so much money here. Anyway, I'm with a lot of them that I like to go a natural route before I break down… 

K       Yeah, absolutely. 

D       So now for me, I don't really get colds that much, but what I get are the sinus infections, as you remember. 

K       Ugh, those are the worst. 

D       Ugh. And I don't really know. It doesn't, to me it doesn't really feel any different than a very terrible cold. But apparently that's what I get. And when I have just the beginning feeling, like just a little... Sometimes I'll just sneeze a certain way and I know that it's coming. I'm like, "Oh, shoot, here we go." I load up on the vitamin C. I do, like, all kinds of vitamin blasts. I don't know if any of this stuff helps me, but... Oh, and the other thing is, you know, this, when I go to travel, I always get sick. 

K       You do for some reason. Gosh.  

D       I do. Get the stupid sinus infection. So what I really started doing is trying to be proactive, and nowadays they have these infusion things. Oh, I did that before I went to my Italy trip. 

K       And did it help? 

D       It did. I also bought another vitamin blast kind of thing to take. You mix it with your water or something and just take it. It was for jet lag and other things too. And I don't know, it could be a placebo, 

K       Well, that's a good word. 

D       Yeah. So a placebo, if you don't know, is it's not really anything in there- but you think that it's working, so your mind, in your mind it does actually work. Right. And in reality it helps you too. Right. So anyway, I don't know if it's a placebo or what it was, but it helped me.

K       Oh, good. Well, you know what? As long as it helps, so why not? 

D       I'll take it either way. 

K       Yeah. I'll tell you though, like, I started taking, several years ago, I started taking elderberry vitamins. 

D       Yeah, I've heard about that. 

K       Yeah, they’re really high in vitamin C and they help, keep your immune system…So I don't know. I mean, does it help? Maybe, maybe not, but... I think it does. Does it? Yeah. 'Cause don't get sick as much, but who knows?

D       Can't hurt, right? Oh, yeah- Yeah ... those sinus infections, man, they used to be so bad for me when I was in Illinois especially. Now that I've, I'm living here in Alabama I don't really have that problem so much anymore, but I used to get them so terribly. And, oh, the other part of it is I'm very sensitive to medication. So I would take medication for it, and I would just be, like, out of it completely, Just I was drugged literally. And I remember being very sick and my dear friend was there to take care of me and she was from Mexico - She is from Mexico - And she would always be giving me her home remedy ideas that her parents always did for her when she was a kid. And she was kinda like the “put the Windex on it” guy. She’s the “put the Vicks on it”…The Vicks VapoRub, right? 

And so she's like, "Put it on your feet." I'm like, "My feet? That makes no sense." And I was so out of it 'cause I had taken some other medication, and I was just like really loopy and ugh. And so I was like, I can’t, I can’t. And she's so sweet. She rubbed the Vicks on my feet. 

K       But you know…so this is funny, like when I talk about cultures having similar remedies. When we were kids and we would have either like a cold or the cough that comes with, all that congestion, my parents would rub Vicks like on our chest and on the bottom of our feet, too.

D       Oh, well, you know what? So that reminds me of something. just thought of this right now. One of the home remedies that I've heard about that supposedly a lot of people swear by is if you have a headache, to soak your feet in hot water, like as hot as you can stand. Cause it like draws the blood to your feet. And you know how like Vicks is kind of warming? 

K       I wonder. 

D       Well, it's warming- Yeah ... but cooling, too. It is kinda one of those weird things. But maybe it has something to do with that, it's drawing…yeah

K       Blood flow 

D       Yeah. So maybe. 

K       Yeah, it could be. It could very well be. Do you remember any home remedies that your parents used that you absolutely hated? 

D       Oh. Ha! Phew. I don’t know if this is really a home remedy, but I'm gonna include it just because it's, I don't know, it's kinda funny. So there was this product, and my grandmother was all about it. If I had a scrape ever, I wouldn't even wanna tell her, because she was like, "Let's get the Merthiolate." And if you've never heard of that, that's probably not surprising, because it contains mercury ... and it has since been banned. But yeah. It was this bright pink liquid. It would stain your skin bright pink. But the worst part about it was it burned so bad. I mean, I would be literally wanting to scream in pain. I was like, "I... The scrape wasn't even as bad as this." But she's like- ... "No, we gotta put the Merthiolate on it. We gotta do it." 

K       Oh my gosh. That's crazy. 

D       Yeah. The other thing that she'd do, like, if I had sunburn or something, she grew an aloe [vera] plant, and she was always like, "Okay, take off a piece of the aloe," and she'd cut it open and rub it all over my, burned spot. 

K       Do you know that in some countries they use apple cider vinegar for  sunburns? 

D       Okay, that just sounds mean. That sounds painful. 

K       I know. But they say that, that alkaline or whatever that's in vinegar is what helps to reduce that burning feeling actually. 

D       Hmm. I don't think I'm gonna be trying that. 

K       Yeah. So I have a story about aloe vera. My mom was a big fan of aloe vera, and we always had one or two plants in the house of aloe vera, as a houseplant. And she would make this concoction. 

D       Oh no! And you had to drink it. 

K       Aloe vera juice, like that gel that you would scrape off, and honey.

D       And it's so slimy.

K       Oh, gosh, it's horrible - And honey, I think. And she would mix it together, and we'd have to sit, kinda brew there, whatever, the whole thing. And if we ever had, sore throat or strep or something like that, we would have to, have a spoonful of that at least three times a day. And I absolutely hated it because it was so bitter. You know, aloe vera is very bitter when you 

D       I never drank the juice.

K       You never tasted it? ... 

D       No. 

K       It's not even, purified or anything. It's that kinda gel juice. It's very bitter. Even with honey, it did not help. But that was her number one to-go [go to] remedy any time we had a sore throat, and I was just dreading that. 

D       Did it help? 

K       Who knows? I don't know. 

D       You're like, "I feel fine. I'm great." 

K       Yeah. But I was like, "Oh, give me some warm tea or something, or I'll take turmeric, whatever."

D       Oh, yeah, turmeric's another big one. 

K       Yes. 

D       Well, before I get into turmeric, my husband's from India, and he's always got something, like, whenever I have some kind of issue, he's like, "Oh, drink this, drink that." One of them is, turmeric with milk or something. I have not had the nerve to do that. No, I don't like milk to begin with. And turmeric is so strong. It tastes great in food, but I don't wanna be taking it as medicine. But it's got antioxidant... Not antioxidant, anti-inflammatory- properties. I know, if I have sore throat or...No if I have a cough, he wants me to suck on a clove, a literal clove. 

K       Oh, yes. Yeah, I can see that. 

D       And if I have a sore throat, he's like "Gargle with saltwater." And I'm like, "Ugh." But it does work ... 

K       That’s another one that we used to do when we were kids. Saltwater, and you gargle it, so it's supposed to help to kind of clear it out and help with that.

D       I think it does. 

K       But I know that a lot of cultures use turmeric for digestive issues and stomach problems and all that. They say that it's really good for that. 

D       Could be because I've heard it's good for a lot of things. Now you can buy pills. They're just capsules, and it's got turmeric in it. And of course it's 100 times more expensive than if you just bought a bag of turmeric.  

K       Right, make your own. 

D       But that's the thing is to try to, take the dry turmeric, it doesn't work very well 'cause it's so dry it'll get stuck in your throat. You have to, put it in a capsule or maybe mix it with the milk or something. Ugh, yuck. That's not happening. 

K       But, speaking about spices like turmeric that also a lot of people use, so I know that people use a cinnamon and honey mixture, if you have a cold, to treat acold too.

Yeah. But that's actually... That sounds good, doesn't it? 

D       It does.

K       Cause honey and cinnamon, I mean, yum. 

D       You know- ... get a sweet roll. 

K       I know. 

D       Throw that on a sweet roll, then you're good. 

K       Oh, delicious. who cares about a cold when you can have such good food? Yeah. 

D       Pastry, yeah. 

K       Yeah, I know. It's interesting. Very interesting. So what would be your, like, when you had cough, 'Cause sometimes, eeither it's cold or just get this cough that's kinda dry and you try to deal with that, Any remedies that your family used or uses or...? 

D       No, kinda like what I said before, we as a culture we just don't rely on the home remedies as much as many other cultures. We had those few things, especially, the older people, like my grandparents. They had all kinds of who knows what. But, for a cough, particularly, no I can't think of anything. Just some cough medicines.

K       We've had a list of things.

D       Yeah? Let's hear it. 

K       So my favorite one actually that I like the way it tasted, again, it involves honey. Everything involves honey. My mom would buy this…it’s called Spanish radish. It's like black radish. It's black on the outside, but it's white on the inside. So she would scrape it out and make a well, and then she would pour honey in it. And it would have to sit for, at least two to three days. 

D       Oh my gosh. 

K       So it's always, something she always had in the fridge. 

D       I was gonna say 'cause by the time you know you've got a sore throat, now you gotta wait three days for it?

K       Well, no. It's like, "I made this radish. You're gonna have [a] sore throat tomorrow, so." Yeah. No. Well, this was for cough, right? So she would always kinda have it in the fridge just in case because the more it sits and steeps with that radish thing, the better it is. And you would think it's a really weird combination, right?

D       It is a little weird. 

K       Radish has a very specific kinda taste to it. Mm-hmm. But it actually tasted really good. So she would give us a spoonful a few times a day. And that supposedly helps to reduce or cure cough. I thought that was really good. That was one of my favorite home remedies.

The other thing is something that you would not like, was milk, right? So if we had [a] cough. I remember it would be hot milk, it would have to be hot milk, that would have honey and butter in it. And now luckily it was hot milk, right? So the butter melts and you don’t taste… But, ugh, I did not like milk when I was a kid.

D       Really? 

K       I started liking milk when I'd gotten older. 

D       I never did. 

K       But when I was a kid, I had to be literally held down and poured milk into my throat because I would not drink milk. It was horrible. I did not like milk.

D       Oh, yeah, I was like that. I hated milk so much. And my parents forced me to drink one glass of milk a day, and it was like torture. Even the honey wasn't gonna save that. 

K       Nope. 

D       But talking about honey, now this is another thing that I think has real science or backing behind it or something, I don't know. Manuka honey. 

K       Oh, yes. 

D       You know, I've been hearing about that more and more lately, and I guess it's only from New Zealand. You have to get it from there. If it's not from there, it's not Manuka honey. But it's got... it's so much richer in all of those properties. Those good, beneficial properties that's in honey, it explodes with them. But it's crazy expensive.

K       Yes, it is. 

D       But I'll tell you my story. So before I realized that I had a gallbladder that was rotting in my body, I thought I just had some kind of a weird stomach issue. And I would wake up in the middle of the night and this burning, sharp, stabbing pain in my stomach. And I couldn't sleep, right? And so I'd get up in the morn- and I'd get up- middle, and what do you do? You go to the internet, and you're like, How to resolve this problem, right? And so I read for the first time green tea and Manuka honey. And I was like, whatever, man, I'm, desperate. And for whatever reason, I happened to have Manuka honey 'cause I'd bought it for some other purpose. And I was like, well, let's go. And so I made myself a cup of green tea, and I put the Manuka honey in it, and literally it's just stabbing my, upper abdomen, right? I drank it, and literally 20 minutes later I could feel it was gone.

K       Really? 

D       Yeah. And so I did that multiple times, but then there was a time came that it just did not help. Nothing helped anymore. And that's when I went to the emergency room and discovered that it was way beyond the help of Manuka honey. 

K       But isn't Manuka honey, do they only grow it in Australia? Is that right? 

D       I thought it was New Zealand. 

K       Oh, maybe New Zealand. New Ze- you're right. I think you're right. Yeah. So here's the funny thing about honey that I thought was so unusual here. My son had this kind of, like, allergy/virus symptoms, right? It wasn't anything. And so I took him to the doctor because, you always wanna make sure, especially with kids, test him. Is it strep? Is it flu? Is it- Yeah ... whatever. COVID nowadays too. So they tested him for everything. They said, no, it could be just allergies or a virus. And here's what the doctor told us: I would stay away from those flu, cold medicine. Just give him honey a few times a day, a spoonful of honey just to eat. But make sure it's a local honey. Yeah. Because local honey is, has, like, all the flowers that the bees get it from have, the allergens, which your body's already trying to figure out. So we found local honey at the store. So here's the funny thing. I don't know if I ever told you. I do not like the taste of honey. 

D       Oh. What?

K       Right? I never, liked the... I'm sorry. It smells like dirty socks to me, and it's... I don't know why. 

D       Okay. That's a new one .

K       I just, I don't like the smell or taste of honey. However, we found this local, just the local farm here they make and sell honey, and I tried a little bit of it, and it probably was the best-tasting honey I've ever had in my life. So I think I'm turning into a, somewhat becoming a lukewarm fan of honey now. But anyway- 

D       It happens, though, because people's tastes change over the years. There are things that I used to eat that I would, I wanna gag thinking about now- Yeah ... like mayonnaise. I used to load my sandwiches up with mayonnaise. Now I'm like, if there's just the slightest bit of it, I'm like, "Ugh." 

K       I like mayonnaise. 

D       I know. I used to love it. I used to love it, and I'm, now I'm just like, "Oh." 

K       But that honey was delicious, and we all loved it. I had to go buy another bottle 'cause we all ate it. But the thing is that the fact that the doctor…

D       Yeah, that's unusual

K       …recommended, some sort of a natural remedy rather than telling me, "Hey, go buy pills for him," or, "Go get, you know, some sort of medication," I thought that was very unusual. 

D       Yeah, that is. One more honey story though, just because I think it’s...

K       Yes, I know the time is… 

D       Oh my gosh, I know. But so talking about honey and how it's got antibacterial properties, and this is true. Now, I remember I was on a cruise last year with our group, and one of the ladies was telling me she had some kind of an ear infection. She gets an ear infection all the time. And ... Oh, this isn’t even honey, what am I saying? Garlic. Oh. Garlic also has- 

K       That's another one. 

D       Yes. Garlic is anti ... Yeah. Yeah. Okay, I'm getting myself confused. So anyway, we're on this cruise, and she had this ear infection. I guess it's a recurring problem that she has. Okay, you're on a cruise, and there's no, no doctors easily available. You don't have a lot of, things that you can buy, so she was kinda limited. And I said, "Well, you know, I heard that garlic has antibacterial properties." I said, "Ha ha ha, maybe you could put some garlic in your ear." So she's like, "Yeah, you know, that's a great idea." So I said, "Yeah, you know, ask the waiter to bring you some Some roasted garlic. So she did. She asked the guy, and they come with this platter of roasted Garlic ... And I was like, "Oh, my God, she just wanted one." But anyway, she put it in her ear. I think it helped. 

K       Did it work? 

D       I think so. 

K       You know, speaking about garlic, I know that my grandma...I know we're coming up on time in here… but my grandma always ate garlic, and we always had to eat garlic, whatever, because it's good for your memory, right? It helps your brain. 

D       Oh, okay. 

K       Yep.I  remember when my grandma was older, she would even take, like, a little garlic supplement. Because it's supposed to help. But garlic, speaking about garlic and pain and infections, when we would have a toothache when we were kids, my aunt would always tell us, "Put a little garlic on that tooth," and it would help to take the pain away. So I thought that was interesting, too.

D       Yeah. They also use cloves for that same thing.

K       Absolutely. So I have one last thing before we go. Burns, like when- Okay ... you get burned. I lear- And it actually works. Again, try it at home, try it your own risk, but it does work. Lavender oil. And since I bake and cook and all that, I burn myself quite a bit. So if you burn, as soon as possible, put a little bit of lavender oil, and it helps to, burn, not to sting or hurt, but also if you keep putting it for another day or two, it will not leave a burn mark. Simple thing, right? Lavender oil. Who knew? But- 

D       I didn't even know there was such a thing as lavender oil. I mean, I guess- Yes ... there's an oil for everything. Yeah. I just never thought about it. 

K       Yes. There's oil for everything. 

D       Okay. So- Well, I don't have any... Oh, no, there is one other funny home remedy that I wanted to talk about. I mentioned the Vicks on the feet. The Mexican home remedy. Well, the same person also told me that her mom when she was sick, she got a cold or something, she would take some tomatoes and put them in aluminum foil and roast them, and then put these tomatoes on her body. I was like, "Oh my gosh." But again, I know tomatoes have some lycopene or some kind of property- that's supposed to be good for I don't know what. So maybe there's something to it, but I just pictured the roasted tomatoes on her body and I just laughed. 

K       Very interesting. I thought you always, like tomatoes are good when you get sprayed by a skunk, to take a tomato juice bath, but...

D       Exactly. But there's something in there that's good for you. So yeah. Yeah. 

K       Interesting. Yeah. Well, and you know, the funny thing is I also feel like the home remedies, even though some of them are the same, like a universal, throughout different cultures, but I feel like a lot of them are also, like depending where you live- and what grows in your area, you will figure out how to use it as a home remedy. 

D       Exactly. 

K       So it's interesting. 

D       So…well, this was fun. It's interesting hearing some of these stories. 

K       I feel like there's a lot more that we can share, but you gotta keep it….

D       But again, this was not medical advice. 

K       Nope. Yep. Don't try this at home. 

D       No. I mean, or if you want to. Yeah, actually we didn't say anything really weird. I was gonna say, I was gonna wrap up the story with something that I read. This is not really a home remedy, but it's something, and it was just so crazy I had to include it.

I forgot even where it was. I don't think I wrote it down. I did not. I did not write this down. But there's some place where they do a massage on your face by putting… snakes. And it's supposed to be some kind of relaxing something or another and it's like, no, that's not relaxing. No. That would just kill me.

K       Yeah. No, thank you. I'm just thinking about you and snakes here and like I don't think they can pay you enough money to do that. 

D       No. I'd be dead. Definitely. I'd be dead. Simple. All right. Crazy. Okay. That's been fun, and again, check out the show notes. So maybe we'll include some more interesting things that we didn't have time to talk about here, 'cause I'm looking at my notes, about hiccups. I wanted to talk about that. Let's talk about it real quick. Real quick, Everybody's got a remedy for this, right? Hiccups. What do you do if you've got hiccups? 

K       You gotta hold your breath. 

D       Okay, that's it? 

K       Yeah, you have to hold your breath, count till 20, and then let it go. Or drink water. 

D       Ah. It's a combination. 

K       What about yours? 

D       Yes. You have to take a big deep breath, hold your breath, and drink 13 sips while you're holding your breath. And I'm telling you, that works. I'm giving advice. That you can try. 

K       Really? Well, we have another thing. Somebody has to scare you.

D       Yeah, that never really works. 

K       Which, I don't think it ever worked. 

D       It's just annoys me more than anything. I don't wanna be scared. I'm already annoyed by the hiccups, you know?

K       Don't push it. 

D       Yeah, exactly. All right. Well, this was a lot of fun. So... until next time, here's to good coffee, good vibes, and great conversations.

Cheers. Cheers.