Do you have ANY IDEA how many times I have gargled with salt water in my whole life? Maybe one million times. Maybe three billion times. Give or take a few. Blech. Strep, three or four times a year, for my whole life, plus months and months of tonsillitis. The tonsillitis is now resistant to the strong antibiotics I’m on, so they’re testing to see what else they can put me on for the next 5 weeks until the surgery date. Dude, when the bird flu hits, either I’ll go down in a hot second, or I’ll be immune to EVERYTHING because of the build-up of antibiotics in my system. (I know, antibiotics are bad. No medical horror stories, please. I have to be on them to keep the infection at least a little at bay. Although they’re not working right, huh?)
Anyway. It all comes down to salt. As usual.
I love salt. (I have very low blood pressure. No medical horror stories, PLEASE.) No, really I LOVE salt. I love the taste of it, the smell of it. Lala bought me a ten pound BAG of it from Costco the other day as a joke. Or maybe it was a serious gift of love. Or maybe it was both. Whatever, I propped it up in the kitchen. Tasty decoration. I salt food before I taste it (although if it’s homemade I try not to. I take a little taste and THEN add salt. I am Polite Company).
Sometimes, and I’ve done this ever since I was a little kid, I’ll lick the side of my hand and pour a little salt on it and lick it off. I don’t really care for potato chips, but I’ll eat them for the salt. I don’t like pistachios but I suck the shells and throw out the nut. Even gargling with salt water, you know….. I enjoy the flavor if not the activity.
I love this in particular: I pour the teaspoon of salt in the mug, add the hot water, then stir with the metal spoon. As I stir, and the salt dissolves, the tone of the metal spoon hitting the ceramic mug goes lower in pitch. Reminds me of the siren going by, the Doppler Effect of salt.
That is all.
Good Morning,
I am sorry to hear of your continuing health woes. Have you ever tried adding a bit of cayenne to your salt for gargling?
I didn’t know that about the sound of the spoon. Scuse me while I go find a mugh and a metal spoon.
Feel well soon, please.
Oh, I am SO sorry you are still going through the strep. It sounds awful. And how scary for the antibiotics not to work. There must be way for your body to heal itself, and if it does that, and fights the infection on its own, then you will be truly immune to that particular bug. Think healing thoughts.
One day when I was a kid, my dad came home from work, and when he got to the kitchen, he found himself walking on white crystals, and saw an empty glass. He started yelling at me for making sugar water to drink, but his anger turned to horror when I explained that I’d made SALT water to drink, not sugar…
Oh, you infidel, throwing away pistachio nuts.
PS–sorry about the antibiotic resistant infection…and the surgery. I went through it once and don’t care to do it again.
Actually, it was a 25 lb bag of salt, resulting in you being 150% happier!
when I was five I ate a salt pellet from the water softener. I never did that again, but salty peanuts in their shells are a fav pms food. I eat them whole. Ye gads. I can’t believe I typed that *out loud* And the whole ‘eat salt and watch my feet blow up’ is family fun for everyone. hope you are better sooner than later, and that the salt supply holds. Cami
mmmm, salt.
I hope you feel better soon.
I’m with you on the salt thing, although I don’t like salt water AT ALL. My favorite drink is margaritas on account of the salt.
When I was a kid we spent summers on our cattle farm in Brazil and I once tried the cow lick . . . (yes, before the cows, it was new!)
I think the spoon in the hot water & the mug makes that sound anyway… I don’t gargle but I like that sound too. I always wonder, if I keep stirring, will it go subsonic?
When I was a kid growing up on a dairy farm my jeans pockets always contained (along with other treasures) a large rock and a piece of cow salt. The large rock was used to whack off the next hunk of salt from the cow lick. Bossy (and Daisy and Velma and Violet and all the other cows) never seemed to mind shoving over.
Our Allie has gargled buckets of hot salt water and is horrified to hear that tonsils can grow back. I’m so not telling her about the impending surgery. Hugs.
I just ate a Kettle Chip in your honor. Feel better soon!!!
P.S. Please post a pic of this gigantic bag of salt on your kitchen counter, thx.
I just ate a Kettle Chip in your honor. Feel better soon!!!
P.S. Please post a pic of this gigantic bag of salt on your kitchen counter, thx.
I just ate a Kettle Chip in your honor. Feel better soon!!!
P.S. Please post a pic of this gigantic bag of salt on your kitchen counter, thx.
I just ate a Kettle Chip in your honor. Feel better soon!!!
P.S. Please post a pic of this gigantic bag of salt on your kitchen counter, thx.
I just ate a Kettle Chip in your honor. Feel better soon!!!
P.S. Please post a pic of this gigantic bag of salt on your kitchen counter, thx.
Oh for crap’s sake. Sorry!
Erika REALLY wants that picture. 😉
I also have low BP and don’t worry too much about salt (and I also love it…hello, margarita!), but I read an article in Prevention recently that made me think and I’m trying to be more careful about it. It’s not just the blood pressure, there are other potential health implications to a high-salt diet.
Crushing an aspirin in with the salt water gargle really helped calm down the pain I had with my persistant “gym teacher’s cough”. Sorry you are having such a rough time with your health. Hope that you can get down to the bottom of this soon.
Good luck with the tonsils. I have one that grew back but I’m hoping it stays calm.
I’m so glad you wrote about your love of salt. Now I know someone loves it more than I do. *g*
Tonsillitis sucks – I had to get mine out 2 years ago and prior to that, I was gargling with salt water constantly. I do kind of miss the salt. Hope you feel better soon.
Ugh — I hope you make it until the surgery okay.
I have never gargled with salt water, and I don’t even really like salt (except on french fries), but this doppleresque phenomenon intrigues me so much I may try it anyway. I guess I don’t have to drink it, right?
In biblical times, salt was so rare and hard to come by, it was used as currency. Hence the expression “salt of the earth” meant someone of extreme value.
We must leaven bread with salt, else it will not rise. Likewise, we must leaven our existence with “salty” events and thoughts, that we too may rise to the occasion of our lives.
Blessings!
p.s. I love salt too. Can you tell? Try Kosher salt in cooking for deeper flavor.
Gonna have to try the mug and spoon thing. When it comes to snacks, I have more of a sweet tooth, but I do appreciate salt. Especially since I started using it regularly on my nasal passages!
Hey Miss Salt Lick! Lately I have been on the whole chocolate-salt combo kick. It is really amazing. Maybe you need to get your strepped-out butt over to BiRite Creamery in SF for some salted caramel ice cream with Recchiuti fleur de sel chocolate crumbles on top? Yes, I think so.
Dude, salt’s fine and all, but seriously try that whole raw garlic thing. Mince the garlic and mix it in honey. It’s DISGUSTING, but both are natural antibacterials. And cheap. Cheap’s good.
i had NO idea that salt had that effect on sound. pardon me while i go and start a salt chorus in my kitchen!
I always wondered who in the hell would buy those little tiny containers of salt they sell at “the corner store”. Now I know and it still grosses me out. The thought of somebody eating straight salt. UGGHHH. 🙂 Oh well…I do hope you feel better.It sucks to be sick and then you have that whole sick and tired of being sick and tired thing going. Feel Better.
I am a salt eater from WAAAAY back.
Although sadly now that I am old, it makes me all puffy the next day. But I still eat it!
You’ll love this. My daughter has low blood pressure (as do I) and she was having a problem with fainting. Her doctor told her to put MORE salt on her food. Ha!
I know what you mean about the salt though. I’ve eaten enough Pringles at one go (because of the salt) that my lips get blistered.
I like to suck all the salt off of sunflower seeds and then spit out and discard the uneaten seed. I try not to do this often, cause I do see what a waste it it. If only I liked the little sunflower seed meats.