How We Navigated a Upper Respiratory Illness
Stuck mucus → sinus pressure → ear pain → post-nasal drip cough, oh my 🤧
When cold/flu/RSV season hits, things can escalate quickly — especially in kids whose congestion tends to sit.
That was us last week. We dealt with a starting mild cold… to thick stuck mucus… to sinus pressure… to nighttime ear pain… and then that classic post-nasal drip cough and tummy pain.
We pulled out the tools that consistently help us: a few key homeopathic combos, our herbal cough tincture, Calm Drops, and the new Healing Salves. I’m sharing the full breakdown of what we used, when we used it, and how — in case you’re facing the same mucus → congestion → cough cycle.
We used several of the products from my own line (because they’re literally what I created for our family first), and I thought it might be helpful to see how we actually use them during a real illness.
This isn’t medical advice, just our family’s lived experience.
It began like so many colds do — the kind you almost brush off at first.
A few sneezes.
Watery eyes.
Clear, drippy mucus from every exit point.
At this stage, nothing screamed urgent, but the body was clearly signaling, “I’m fighting something off.”
Something I always remind parents of (and myself) is that the earliest symptoms are often our biggest window of opportunity. It’s tempting to ignore the watery eyes and sneezes, but the body is already communicating. Supporting early has saved us so many times.
So, in our home, we start by warming things up! We avoid cold foods and drinks during the first signs because cold constricts and slows drainage, AND we lean into warmth and circulation!
warm broth
soup
Epsom Salt baths
throat coat tea
no icy cups, yogurts or smoothies
Warmth helps thin mucus, improve lymph flow, and keep everything moving instead of stagnating.
We also bring on cell salts at this point.
You can choose specific ones , or simply use Bioplasma (all 12 together) to support mineral balance and cellular regulation. I personally use cell salts so much for everything, that I have all 12 individual. You can learn about cell salts here
Other Early Remedies
Homeopathy
If symptoms stay in the “onion-like” picture — watery eyes, dripping nose, constant sneezing, a well-selected remedy like Allium Cepa can be helpful.
But this cold shifted fast for us.
So we brought out our custom created homeopathic combo Acute Kit to help!
We used
✔ Oscillo Support
A great early-stage support for viral shifts.
Included in our Acute Kit.
✔ ENT Combo Blend
Because her congestion moved from watery → stuffy + pressure within hours.
This told me there was already some stagnation happening in her:
lymph drainage
sinus pathways
upper airway flow
ENT covers multiple homeopathic profiles at once — perfect when things evolve quickly.
Additional
Yin Chao (Yin Chiao) tonic for early upper respiratory signs
Camu Camu for vitamin C + antioxidants
Rosita cod liver oil for A + D balance in immune season
We layered these alongside the physical supports so her immune system had the nutrients, not just the comfort.\
Find my these and my favorite wellness Favs here at 20% off
My fav Vitamin D because this always dips during illness, and I love that all the cofactors are included. Easy to give to kids!
A huge MISS for these upper Respiratory colds- Lymph + sinus drainage support
We encouraged flow right away because stagnation is one of the main culprits when colds move into “sinus pressure + ear pain” secondary infection territory.
5–10 minutes on a rebounder (gentle bouncing, dont get crazy!)
Sinus + lymph massage (ethmoid/sphenoid area, Eustachian tube line, SCM muscle, down to supraclavicular nodes) Check out you tube for a ton of videos.
We got to try out our newest product, Immune Flow Salve( YEA!) A herbal + homeopathic infused salve used along those pathways: jawline → neck → chest this kept things moving instead of backing up.
Healing Salve Collection Coming First Week Of Dec! Get on the waitlist to get notified!
Dont forget to set them up for success at night! This nighttime setup to prevent stuck drainage
Overnight is when congestion often shifts sideways.
Onion cut by the bedside- added Rosemary EO to the onion, instead of diffusing
Humidifier with BrioTech Air & Surface
A wedge pillow to elevate her head & keep sinuses from pooling
👉 Get that mucus moving the next morning:
Steamy shower to loosen airways
Chest & back percussion to mobilize mucus
Nasal rinse with propolis (antimicrobial, mucus-breaking)
So what happens when congestion Thickens + Sinus Pressure Starts Showing Up
Here’s something I remind myself every illness season:
Symptoms aren’t the enemy.
They’re the body doing its job.
Mucus, coughing, drainage, fever, ear pressure — these aren’t random. They’re phases in a predictable infection cycle. The goal isn’t to shut them down… it’s to support the body as it moves through each stage so things don’t get stuck.
And if you’ve ever felt like you’re doing everything right but an illness still turns a corner—
that’s normal.
Pathogens adapt, drainage shifts, lymph slows, and kids move fast through these phases.
What matters most is how we pivot with it.
Here’s how that looked for us IRL:
mucus thickened + changed color (green, sticky, harder to move)
This is usually the moment families panic and rush toward drying agents, suppression, or “shut it down” remedies.
And to be clear — there is absolutely a time and place for antibiotics, steroids, and conventional support (zero judgment).
But often, thick mucus and color changes simply mean the immune system is working.
The real problem IMO is stagnation — when mucus just sits.
So instead of trying to stop it, we focused on helping her body finish what it started.
What we added in this phase:
Olive leaf
→ one of my favorite gentle, broad-spectrum antimicrobials
→ helps discourage secondary infection
→ supports the body when mucus gets more “infectious looking”
Sodium ascorbate vitamin C
→ easy on the stomach
→ reduces inflammation
→ supports neutrophils while the immune system turns over thicker mucus, and helps thin
Throat Coat Tea, garlic-ginger honey, meat stock
→ warmth + circulation to keep drainage moving
→ herbal demulcents to soothe raw tissues
Find Kitchen Remdies In this recipe, and illness guide
And before you think, “I’m doing all the things… why is my little still miserable?” — you’re not alone. Sometimes this phase feels messy because, anatomically, kids have the cards stacked against them. Their Eustachian tubes are shorter, narrower, and sit more horizontally, which means anything that gets “stuck” above the nose has a straight shot to the ears. Also, they kinda suck at removing mucus effectively- there is said it 😅 That’s exactly what happened with my daughter: thick mucus → slowed drainage → sudden, surprise ear pressure right at bedtime (classic).
A few Things we reached for:
1. ENT Combo (from the Acute Kit)
This one deserves a standing ovation.
It covers:
sinus stagnation
alternating stuffy/runny cycles
lymph congestion
early Eustachian tube irritation
It kept everything mobilized so things didn’t settle and brew.
2. Fever Blend (even without a fever)
Because it contains:
Ferrum phos → early inflammation
Aconite → sudden-onset symptoms
Chamomile → nighttime irritability + pain
Belladonna → ear pressure, heat, congestion
3. Calm Drops herbal
Illness is a nervous system event too.
We used calming support because:
ear pain can trigger anxiety
mucus swallowing = tummy discomfort
kids pick up on our stress, so dose yourself!
When the mucus triggered that “tickle cough” —> Herbal Cough Rescue
Mullein → classic lung support for clearing mucus + gentle repair
Echinacea purpurea → immune activation + lymph support for upper respiratory
Licorice root → coats airways, calms spasms, gentle adrenal support
Wild cherry bark → quiets cough reflex, soothes dry, irritated throats
Perilla (shiso) → eases tight, reactive airways
Remember, Lymph support is a non-negotiable!
mucus moves only as well as lymph moves.
Check out phase 1 for what we continued 👆🏽
Also, Check out my Mycoplasma Blog with breakdown info on Percussions for mobilizing mucus and monitoring O2 levels. Both of these are KEY!
Healing Salves
(our new favorites)
This was the first time we got to really use all three salves in our new Healing Salve Collection — and wow, did we love them!
Immune Flow Salve
We used this every morning & evening:
over clavicles
down the neck
around the ears
over lymph pathways
It helped keep things moving
Peaceful Nights Salve
Applied on:
the chest
between shoulder blades
bottoms of the feet
It relaxed her breathing, took the edge off that restless nighttime energy, and supported deeper sleep (which is when immune repair actually happens).
Tummy Ease Salve
Perfect for:
mucus swallowing
nausea
bloating
nervous tummy
We massaged it clockwise around her belly, and it helped her settle
Orders Open up soon! Get notified
If you’re still here, I hope what you take away from this is simple:
There is so much you can do — gently, intentionally, and without overwhelm to support your child as their body moves through an illness.
Not with every supplement or remedy under the sun.
Just with awareness of the phases and tools that help the body continue its work.
Kids move through colds and respiratory cycles quickly.
Congestion shifts. Drainage slows. Ears ache. Coughs appear overnight.
None of this means you’re doing anything wrong.
It simply means their immune system is adapting — and you can adapt with it.
Every child is different, every family is different, and every season looks a little different too. There’s no gold star for doing illness “the right way.” What matters is feeling equipped, supported, and empowered to make choices that feel good in your home.
My hope in sharing our real-life is never to tell you what you should do…
but to give you a framework you can pull from, tweak, and apply in your own way when your little one isn’t feeling well.
You know your child better than anyone else.
Trust that knowing.
With warmth,
Colleen