✨ What I Reach For when a cold hit our house:
A Clinical Herbalist's Real-Life Sick Day Protocol
*By JoLynn Makelin, Clinical Herbalist | Rayz Haven Herbal Products
When illness moves through my house, I don't guess — I have a system. Over years of clinical practice (and plenty of sick days with my own family), I've built a go-to protocol for exactly what to reach for, depending on what your body is telling you. This isn't a generic "top 10 herbs" list. This is what I actually use, in what order, and why.
*This reflects my personal and clinical herbal practice. It's shared for education, not as a personalized prescription — everyone's body, history, and medications are different. If you're pregnant, nursing, managing a chronic condition, on medication, or symptoms are severe or not improving, please check with your healthcare provider before combining herbs or starting something new — especially at concentrated tincture doses.*
🤧 When Congestion Hits: Mullein
The second I feel that thick, heavy congestion settle in, I reach for **mullein**. I take it until things run clear — mullein is traditionally used to help move and clear congestion rather than suppress it, so I keep taking it through the whole clearing-out phase, not just the first day.
- **Tincture** is my strongest, fastest option — I use 2 droppers (about 1 mL) three times a day.
- **Glycerite** is my go-to when I want an alcohol-free version, especially for the kids.
- When it settles in my **chest**, I add our **Respiratory Tea** — a blend of mullein, plantain, yarrow, elecampane, corn silk, and lemongrass, sipped warm throughout the day with a little local honey & lemon.
😪 When Sinuses Are Inflamed: Elderflower
For sinus pressure and inflammation, **elderflower glycerite** is my pick. It's traditionally used to help calm inflamed sinus tissue and support natural drainage — I take it a few times a day when I feel that swollen, pressure-behind-the-face feeling.
😵💫 When My Nervous System Needs Help: Lemon Balm
Lemon balm tea is one of my daily staples when I'm sick — it's traditionally valued for its antiviral properties, and just as importantly, its calming effect on the nervous system. Being sick is stressful on the body; lemon balm helps it relax enough to actually rest and recover.
🤢 When It's in My Gut: Plantain
If a virus effects my digestive tract, **plantain tincture** is my go-to to soothe irritation and calm things down.
➡️ For Respiratory *and* Digestive Overlap: Digestive Blend
Our **Digestive Blend tincture** — ginger, catnip, and marshmallow — pulls double duty in my house. I use it for digestive upset, but I've also found it genuinely helpful for respiratory symptoms. Ginger is known to help inflammation and pain and marshmallow root helps soothe and cool. I take 2 droppers, twice a day.
😩 For a Sore Throat: Two Go-To Options
When a sore throat is the main complaint, I have two favorites:
1. **Elderberry Infusion** — a bigger blend of elderberry, elderflower, peppermint, ginger, red raspberry leaf, yarrow, hyssop, and plantain. This is the one I reach for specifically when sore throat is front and center.
2. **Marshmallow root glycerite with cloves** — marshmallow root coats and soothes, and cloves bring a numbing, warming quality that feels immediately comforting on an irritated throat.
🍝 The Sick-House Staple: Garlic Spaghetti
When illness moves through my house, yes we think of soups especially bone broth but spaghetti becomes a weekly staple — but with a few medicinal upgrades:
- **Extra fresh garlic**, crushed and left to sit for 10 minutes before cooking — this activates allicin, the compound behind garlic's immune-supporting reputation. Add it at the end of cooking, not the beginning, to preserve more of it.
- **Extra Oregano**, rich in carvacrol, traditionally used to support the body against microbial invaders.
- **Thyme**, traditionally used to help support respiratory comfort and ease coughing — and it doesn't just belong in the sauce. I'll steep thyme on its own or add it in my teas when we need extra help drying up mucus.
❓Can You Use All of These Together?
Yes — this is exactly how I use them, layered based on what symptoms show up. Mullein for congestion, elderflower for sinus swelling, lemon balm for the nervous system, plantain or the digestive blend for the gut, and the sore throat remedies as needed — they're designed to complement each other, not compete. Start with what matches your loudest symptom, and layer in the others as things shift.
📝Let's Build Your Protocol Together
Every sick season looks a little different in every household. If you want help building out a personalized version of this protocol for your family, **I'd love to help** — reach out to Rayz Haven Herbal for a consultation, or shop our small-batch tinctures, glycerites, and blends, made the way I make them for my own family with pure organic ingredients.
Rayzhealing@gmail.com
www.rayzhaven.com
*This is herbalism the way it's meant to be practiced — real remedies, used in real homes, for real illness. That's the Rayz Haven Herbal way.*