The marvellous mustard bath!

[EmmaF91]

So like many on here my asthma disagrees with olbas oil and vicks, so I often have to play the game which is worse - my asthma or my cold/sinuses etc. When I’m ill I just have to suffer through it and wait it out, then a friend jokingly suggested a mustard bath.

Yeah right, it’s usually strong smelling stuff so I assumed I’d have the same issues as with the others but I looked into it anyway and now my asthmas a bit calmer and I do just feel full of cold I thought I’d give it a try.

First off - no smell! Yellow water so I thought I’d come out looking like I had jaundice, but so far no lung issues - maybe it won’t work....

10 mins later (I’m nice and warm and relaxed) I notice that my sinuses are ‘opening up’ and draining slowly - no massive stream out the front or gunk down the back but defo movement.

5 mins later my chest feels slightly clearer and when I cough stuff easily comes up - I don’t have to hack it up!

I sit relax and enjoy... still no asthma symptoms...

Finally decide I should probably get out, and I’m not sore! ... no aches and pains, muscles feel relaxed and ready for bed, ribs/chest don’t hurt when I cough. Plus I’m not yellow!! 😂

I’ll see how I feel in the night/morning, but this is definitely something I’d do again - even if I’m asthma-ry as there was no smell! The hardest part for me was making sure my eczema wasn’t active (can’t have open wounds apparently).

Those ancient Romans knew what they were doing it seems!

Has anyone else tried a mustard bath, and if so how was it for you? If you haven’t tried it and like me struggle with decongestants, I’d definitely look up mustard baths and try one out!!!!!

[Hidden]

Very interesting. How much mustard did you put in, and which type? I’m assuming English, but just to be sure l ...

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador in reply to Hidden]

About 2 tablespoons of it in the bath is recommended. I may have *slightly* overdone the amount as I was guesstimating from a bag (as someone who never uses tablespoons 😅) so pretty sure I used more than required as I was expecting a smell or something - only side effect was I was very warm last night so only used a light blanket to sleep under. I also still woke up at 3am with my asthma, however I don’t think it was as bad, and now my cough is shifting a lot of gunk so hopefully I’m over the worse of it.

It’s mustard seed powder so I guess English mustard - it’s a traditional English treatment so..? 😅

A lot of sites also recommended it combined with Epsom salts (for aches) and/or baking powder (for softer skin) and/or peppermint/rosemary/eucalyptus essential oils (for respiratory congestion/antiseptic properties) but I went plain because I wanted to know how my lungs would react. There are ‘pre-made’ packs you can buy with a mix in it, which I’m gonna invest in.

[CDPO16]

Gosh, this brings back childhood memories of mustard baths I had forgotten about. It used to be a common remedy in my family in the 1950's. I'm glad you found it beneficial.

[Jessieg167]

joythebaker.com/2016/02/war...

after reading your review I found this recipe and thought I’d give it a try I’ve been so bad what can it hurt.

Deffo nice and my airways cleared and mucus feels thinner. A 👍🏻 Will be making this. Regular thing.

Thank you for your review x

[Echoblue]

Possibly also useful as a steam inhalation? Just a thought.

Do hope you get over your cold very soon Emma x