Know Anyone With the Flu?
My goodness I do!! When I first started working on this blog a few days ago, I had managed to dodge it, but now I have it! I spent some time surrounded by LOTS of sick people at a conference last week-end and I suppose it was inevitable. I am "nursing" myself and have been throwing everything in the "alternative medicine cabinet" at it! I hope to push the fast forward button on this and have a very short version of it. (I'll share a couple of tricks up my sleeve in a moment)
This flu season revved up early and is to be much longer than most. I know so many folks who have had it or have it now...and it just seems to "hang on and on". Which is a hallmark of this strain going around. In fact there are a couple of traits to this flu that make it really hard to shake.
First off "they" found out early in the game that this strain of influenza, flu shots do very little to protect you from it. (more about flu shots later) Second, according to BBC News, it seems to especially target people that are either older (65 and up) or people that have a compromised immune system. And lastly, the duration can go on and on, due to the relapse rate.
This strain of flu enters very easily into the lung and can develop into pneumonia at a fast clip. I personally know a woman who is a diabetic and on kidney dialysis, She contracted the flu, likely at a dialysis session, missed a dialysis session due to illness and landed in the hospital with pneumonia 3 days later. At that point a blood clot was on the lung and she was put into a medically induced comma for a week. The family was told she likely wouldn't make it. Well long story short, she did make it, after a month of rehab and is now home with physical therapy from there.
The list of influenza battle casualties is long. I know a couple of people who contracted the flu and have been very sick with it for a month or more, with fever, laryngitis and persistent coughing. Both of the individuals have compromised immune systems, but they are not "old". Another was my ex sister-in-law who has a history of asthma and ended up in the hospital on EXTREMELY POWERFUL antibiotics...which seems all the medical field has in their so called "arsenal". Antibiotics and steroids. That's pretty much it.
Antibiotics are greatly overused and can lead to "Super Bugs"
According to the NIH:
"Superbugs are strains of bacteria that are resistant to several types of antibiotics. Each year these drug-resistant bacteria infect more than 2 million people nationwide and kill at least 23,000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)"
Should I Have Gotten the Flu Shot?
A lot of health care workers would recommend the "flu shot" at the beginning of the flu season. There are several problems with flu shots. For starters the vaccine is created before the strain of the flu is even known!!! That's a lot like throwing darts in the dark.
But even more troubling are the foreign substances and toxic combinations of chemicals and harmful additives. Unknown substances which have ingredients foreign to the human body is not the best idea. The long term consequences are not completely known, and could be worse than the flu!
So What's a Person to Do?
There are very simple but powerful ways to prevent it. Hand washing and getting plenty of sleep for starters. Taking natural immune booster supplements like vitamin c, probiotics, zinc,super antioxidants makes a lot of sense, Keeping your immune system revved up will make you much less susceptible to illness in general & especially during flu season. However if someone sneezes in your face, there is no "S" on your chest, you are not Superhuman.
"Pull out the Big Guns" - Natural Remedies I Use
1. GET SLEEP ;
Forget about the world around you and go to bed! No one at work thinks you're a "hero" if you come to work and infect them. You'l have a much quicker recovery with lots of rest!!!
2. DRINK WATER:
Hydration will help you rid the body of all the mucus-
cut back on caffeine as that dehydrates you.
3. GARLIC :
A natural antibiotic. I mince about a TBLS of fresh garlic and put it with a TBLS of honey - it really doesn't taste bad with the honey.
4. Wellness Formula:
I have been taking this product for years. It has everything and the "kitchen sink" in it. When I feel something coming on I take 3 tablets 3 times a day for a week or so. I pick it up in most health food stores.
5. Isotonix D3 with K2:
Vitamin D has multiple benefits, one of which is boosting the immune
system and lung function. I normally take 2 or 3 doses a week. However I double dose for 2 or 3 days when I feel something coming on. Isotonix D3 with K2 is best absorbed with a meal, as it is fat soluble.
This is a relatively new product for me to utilize. With nine clinical studies that confirm Wellmune's benefits for immunity in the categories of upper respiratory health, cold and flu, allergies and immune systems compromised by exercise and stress.I have taken the Isotonix Immune off and on throughout the flu season and I KNOW it has prevented a full blown illness. Now I'm "double dosing" with it for a few days.
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| Isotonix OPC-3 |
There's plenty of documentation and studies to confirm antioxidants are important to the immune system. There's even more evidence when it comes to OPC's. I have been taking OPC's for about 15 years now. In those years I have rarely been sick. But on that rare occasion I take a blend of OPC's & add a serving of ORAC (a blend of ORAC rich fruits, like cranberry, blueberry and elder berry a known anti viral)
I have doubled up on that as well.
7. Chicken Soup
Besides being a "comfort food" there's evidence that a nice hot bowl of steaming chicken soup just might have some healing properties. (Click here for an ABC News report on benefits of Chicken Soup) Perhaps it's the steam in the nasal passages. Or the hot liquid soothes a sore throat. Whatever it is, a clear chicken broth, with lots of garlic, veggies, some organic chicken and you have a homemade elixir to nurse you back to health. Really hits the spot.
Take My Own Medicine:
Please excuse me now as I go take my own medicine: a few doses of Isotonix,, mince some garlic and down it with honey, drink a glass of water with some Wellness Formula, have a bowl of chicken soup & head to bed...I'll be better in the morning!
Helping You to Select the Best Health,
Sherry
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