This seasons flu has been a doozey... You only have to listen to our resident nurses to confirm stories of seemingly fit middle-aged men and women being admitted to ICU, and worse.... young Mum's so sick that the family have been called to say their goodbyes.
But if I can lessen even a second of you and your family's discomfort with these natural remedies and preventatives, I will sleep a little bit better. I would not wish this flu on my worst enemy....
On a positive note, taking responsiblity for your health and not blaming everyone else is the strongest character trait I see in people.... and these people are proven to get well faster. If you are a well adult, you should only be getting the flu every three years. It is mother nature, DNA and all the things that make up being a human. Embracing illness is training our immune system for when the really bad stuff happens, i.e.: cancer. Treat your body as it is - a perfect healing organism that is benevolent and powerful and always strives to answer you internal messages. Listen to your self talk. "I am healing" is far more empowering than ".... made me sick."
Embrace that your immune system is flexing it's perfect muscle (not that society has failed you), so you have to get to work to get better...
UPON WAKING:
1. Drink warm filtered water first thing in the morning. And then keep drinking water for the rest of the day like you are trying to flush a huntsmen spider down the only dunny in the house. Have a fresh juice with Aloe Gel: this is a triple threat to the virus.... it supplements your diet if your appetite is suffering, increases good gut flora to fight the bad stuff and replenish what antibiotics are actively destroying. The vitamin C is soothing to the throat, and devastating to viruses.
2. Have a warm shower. Attempt to break up any mucus, open sinuses and flush bad lactic acid that has accumulated as your body did battle over night. Moisturise with coconut oil, olive oil or avocado oil to get some Omega 3's into your body's largest organ (your skin). Spray and rub magnesium oils and natural aroma heat mixtures into the lower back to relieve the associated kidney pain and muscle soreness, rub it into the chest to further break up congestion, rub it into the temples for sinuses and headache.
3. Have an egg in grainy bread with fried tomato - you need the protein from the egg and the vitamin C from the tomato to battle virus's and rebuild healthy cells. Better still, get some raw garlic on there. Virus's CANNOT survive raw garlic. Cannot. Don't be a sook about this - be a virus vampire.
4. Snooze in the sun. Yes, I just gave you permission to go back to sleep. If we slept more we wouldn't be overweight and have a lowered immune function in the first place. And remember, two things killed the plague - getting rid of rats and opening the shutters. The sun is vitamin God, and totally free (in Brisbane).
5. Eat chicken soup for lunch. It has been clinically proven to increase immune function. Shan has heaps of fantastically nutritious soups for you on her blog... My Food Religion.
6. Drink loads of green tea. We are avoiding milk in black teas and coffee, but the green tea is also a natural anti-bacterial.
7. Stop the viral cycle. Use water dispersible eucalyptus on toilets, bathrooms and white household surfaces for it's anti-bacterial and virus killing properties. TOP CLEANING TIP: I use a face washer to clean, and pop this face washer in the wash to sanitise and deodorise.
8. Eat oranges.... citrus really is the King of Cold Killing.
9. If you have to go shopping buy a fresh beetroot juice (maybe with some ginger, celery and a little pineapple) while you are out. I am not a pom-pom waving cheerleader of the juicing movement, but this is the super juice to clear chest infections.... trust me. It is the Batman of the Bacteria Cave.
10. Go back to bed again - avoid falling asleep in front of the TV as it stuffs with your REM and hence your healing sleep.
11. Don't train with a fever. It will weaken the heart walls and that is why healthy people drop dead from heart attacks. You will know when you have a fever, you cannot even read a clock for bone cracking spasms, so your ability to sit and ponder whether you have the energy to go to training is a mute point.
12. Haven't got your own gloves yet? I attempt to keep the loan gloves as clean as possible, but they are only as clean as the last person who borrowed them. Loan gloves are like loan underwear - an exception, not the rule. Wash your hands peeps. Wash you hands.
CAN'T STOP COUGHING??? Try taking aspirin, to dumb down the cough spasm and allow you to rest.
This is my best tip: use SENECA and AMMONIA for that cough (ask for it at chemists). It doesn't calm the cough immediately, but I guarantee that it breaks up persistent coughs that antibiotics can't touch in a matter of days. It tastes like a wet dirty sock because of the licorice root, but everything that works for illness tastes bad. If you are that sick you won't even blink at the taste, you will just want to get better.
LATE AFTERNOON:
13. Eat roast potato skins with Himalayan sea salt and dried herbs - yes, I just gave you permission to eat carbs (GASP!) after 6pm - what a crock FYI..... The Vitamin C is invaluable, but the carbohydrate is awesome to get you to sleep well, and if you roast in avocado oil or macadamia oil then you have beautiful fats to restore your organs. Fry kale and onions and garlic and have a big greasy sausage. I lost 4 kilos and 2 days, so weight gain really wasn't an issue when I was sick - muscle wastage is - and muscle wastage just makes you feel sicker (flu x 2).
14. Prepare for sleep. Your healing sleep is from 10pm - 2am. Have a long, hot bath in Epsom salts (for aching muscles), with pure lavender (relaxation) and eucalyptus oils (for breathing). Rub tea tree oil into the gateway of reflexology heaven - the soles of your feet - and put on warm socks (Baby Vick's is good for our littlies). Drink hot tea with lemon, apple cider vinegar and honey to help open airways. Go to bed with a hot water bottle for chills. Have loads of pillows to prop you up and lesson the nasal drip that causes night coughing. Cut up an onion and put it beside your bed. An intensive care nurse taught me this (she described it as sucking up roaming viruses) and she was completely on mark. Keep loads of water beside your bed for when fever sets in - sometimes the dehydration is way worse to treat. Have a plan if your coughing won't stop (puffer, a honey/ vinegar mix, hot shower). Anxiety will just make it worse.
FEVER IS YOUR MAGNIFICENT BODY DESTROYING BACTERIA AND VIRUSES IN A HELL FIRE OF UNRELENTING HEAT. BE GRATEFUL FOR YOUR MAGNIFICENT HEALING VESSEL AND THINK TWICE ABOUT STOPPING THE HEALING PROCESS WITH OVER THE COUNTER PAIN RELIEF THAT STOPS FEVER.
When you are dead your boss won't care. Either will your workmates. Have a day off.
15. Don't be afraid to seek assistance - it's really hard when you still have a family to run. But when I am King of the World I will appoint a Mum Fairy. She will be tasked with attaching a sticker to the heads of people that are tinkering on the abyss of health hell, stating "Help needed - don't throw one more ball at this juggling act or it will all fall'. Cancel work, cancel social engagements, book in sleep. The Mum Fairy has spoken.
1 comment:
Thanks for sharing.
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