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Cold & Flu Season Prep
Hi all, with all of the flu and vaccine discussion in this forum, I wanted to see what you all are doing to stay healthy this winter?
Obviously, people are scared about the swine flu AND about the swine flu vaccine. The annual debates about the necessity of the flu shot are going on now, too. I haven't gotten either shot, not sure if I will yet, but this year I'm preparing myself with the following items to help me not get any cold or flu bugs:
- Anti- bacterial gel... I keep it in my purse and whip it out after I use public transportation or before I eat (if I'm out).
- Kleenex Anti-Viral Tissues... these are the tissues with the little blue dots on them. They trap and kill 99.9% of cold and flu bugs within the tissue so you don't risk getting others sick after you sneeze (great for classrooms too).
- Anti-bacterial soap at the kitchen AND bathroom sink... some people only have it in their bathroom, but I have it wherever I wash my hands.
What do y'all do to stay away from the flu?
Comments
We're not doing the shots
There are several things we do, some year round:
Washing Hands: The kids wash their hands the second they walk in the door from school (school sent home a note first week to have kids wash hands for twenty seconds, so we sing "Happy Birthday twice). They wash hands before every meal, too. I'll institute washing hands after coming back from public places now, too (store, library, church, etc).
(Where we go for physical/occupational/speech therapy has everyone use the hand sanitizer as soon as they walk in as well as take off shoes outside the therapy room doors. I have them do their hands with the sanitizer right as we leave, too.)
Elderberry syrup: An anti-flu shot of syrup every morning. One Tablespoon for kids, two for adults. If sick, double dose. I make it myself, since I'm fortunate enough to have a Blue Elderberry tree in the backyard which yielded almost fourteen cups of blue elderberries this year. I use melcro's recipe. You can buy it from the store, too, but it costs considerably more than making it yourself.
Vitamin D: the kids get 4000 ICUs every day. I should start taking it now, too--everyone should take it, esp. in the winter. Natural sources are better, but we live in the Pacific NW, our sunshine in the winter is rain.
Probiotics: The kids get one Bio Bead every morning.
Green Tea: I'm drinking a pot of green tea every day now. Jasmine Pearls, mainly. Thanks to Lynn who told me they're supposed to fight off the flu! Now I have a reason to buy tea. DH is not going to like that (I have a out ten boxes and tins of tea in the cabinet already). If you don't like drinking green tea, you can swallow supplement pills.
I'm basically working on the paradigm of first, strengthening the immune system from the inside out, second, try to keep the germs offa us. Have a healthy gut, healthy body, you're able to fight off infection much better!
I am worried about the flu. I've been doing a lot of research and soul searching. DD9 is on a medication that suppresses her immune system and her pediatrician and rheumatologist recommend the vaccines, making this an agonizing decision. But with the advice and support of our naturopath, I'm doing everything I can to make the vaccines unnecessary.
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