Friday, October 2, 2009

Our Flu Protocol

My husband and I have decided to do these things every day (or as near as possible), in order to give ourselves a growling good immune system and to combat whatever flu bugs might accidentally wander into our environs.

Take:
Vitamin C (1000 mg base amount, more if needed)
Vitamin D3 (1000 - 50000 mg base amount)
2-4 droppers of elderberry extract (more if needed)
Multivitamin/mineral mix (Michael takes this; I skip it as I prefer to get my nutritional needs met via eating wild plants. I just go outside an nibble on whatever I find--wood sorrel, plantain leaves, yellow dock leaves, gnaw on some sassafrass leaves, a couple of spice berries here, couple of wild grapes there, the classic nibbler diet)

Eat:
Clove garlic a day
Kimchi at least one serving a day
The usual good diet of meat with veggies galore, a minimum of sugar or white flour products, very little to none processed foods

If necessary/as needed
Goldenseal/Echinacea extract with a Cayenne extract for booster

And getting out into sunshine, getting some exercise, swinging our arms, praising God's gifts. The last mentioned is without a doubt the most important, praising God and being grateful. And if by chance we get a flu--we normally don't, nor have we ever taken flu shots, then we'll live with it and let the elderberry extract deal with it.

Another fairly important element in this is to avoid those who are ill. Be very careful when you go to stores, wash your hands so often you'll feel obsessive/compulsive, all the usual stuff.

I put by a lot of elderberry extract this year. I filled quart jars 1/2 to 3/4 full with elderberries, then add vodka to top it all off. The six weeks I usually allow for extracts is nearly over. I have offered the extract to everyone in the valley, and I hope they'll use it and wisely. I don't charge $$ for this, but donations will be accepted to cover the cost of the vodka.

I've also laid in some OTC pharmaceuticals--mucinex and sudafed in particular. Someone who'd already had the swine flu recommended those. So, on a just in case basis, I got a few of those. We also have gloves and masks, and somewhere I have a whole biochem suit (complete with gas mask) that someone once gave me. It'd make a great Halloween costume...

So that's our basic flu protocol. I don't know if we'll need it, but it can't hurt to give your body extra nutrients for combatting illness. It's very important also to detoxify--try to get rid of the crap in your system, fast one to three days every once in a while, take hot baths and sweat out toxins, don't eat processed "food" poisons, and move around a bunch.

If anyone has other/different ideas, I'd be glad to hear them. Thanks,
HM

11 comments:

Eileen said...

Your list reflects a lot of what I am doing. I probably will get the shot at my doctors urging since I'm in the risk group (chronic respiratory/asthma) and also do great deal of social interaction where a single day could expose me to 50-100 people. But recently, I beat back a nasty cold in 4 days, which astonished me considering it would have previously knocked me out for at least 7-14 days. I would add to your list a neti pot - I started out with a sinus infection (I'll assume so based on the pain and color) and had that cleared up on its own in a day with saline washes every 2 hours.

Anonymous said...

something else you might want to add to your meds supply for winter.....Vicks.......I have a problem with sinus when the air gets dry so before I go to bed at night I stuff a little Vicks up my nose.......just an idea for you....
Charli

Anonymous said...

I love my neti pot! My husband thinks I am crazy but the thing really works. I would also add a box of medicinal teas, a cold season sampler. I brew lots of tea this time of year.
My other favorite cold season addition is 'Burried Treasure Severe Cold and Flu'. You can find it (atleast I did) at the Natural Food Store. It is a herbal tonic to take when you have a cold or flu. My kids take the kids version too...I just mix it in some juice or hot tea for them. I love this stuff! We recently moved to VA so I will be looking out for it in my Health Food Store.

Jen said...

I don't know if this is true but I recently read that Apple cider vinegar vapor can kill the air born flu virus if left to simmer on the stove or a heater vent.

deafnsmart said...

You are a jewel. Thanks so much for this list. I'm wondering if there is a typo, though. It says on your posting 1000 to 50,000 mg of Vitamin D3. Did you mean to say 5,000?

Patricia said...

Some great ideas, everyone. Thank you. We have a neti pot and I always have Vicks (generic) on hand. Vicks is also good for bug bites. A very useful product as is the neti pot. Washing out the sludge in your sinuses is a good thing to do.

Anon. 8:06--I'll look for the Buried Treasure tea stuff, thanks for the tip.

Moxie: I don't know about the apple cider vinegar (except it never hurts to take a few tablespoons in a glass of water and belt it down) but I have heard that if you leave a half an onion out in a room with lots of sick people, that the onion will clean the air and drawn all the air-borne nasties into itself. You burn the onion the next day. Might be worth a try...

Deafnsmart: Whoops. Yep, that's a typo--meant to say 5,000 mg. Thanks!

Gen-IL Homesteader said...

Handmaiden, Just wondering about the elderberry. Do you grow your own? I've been looking into them for a few years, but haven't 'bit the bullet' yet. Just curious how easy they are to grow/harvest, etc. Bug problems with them?Thanks!
Good post, btw! I think with all you're doing, that neither one of your should be sick at all! :-)

Virginia Valdez said...

Thanks for posting this. I've been reading "Peace Pilgrim" and this list mirrors a lot of her ways of living. Swinging arms and cleansing your body, treating it as a temple. My boyfriend and I are starting our fast tonight. We actually just got over the flu. We realized we aren't exercising nearly as much as we should. After the fast we want to get some good exercise going as well. I love reading your blog. Thanks!

Patricia said...

Gen-IL Homesteader: Elderberries grow wild in many places around here, so I don't or haven't yet planted any. They'd make a great addition to some edible/medicinal landscaping though. Michael was after me to get some goldenrod seeds and plant them last year, but I told him he was nuts. That stuff is all over at certain times of the year.

Virginia: Fasting is always a good way to start a healthier life, from 3 days to a week is good. I can do 3 days fairly easy, but a week's worth will make me pretty spacy. Which is fine if I'm looking for a spiritual benefit. Thanks!
HM

Anonymous said...

Star Anise Seed. It is getting hard to find because they use it as the base ingredient in tamiflu. You can buy it from health stores for about $25 a pound, and make tea out of it. It is expensive because all the world is trying to brew tamiflu right now.

Teresita Darling said...

I read a lot about selenium being a key to not getting the flu so we are all taking that.