When the Flu Comes to Call

These past two weeks have been interesting. I was writing pretty regularly while the Sproutlet was sick, she seemed to have a pretty bad cold, that included a fever and a cough and some waking up during the night. She was probably the sickest she's ever been (she's rarely sick), but with the fever barely spiking and her having tons of energy (despite my pleas to just rest!) she sailed through it just fine.

Sproutlet got nightly baths of salts for detoxing and EOs for healing and soothing symptoms and was better in 4-5 days. Her fever never went above 101 under the arm. We did use a fever reducer twice when the fever was 101.

Well, about a week passed, and I finally succumbed to it. Except, it was a lot different for me! All of the sudden I was feverish, had chills, couldn't stay warm, my body ached, I couldn't move much.... yup, even though I dragged my feet about it and didn't admit it until 4 days in, it was the flu.

The flu? That I definitely got from my 2 year old? Who just seemed "fine"? If I hadn't gotten it, I would never in a million years have thought the Sproutlet had the flu. But look at that, she did and I didn't even know it! Her immune system is nothing short of amazing. We are very very dissimilar in that regard!

So I'm over here still not feeling so great, with a weekend's worth of plans canceled, but that's okay. It was a great experiment in handling the virus our way. We successfully used homeopathic remedies to lessen symptoms, and even I was in the salt bath a couple times and found it to be extremely helpful. Because my nutrition is not nearly as stellar as Sproutlet's, yesterday and today I took a few supplements that I had in the house to help me fight off the virus.

The first thing that I always reach for (every day, in fact) is my Arbonne Immunity Boost. It's got Elderberry and Echinecea.

Even while I was sick, I still took this pill. Both ingredients can help heal in addition to warding off germs.

These are the other things I started taking yesterday:

Since I was walking around in a stupor the first few days (and not literally walking, mostly laying around) I totally forgot to take these and think I prolonged the illness accidentally by not getting on a regimen right away.

For your reference, here are some links about the properties of each of the above things:

• Elderberry
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• Echinacea
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• Garlic
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• Cinnamon
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• Ginger Root
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• Tumeric cucumin
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• Fish Oil (Omega-3s)

It should be noted that I have taken these previously and had no side effects, which allowed me to make a sure decision in taking all of these at once. Whenever you try something new, remember to try it in isolation so you can correctly determine an adverse reaction and its cause.

Sproutlet DID take supplements in the form of elderberry syrup, vitamin D and probiotics, as I outlined in "Natural Remedies" and "Natural Remedies, Part 2".

And honestly, the thing that I was stressing to Sproutlet? PLEASE REST! Resting, sleeping, napping.... these are the things that have seriously made an impact in my return to health. Despite having a toddler, I am super lucky to have a mom and a husband who really stepped up to the plate to take care of BOTH of us, since we were sick separately and not at the same time. Thanks guys!!

So when the flu does come to call, don't be too scared. There is a lot to be said about staying home and not spreading the germs around. I very highly suspect we picked up the virus at the pediatrician's office. Whether this was from vaccine shedding (The flu mist is a live virus) or just picking it up from another flu patient, I will never know, and it matters not- what does matter is to stay home, even if you are sick for an entire week (or more). And please hydrate hydrate hydrate, and rest rest rest!

We should be back to normal routine in no time.