Flu season is here. We feel that the best prevention is to follow healthy lifestyle habits. However, if you are concerned about your immune status and your exposure to the virus, call your physician to discuss appropriate additional support. There are three general tiers of treatment, which are outlined below. This is a hierarchy, so keep in mind that what is important for flu prevention and exposure is also important for treatment.

A general note on fevers: Fevers are an important part of our immune function, and properly managed are the most effective tool the body has for fighting infections. As your temperature goes up, your immune system becomes more active. Proper management involves keeping the body hydrated and monitoring urine output. A properly hydrated person should be urinating at least 6-8x/day as an adult, 5-6x/day as a child, have moist lips, fontanelles in infants that are NOT sunken, and bowel movements that are not constipated. Viruses and bacteria also replicate much more slowly at higher temperatures. This is why an increase in body temperature helps you to fight infection and why we generally don’t recommend the use of Tylenol or other fever reducing drugs except in specific circumstances. We do, however, recommend using hydrotherapy to increase body temperature in the absence of a fever or if the fever is not very strong. The warming sock treatment mentioned below is used for this purpose.

Prevention:

  • Sleep 8 hours/night
  • Drink plenty of water
  • Eat lots of veggies and few sweets. Soups with lots of ginger, garlic, onions, thyme, rosemary, oregano, coconut milk, and lots of organic mushrooms are antimicrobial and immune boosting. Any refined sugar reduces your white blood cell count for approximately 4 hours.
  • Exercise 20 minutes/day
  • Do 1 thing every day to help you deal with stress. Stress decreases immunity.

Exposure (someone in your immediate circle is sick):

  • Begin using one of the following immune supports preventatively:
    • Lysine Extra: 1-2 capsules 2x/day (This contains St. John’s Wort and could potentially interact with prescription medications. Be sure to verify with a licensed physician before starting.)
    • Astragalus: 100 mg 2x/day or 2 droppers of a tincture 2x/day
    • Mycoferon: 1 dropper 2x/day (this is an immune support extracted from mushrooms)
    • Make sure your vitamin D status is good
    • Vitamin C 1000 mg 2-3x/day to bowel tolerance
  •  Besides the above diet suggestions now is a good time to remove any dairy, caffeine, alcohol

At the First Sign of Illness:

When your throat starts to get scratchy or you feel a little achy and run down and those around you have the flu, consider doing the following in addition to the above lifestyle recommendations.

  • Warming Sock Treatment. This increases body temperature to allow your immune system to catch up with the infection. It works great in kids and adults, though adults typically need to do it for more nights in a row. It sounds unpleasant, but really isn’t bad and is quite helpful. If fever is high, do not take a warm bath first.
  • Lysine Extra: 2 capsules 3x/day for adults, contact clinic regarding children.
  • Vitamin A 10,000 to 25,000 IU/day for up to two weeks
  • Vitamin C: 1000 mg 2-3x/day to bowel tolerance
  • Astragalus tincture: 5 droppers 3x/day, contact clinic regarding children.
  • Mycoferon: 2 droppers 3x/day, contact clinic regarding children
  • Homeopathics: Each year a couple of remedies seem to work well for a number of patients. Typically a 30c used 1-3x/day will work. 3-5 pellets should be taken under the tongue away from food. The remedies we’ve seen work so far this year are:
    • Eupatorium: this is for flu with high fever and very bad body aches where you feel like even your bones ache
    • Bryonia: this is for flu that came on less suddenly with a good deal of fatigue and where motion is painful. It’s especially good for coughs that have sharp pains that make you want to hold your chest.
    • Arsenicum: This will work for the flu with diarrhea and loose stools as well as respiratory symptoms. The patient is cold, sometimes with burning pains, and wants heat and reassurance.
    • Belladonna: This is for high fevers with delirium and red cheeks, deep productive coughs.
    • There are many other remedies that may be useful if the above aren’t the right fit for you, so feel free to give us a call.
  • Other support for congestion:
    • Steams with just a couple of drops of essential oils. Good oils to use are thyme, oregano, eucalyptus, and rosemary.
    • Netti Pot

When to contact your doctor:

  • Fever: if a child has a fever of 102 or higher or an adult has a fever of 101 or higher. This does not mean it’s time to use Tylenol or fever suppressive drugs, it’s just time to make sure the doctor is aware
  • Lethargy, especially with a high fever
  • Difficulty breathing or a cough that is keeping you up all night or getting worse.
  • If you suspect pneumonia
  • Fever with severe headache and stiff neck, as these are signs of meningitis.
  • If fever persists for more than a couple of days or other symptoms are lasting more than a week.
  • In general if things are getting worse or simply not improving within 4-5 days, especially if you’ve tried the above.

Other support:

  • There’s plenty we can do on an individual basis if you need more support. We can also help support you during the recovery process.
  • Sometimes people are having a lingering cough or a tightness in their chest. There’s plenty we can do with herbs, manual therapy, and hydrotherapy to help with this. This will likely require an appointment. Click here if you’d like to make an appointment with us!