Posted on 11/13/2009 3:00:50 PM PST by STARWISE
Many are conflicted - to get the H1N1 (Swine Flu) shot or not.
Regardless of what you decide for you and your family members, everyone would be wise to work at preventing the flu.
Your best defense against the virus or any other infection is to strengthen your immune system. My naturopathic recommendation is to work on a strong, healthy body, and worry less about the outside bugs. Fear is not a good defense or offense, but just one more stress that we place on ourselves that will not only not protect us from getting the virus - but will probably make us more susceptible to getting sick.
Avoiding H1N1 is no different than avoiding illness in general.
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"
- Vitamin D3: People living in the United Stated get sicker in the winter because bodily stores of vitamin D drop significantly without the sunshine (even in sunny areas like the Sacramento area).
There are two primary Vitamin D action steps you can take: First, to better determine how much Vitamin D to take, I highly recommend that you ask your healthcare practitioner for a Vitamin D 25 OH blood test . The optimal level for the test is: 60-80 ng/dL, NOT 20-100 as listed as the lab reference ranges!
Second, If you don’t do the test, take approximately 5,000 IUs of Vitamin D3 per day (adults and teens), and 2,000 IUs for little children. The cost of a 5,000 IU professional grade supplement is a ridiculously low $3.40 per month - about a dime a day to help protect you from getting seriously sick this coming season, as well as significantly reducing your risk of cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, seasonal affective disorder, autoimmune disease and dozens of other conditions.
- Stress Reduction: Stress-induced illness is certainly a reality. Many studies have clearly demonstrated that stress, personality, attitude and emotion are often causes, or significantly contribute to suppressing the immune system. An individual's reaction to stressful stimuli is entirely individual. Consider: stress reduction techniques, such as humor, laughter, prayer, meditation, yoga, choosing to be optimistic, etc.
- Lifestyle Factors: The following lifestyle practices are associated with higher natural killer cell (NK) activity in the body (the body’s first line of defense against: bacteria, viruses, fungus, parasites, cancer cells, etc.); plant-based diet with increased intake of fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, legumes, and whole grains, minus the gluten (wheat, rye, barley, spelt, kamut, etc.); regular meals ; more than 7 hours of quality sleep every night; regular exercise (too much can also reduce immune system support); proper body weight; not smoking
- Avoid eating sugar and fruit juice: Consuming 75 to 100 grams (about 2 sodas) of sugar: table sugar, honey, fruit juice causes a 50% reduction in the ability of the white blood cells to engulf bacteria, lasting up to 5 hours after ingestion.
- Transfer factor: derived from the colostrum of the first "milk" from all mammals, along with immune-enhancing herbs and other nutrients can raise the level of natural killer activity by an amazing 200-600%!
- Wash your hands at every opportunity.
- Vitamins/minerals: high potency multivitamin and mineral formula; Vitamin C (at least 1000 mg daily) with Bioflavanoids (1000 mg/day); Vitamin A (5,000/day or 10,000 IU beta-carotene; zinc 30 mg/day.
Oh no ... I didn’t know that. So sorry .. damn. That spoiled your R&R. Three 3 weeks .. yuck. Did it delay your return? I think I got it in Mexico and brought it home from a wedding .. lasted about 10 days.
Looking back at yours and the symptoms of others, I really do believe that I got a fairly mild case due to my Vit D3 intake. It was really like a medium cold, but with a fever for 5 days.
Can you get it twice? Urrrgggh ... Come to think of it, I guess if it mutated, ya could.
PILE IN that Vit D3 .. and be well and safe. Still got room in your hut ? ;) Getting dang dicey here. God bless.
I was told that I likely got it because I had just come home and had not been exposed to it at all. The fever and aches only lasted about three days....the deep cough that seemed to start from my toes lasted three weeks. Nights were the worst.
They said mine was a mild case due to the fact that I am a "healthy adult." But I hated it and there is NO WAY mI'm getting that again.
Is yours gone now? I'm pretty much 100% over it now, but it sure took long enough.
missed this bump, to read tomorrow..
LOL I got a double whammy yall.
I feel good about how our family went about inducing the supplement.
We started at 400 and increased by increments to now 2000.
If blood tests indicate and by physician care we increase more we will do so.
There are medical issues pertinant to our individual health care needs and we will follow our personal care needs with our physicians whom we do well care checks and blood draws for other life saving issues .....hence easy to piggy back a order for Vit D levels.
I would encourage anyone to follow personal family Drs recommendations and have blood levels checked per their individual needs.
Just so happens we had a glorious sunshine filled summer (rare) and fall so we were out in it.
Even for KV (quad/WC bound) on weekly hair balding cuts we went outside and did it in full sun.
Wow What a gift to have that warm air and Sun!
: ( Air to cold now and possible snow.
LOL Good question though.
Our quagmire was to find it in a powder pill to melt form due to need for G tube feed as oil form not so good on the hardware.
We are coupon clipping folks so use that and keep an eye out such as Fred Meyer aka Krogers for Vitamen sales buy one get on free.
But you do bring up an excellant point/question.
Oh yes, this was in April .. arrived for the wedding
just as the flu news was breaking and panic about to
set in globally ... promoted like the plague. It was
strange .. the day after my return, had a weird frog
in my throat. Within days and for days, fever .. but
really a relatively mild ... but longish .. episode,
thank God.
Wow .. so you’re home... and at a crossroads.
God bless you forever for all you’ve given and all
I’m sure it’s meant to our troops .. and provide
you with wisdom in your decision.
I’m sure TX looks so great, and you’re thrilled
to be home for more than 2 weeks .. enjoy every
second, as you ponder the next chapter.
Could your employment continue here if you wanted
to stay?
If I could afford it, I’d be in the islands for the
next 3 years.
Just ran across your post, very informative. Now I’ll have to study up and see what else I’m missing.
FYI .. I found 2K milligram Vit D3’s at CVS,
and they’re very dissolvable .. white, kinda
chalky. They fall apart in my mouth if I don’t
swallow them quick enough.
Do that ... the research is very worthwhile.
If you have access to Costco they have (new) D3 2000 I.U. Softgels.
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11467951
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