As you may have noticed, the Mexican government has closed schools and asked people to stay home because of a new more virulent swine flu that has killed as of this writing 68 people. One characteristic of this is that it strikes and kills healthy young people- this also happened inthe 1921 flu pandemic which killed huge numbers of people. Cases have been found in Kansas and New York. Do your best to avoid it:- Avoid close contact with people who are sick. When you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick too. Avoid crowds during epidemics- the 200 children in Queens who have probable swine flu got exposed in one school.
- Stay home when you are sick. If possible, stay home from work, school, and errands when you are sick. You will help prevent others from catching your illness.
- Cover your mouth and nose. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. It may prevent those around you from getting sick.
- Avoid sugar. Sugar can decrease your immune system almost immediately.
- Eat raw garlic daily. I find it helps to finely mince the clove of garlic in place, or smash it with a garlic press, then coat with a local honey and take it off of a spoon held upside down in your mouth. Chase with a glass of water and a sprig of parsley for odor control. (If you have no other sugar, this won’t hurt you and it helps assimilation.) Cooked or encapsulated garlic does not help your respiratory system.
- Take astragalus or reishi to strengthen your immune system in advance of any illness but not during the illness if the type kills mostly young adults. Also keep your Vitamin D up- say 4000 iu minimum of D3. And don’t take it with calcium- magnesium is okay though.
- Clean your hands. Washing your hands often will help protect you from germs.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth.
- Use a neti pot to wash your nasal passages if you are coming down with something or even preventatively. Add some sea salt and a little xylitol to keep microorganisms from adhering to your respiratory passages. If you are sick, add a little goldenseal tincture to the mixture.
- Practice other good health habits. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food
Note that in 1921 homeopathic gelsemium was used in one NYC hospital for all patients to treat the pandemic flu and they had the lowest death rate of any hospital in the region. Don’t know if it would be effective against this H1N1 flu, but I am going to keep some on hand. Note that this is homeopathic, very diluted, gelsemiun because the herb itself would be toxic. I will also be stocking isatis, coptis and honeysuckle tinctures to mix into formulas.
The CDC says that the flu is resistant to the antiviral drugs amantadine and rimantadine, but herbs can have antiviral effects, while also strengthening your immune system.
See discussion: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/4/25/724448/-UPDATE:-More-Swine-Flu-Cases:-KS-and-NYC
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