Oy. I got damp toilet paper schmattes all around me (no tissues in the house, far too extravagant, regular tissues AND liquid soap, one had to go). I can’t raise my head off my pillow for very long. I tried to stand in the hallway to look at what Sophie had done with her dollhouse and I fell over and bashed my head against her doorframe and nearly peed myself. Sorry, relatives who think I talk too much about pee and poo. The fact is, there is so much of it in my life, I really can’t help talking about it.
We’ve all had this flu-ey thing in its different incarnations, but mine involves the damp, revolting schmattes everywhere and freezing and shivering and aching and wishing I looked like some nice glowy commercial model, maybe the cute Yoplait girls, or the Dove ladies. I go in and out of these odd dreamlike states where the Yoplait girls are dressed as Florence Nightingale and murmuring over my feverish head, “No hope, no hope for this one, snag me another vanilla, would you?”
I feel like Hagrid with the bubonic plague. I look about that lovely. But big fat Eli loves me still, and I am using him right now as my hot water bottle because I am too broken-down to refill it again.
How do I fix this beat-to-hell immune system of mine, friends? It’s been going down the tubes for some time now, and I’d love to reclaim some zing.
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Vitamin C, Echinacea
Plenty of rest and fluids.
If this lasts too long do see a doctor, many are needing a dose f antibiotics to get over this strain of the flu bug.
Feel better soon.
I find a that good tequila (like Patron) and laying in the bottom of a hot hot shower to be good for so many of the things that ail me. The shower is also the best place to cry it all out. I find much physical & emotional cleansing in a good hot-shower-cry.
Ugh, we all had that one too. Hope your goes away quick, and I’m sure tequila and a lying in a hot shower can’t hurt!
Hmmm. Carrots?
I am immune-compromised due to kidney failure, and I usually am suseptible to every damn thing that comes down the pike. I was on my 6th cold of the winter in January when my shiny new acupunturist gave me some Chinese immune-boosting herbs. Whenever I feel the tell-tale tickle of some evil germ trying to catch hold, I start popping the herbs and the germs get beaten back. I have not been sick since.
Email me and I’ll send you a bottle.
i say herbs too. find a homeopathic doctor and get some immune boosting herbs ( or email ruthwells and she’ll send you a bottle!)
i had the flu this year too–the real, live, one week in bed, one week recovering flu, then a stomach bug, and both kids were sick as dogs for a while too–fifth disease, then some crazy virus that kicked both of their butts and caused the boy to end up with pneumonia in one lung and an ear infection and the girl had double ear infections and double pink eye. the hubs was so grossed out by all of us he practically bathed in purell and when it looked like it was safe to reclaim the family room he pretty much bleached everything in the room. including the rug, which he scrubbed with TILEX of all things. (oatmeal colored rug, so not a problem, really, but rather dramatic of him, no?)
i hope you feel better soon. the warm weather is just around the corner. i can practically see it from here!
xomox
My friend Brendan says to put a hat at the end of your bed, and then get under the covers with a bottle of whiskey. Drink the whiskey until you see two hats. All better!
My dad swears by lemonade, hot, with vodka in it.
Too bad you can’t send the girls out to get yer likker!
While I love Heather’s suggestion about the whiskey and hat(s), it may not be practicle with children around. So I’m going to suggest my cure-all: Organic Echinacea Plus tea, made by Traditional Medicinals. It boosts the immune system; I swear by it. If that fais, well, pawn the girls off on Mater and get some whiskey.
Hope you feel better soon.
I say, Lower your stress levels as much as possible and call your mother.
B vitamins help a lot. Feel better.
I swear by nasal washing (neti pot or bulb syringe). May sound too yogic hippy dippy but this not only nipped my allergies in the bud (used to be a daily Claritin user), it has also dramatically decreased the amount of times I get sick. It’s cheap (just salt and water), you’re not making a drug maker rich, and it’s even Oprah approved. Who as we all know is the arbiter of what’s important in life.
Ditto on Leigh: It’s probably the stress. It compromises your immune system big time. I’m not sure how to get through a divorce without stress, although I’m sure liquor and crying in the shower helped me. Hang in there. This too shall pass.
P.S. Dogs help, too.
oh – i hear you. i swear by this- a friend of my mom’s told me about it – Niquil – be gone
straight lemon juice, jack and honey — put in a cup and heat to hot.
drink, drink water – i know it sucks but it washes stuff bad stuff away.
xoxoxox i wish i was on that coast
Try this:
Buy a package of Mentos and a two liter bottle of Diet Coke. Get some Ace bandages and securely bind your eyes and ears. Swallow two of the Mentos whole, then quickly chug the bottle of Diet Coke. Clinch all of your muscles and use your hand to pinch your lips together.
Everything in your body that isn’t nailed down will come blasting out your nose. Afterwards, you’ll be lucky if you have any bones left.
This procedure will clear out your head and give you about 3-4 cubic liters of empty space inside your body. All the phelm and such that your body produces after that will be safely stored in these new storage vacuoles your body has just created.
You’ll feel much better.
Hope you’re feeling better soon! Vit C in LARGE doses really does work for me. And Zicam is wonderful, too. Hot tea, fires, a good book, sleep… hmmm….Take care of yourself!
Oh Boy, sounds like great fun! We all had, what sounds to be, the same thing. Turns out I had Influenza A that evolved into pneumonia. Then two weeks later after a two day period of feeling chipper, WHAM, I got a stomach bug. The kids have had everything this year too. I just laid around and broke my no TV on school days rule. We all cuddled and sniffled and snorffed…together. Hope you feel better soon. I’m also a huge advocate of Chinese herbs, but since I’m a hermit, and only show my face to retrieve my kids from school during the dark, grey New England winters, well, I don’t use them much.
Such a schmucky cold and flu season! So sorry you’re under the weather. Just what you needed, huh? I say, herbs, hot drinks–maybe spiked, and some serious time in bed. As soon as you can possibly muster the strength, take a bath while washing both your bed linens and pajamas. Repeat as you are able. I also believe in flossing and brushing your teeth often while you’re sick. I think it helps overall… Then, I swear by a neti pot. It is crazy absurd sounding if you’ve never tried it, but I swear by it for lots of things… Possibly not for flu as much as cold. Anyway, feel better soon!
Mater just went back to work today after three days’ sick leave plus two days out last week. I stayed in bed but, alas, no hot teddy, oops toddy, to warm me up. Heck, I would have even settled for a lukewarm eddie.
Just to know, I did stop by at Jenn’s tonight and help put the girls to bed. I brought three boxes of tissues, ginger ale and TLC. Jenn peeked out of the covers to say hello and was wearing a ski cap and her warm bathrobe. I’m sure the hot water bottle is getting good use too.
Oh honey…I had this flu this year too and I swear to you, I thought I was going to die. I haven’t shivered like that in many a moon.
Vit C, B complex, echinacea, garlic, immune boost tincture from coop or health food store, LOTS of fluids
Oh finally a topic I can give you really good advice on!
I have West Nile virus a few years ago, and it totally shot my immune system – I was sick with something every couple of weeks for about two years. I caught weird stuff too – Fifth’s Disease? – things adults aren’t supposed to get. I scarfed echinacea and vitamin C daily, to little avail.
Then I found the miracle wonder cure. I think I might have schilled for it here before. But seriously, blue green algae. I haven’t been sick in two years, plus my winter depression went away. And it happened more or less overnight – I got healthy and in control of my feelings.
Sounds like something that might help you right now?
Oh glorious superfood! It comes in dehydrated caplets, but is way more effective in liquid form. Mmm grotesque, life-saving pond scum. Mix it with juice, hold your nose and rejoice!
Sometimes Whole Foods carries it, or you can order it here: http://www.e3live.com/.
End of schill.
I hope you feel better Jenn.
I hope you feel better soon!
I prefer to blame the children for all of my illnesses. They are such little petri dishes.
I have no great immune-boosting advice. Feel better soon.
This winter, I had a cold which turned into a flu, which turned into another cold, which turned into sinusitus, which turned into *another* flu, which turned into something gross requiring me to sit for hours on the toilet. (However, I did manage to get through several back issues of the New York Review of Books and the movie Raise the Red Lantern, something I’ve always wanted to see….)
I think stress affects the immune system. I ain’t no doctor, it’s just what I think. I’ve been under a lot of it recently, as have you…
Spot the Wonder Dog – you’re back!! I’m sure Jenn needed the laugh as much as your “cure.” Personally mine is boiling water poured over fresh lemons or limes – picked off the tree, yeah, we get sick in California too – honey, spices, and with whatever liquor I feel like. One of my favorites, I call a hot margarita which I stir with a cinnamon stick. Hmmm, maybe I feel a touch of something coming on…