I don’t get sick. Or, at least, I didn’t get sick. That was one of my superpowers. It also helps make me a great medical professional. I’ll see people who are hacking up a lung, snotty, exhausted, coughing, spewing body fluids, and it doesn’t impact me.
But…put me on a plane with regurgitated air and a few sick people hacking internal body fluids into the confined cabin, and I can and did get ill. The flu didn’t come on quickly. I spent a few days thinking I might be sick. And then thinking I was o.k. Finally, I realized I had the flu. That was four days after getting off the plane.
In Chinese Medicine, colds and flu usually fall into one of two categories: heat invasions and cold invasions. Heat invasions happen suddenly. One second you are not sick and the next you’re vomiting, have a headache and a fever. Cold invasions take their time and can take days to set in.
I use to specialize in treating the flu. You got sick. I made you better. I had many repeat pneumonia patients who went through treatment with me and stopped getting pneumonia. But then the H3N2 virus came back. In 2009, the world experienced a pandemic that was to repeat itself before the H3N2 virus subsided around 2018.
To learn more about what happened and may have aided the H3N2 in creating a pandemic, check out my video “The Flu 2019… What do you think?” The research is cited at the end of the video giving you a chance to review the studies.
Two things you’ll learn in the research are; first, we have been using chicken eggs to make the flu vaccine for over 70 years, and second, every time a vaccine is manufactured, there are mutations. In 2009, science realized the variation was happening on the protein that presented to our immune system. This protein was no longer a human protein but was an avian protein. The human immune system couldn’t find the protein connector to attach because it was an avian connector instead of a human connector.
Well, over the next 10 years, this mutation was injected and shed in the wild. Others picked it up. Today, people are getting these chronic, low-level cases of flu that last for months. The flu season doesn’t have a season this year and getting sick means you can’t go to work for at least a week.
By the time I knew I was sick, I had chills and fever and had an intermittent cough. I was well into having the flu by the time I realized I was ill.
That’s the problem today. By the time you realize you are sick, you are well into it. You’re not dealing with a little surface flu thing that a simple formula will address. Instead, the flu has been able to crawl in so deep that it now takes a “tour de force” to get it out. And that is what happened to me. The flu was in so deep, I now needed to throw everything at it, including the kitchen sink.
My husband and I both got sick. I had a whole household of sick people, which means no one was doing any cleaning, no one was doing any cooking, and the pets were even a bit depressed.
What I noticed about this flu is it seems to accommodate consistency. If you keep on doing the same thing, the flu will move over a little and avoid whatever you are doing. I found the best way to try and get over the flu was by treating it differently every day.
Part of treating the flu was using everything. I used both East and West. This is the second or third year I combined both East and West to treat the flu. Before 2013, Chinese Medicine was enough. Now, it’s not enough, but Chinese Medicine is the only thing that seems to pull the flu back out of the body.
First, I used three different Chinese formulas that addressed the flu at different levels in the body. I would combine the formulas or take them separately. I recommend a Chinese Medical practitioner and have them prescribe herbs at a couple different levels like the Wei and Qi level. If you are sick, you can book a teleconference with the office by calling 360-841-7558. You will need internet access and access to a local Chinese Herbal Dispensary.
Second, I added in Western over-the-counter medicines like NyQuil or Alka-seltzer flu and cold. These have Asprin and decongestants, which helped reduce the symptoms long enough for the Chinese formulas to start working.
Third, I spent time under acupuncture needles.
Fourth, I wiped everything down in the house with the Clorox bleach wipes and followed that with germicide.
Fifth, a client of mine added chest packs. You can do a chest pack with a lot of things. Combine Vicks and cod liver oil, warm it up, put it on your chest. Use any of the facial muds and combine with essential oils that help the lungs, move blood, or attack viruses. Put that on your chest and let it dry.
Sixth, because this flu came with body aches, I used a hot jetted bath soak infused with herbs for body aches. If you can get Chinese herbs, that may be the best because one soak and I didn’t have body aches. If you can’t purchase Chinese Herbs, Epsom salt is an excellent soak that pulls phlegm out and deals with body aches.
Seventh, this is the middle of winter. Forced air and fireplaces are standard. These things pull humidity out of the air and can drop humidity below 30 percent. Low humidity can aggravate a sore throat. I used a humidifier to keep the humidity level indoors around 50 percent.
Eight, I drank high-quality tea all the time. I didn’t drink anything else. Some of these teas you can make with the actual ingredients ensuring a high-quality tea. Using a small amount of fresh ginger warms the body and helps eliminate phlegm and toxins in the body. Or, add Chinese Dates, Da Zao, to the ginger. Da Zao, combined with ginger, is excellent for helping with fatigue and improving your appetite.
Ninth was food. Chinese Medicine doesn’t separate foods from medicine. The belief is food is medicine. If you remember my Detox video on my Youtube channel. The video goes more in-depth on Daikon, which is a radish and helps release phlegm in the lungs. Things like pears help moisten the lungs when you have a dry cough and are great on their own or cooked. Chicken is good for helping strengthen you during and after a cold. There are a lot of food choices which offer a great meal and improve your health.
The tenth was rest. I slept as much as I could. When I had difficulty sleeping, I used Western Medicine night-time cold and flu remedies to force myself to sleep.
It took about 3 days to get over this flu. I was flat on my back. My husband took about 2 days longer. I didn’t keep anything the same because I found when I did, it stopped working, and I would start to regress.
If you want to add in Chinese herbal medicine to your flu regime, please call the office at 360-841-7558 to book a teleconference. You must have access to local herbal dispensary as symptoms change rapidly with the flu and herbal formulas change rapidly.
Good-luck with your flu, and I’ll start adding in some recipes to help you recover after the flu, especially when dealing with things like fatigue from the flu.