When I wrote about ways to prevent the H1N1 flu virus last month, I never suspected I might actually catch the bug myself. I’m healthy, and I’m committed to my three-times-a-week gym workouts; plus, I eat well, and I take vitamins. So when, a few days ago, I started feeling flu-ish, I was pretty surprised.
Immediately, I took regular doses of echinacea, a known antiviral herb, and Sambucol, a black elderberry extract that’s been proven to kill 10 different strains of flu virus (though I don’t know whether H1N1 is one of them). I did not, however, order the two different Chinese herbs recommended by Martha Howard, MD, the director of Wellness Associates of Chicago, Center for Advanced Integrative Environmental Medicine, that I wrote about in my flu blog.
I was pretty disappointed when neither the echinacea nor the black elderberry staved off my symptoms, which came on with a bang: fever of 103, pounding headache—in fact, my entire body aches, a dramatic cough, no appetite, and extreme fatigue.
I headed to my doctor who confirmed that I had what “looks like H1N1″ to him. He didn’t even bother to test me; he just prescribed Tamiflu for my husband and me .
So I’ve been sick for three days now and my husband started getting sick yesterday. This is not a pretty sight.
What are the lessons here?
I’m always really disappointed when a natural remedy doesn’t pan out—especially when I’ve gone on record recommending them to readers. But I remind myself that echinacea and black elderberry, when I’ve taken them in the past to ward off cold and flu viruses, have almost always worked. The fact that they didn’t work this time says to me that this virus is just bigger and stronger than most.
In my experience, being knocked out by the flu (or any other illness for that matter) never comes at a good time. Right now, I’ve just scored three really wonderful projects and my brain is so addled that I can’t focus on getting started on any of them.
So I’m going to give my type-A tendencies a rest while I take a couple of days to recover. I have a pile of magazines and a comfy couch, and I’m also going to succumb to the luxury of watching some daytime TV (this may not prove to be so luxurious, but at least it’ll be mindless). Hopefully, I’ll be back on my feet in no time.
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Comments (5)
Or, most of the 200-odd common viruses, which have a life-span of dozens of hours, would appear to “get cured” with that herbal concoction, whereas, any new virus which has jumped species and has a longer life-span screws that herbal happiness. Well, if you keep having that concoction alongside Tamiflu, you’ll see that the concoction does indeed seem to work after a few days.
OR, maybe the herbal “concoctions” actually do work. It is hard to see how they don’t when I find that almost 100% of the time, (not always, but close to), when I use my echinacea blend and other natural immune boosters, whatever I seem to be getting is gone within 4 to 6 hours, not dozens. I have been using natural immune boosting products for almost 39 years and teaching others who get the same results.
Wow, thanks for your interesting update, and honesty! I am going to try that concoction, if need be, for this upcoming flu season.
I don’t see the date of your posting, but I hope you and hubby are feeling much better, and “back to normal” now!
Best wishes,
Alicia
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I have discovered that Elderberry works best taken as a prevention herb during cold & flu season. Once flu symptoms appear, the virus has quite often taken hold too strongly for the immune system to fight it off. I take an Elderberry lozenger everday during cold & flu season called Immunity Take Care by New Chapter. It’s research shows that it has a special delivery system that blocks viruses from entering human cells and it has a dose-guaranteed potency of Elderberry. I think the old saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” applies with cold & flu season.