Hi there everyone. How are you all? Well at least five of you any way….. lol.
Round here it is getting colder and
we have all been advised that the weather is to deteriorate dramatically over the
next few weeks, some even saying it may be coldest winter for 20 years, others
saying coldest for over 100 years….. Whoever is right, it appears it is going
to be cold.
Well, all I hope is that we will
have broken up from college by then. I hate snow. !!!!!
By the way. That is an understatement.
I have always heard with surprise
people saying how beautiful it looks when freshly fallen. How magical etc. Well I grant you it is white when fresh, but let’s face it, it doesn’t stay like
that long in this country. It just goes
grey and slushy, and it’s cold, wet and creates problems all round. Even when predicted it appears to catch those
in charge of clearing it by surprise. I
hate driving in the stuff, and even when the police are saying “Don’t go out
unless you have to” it feels as if ones bosses are still expecting one in…….
let’s not go there.
Anyway, my natural inclination is
to batten down the hatches, go to my lovely full store cupboard and stay in;
warm, cuddled up and reading a good book.
I am sure, by evolutionary development that is what are disposed to do
anyway. The darkest days are coming, the
coldest part of winter ALWAYS seems to be after solstice and we try to carry on
as if the season doesn’t affect us. Then
we get colds etc. as our immune system’s struggle to maintain bodies that
should perhaps be resting during the trying time of the year.
Lots of my colleagues have got vicious
colds… almost flu like in their ability to knock you off your spot. Though it is not flu’ thank goodness, it
still needs support and care.
If you are one of the unfortunate,
as I have been the last few days, here are some tips and hints on how to
support yourself without resorting to over the counter remedies, which, in my
opinion can actually make your symptoms last longer.
If you have a fever, and your very
bones and joints ache…. Take to your bed and don’t eat and don’t take
paracetamol. Yes, the paracetamol will
stop the aches and pains and reduce the temperature of your fever, but your
fever and high temperature are your body’s way to kill the virus that is making
you ill.
Your body does a thermostatic reset,
allowing your temperature to rise above normal so that the virus is killed off,
and that triggers off a response in your immune system to release proteins to
help fight the virus as well. That is
what causes the joint pains. If you try
to work against your body by trying to soldier on, and continue to eat, the
body ends up destroying the very protein cells it is releasing to kill the virus and consequently
the illness takes longer to get over.
The best thing to do is go to bed
or your sofa or easy chair, wrap up and promote that high temperature and drink
loads of fluids. That way you don’t
dehydrate and you don’t prolong anything.
Where children are concerned, it is
very unusual for a high temperature to cause fitting, a thing all parents are
concerned about. If this happens it is
usually very young children, and not necessarily a permanent feature for the
rest of their life. Of course one has to
be aware of the possibility of fits, but where possible allow the body to do
what it knows how to do. Try to stay
away from the liquid paracetamol or other similar over the counter
remedies.
If you are concerned about high
temperatures and children do look at this very informative and scientifically
correct info here.
http://naimh.com/Influenza-Acute-Febrile-Disease.pdf It’s really VERY good.
or find out more about treating
colds and flu here at my earlier blog, (which I just remembered I did….Oh I am
so daft sometimes….)
http://tynansoakwise.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/everybody-at-work-has-been-afflicted.html
Anyway, now you can look at my
previous blog about it all and that is full of remedies.
Another good remedy is blackcurrant
tea with cats claw and ginger. Yumm… And
no… not REAL cats claws! That’s NOT why
we have so many cats…. It is a herb from South America and I have found it
really useful in the past. For some it
works better than Echinacea or even elderberry, which is my personal favourite. Get the tincture if you can, it is better, in
my opinion than the tablets, which loose some of the herbal benefits in the
heat of the grinding process. Get the
tablets if there is no choice. Grate
fresh ginger (about as long as the end joint of your thumb) and make a
blackcurrant juice tea, with the fresh ginger and a few drops of the cats claw…
lovely taste and it does you good. You
can make the blackcurrant tea with a brand name bottle cordial… I bet you can
guess which I mean, but!!!!! Don’t get the sugar free one. Sweeteners in general and aspartame particularly
is BAD, BAD, BAD in my opinion…… look at this and other web sites for further
information.
http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-side-effects.html
Don’t make it too weak you want that
blackcurrant to help ‘cut’ the thick mucus.
Add your ginger and cats claw, sit
down and enjoy. It is almost magical how
quickly the action of the blackcurrant takes effect.
Any way darlings… I’m off to watch
Merlin with my blackcurrant and ginger tea… I know it is a bit silly, but sometimes
one doesn’t want to think too hard.
