I am wife to a magnificent man and mother to five wonderful children. Three of my children were born in the Northwest and two were born thousands of miles away in Liberia, West Africa. Birthplace is no matter, all of my children were born in my heart. This is our journey.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Fighting H1N1

I know there is a lot of worry going on about the flu and the H1N1 virus. It makes a person consider what the best course of action is.

To vaccine or not? That is the question.

We have decided to forego the vaccine. Some may think us foolish but I do have some concerns about it. I am not anti-vaccine but anytime a new vaccine or medication is introduced I prefer to give it some time before taking the risk. There are always little bugs to be worked out and I would rather not have my family be the test cases.

I want to be clear. Everyone has to make the decision that they feel the most comfortable with. In fact, Steve did receive the flu shot at work because he is in healthcare and decided he was most comfortable with that.

That said, too often I believe that we go to the quick fixes rather than being preventative. There is a lot that we can do to boost our immunity to fight off disease and illness. Diet is key to our good or poor health which is no secret. We take raw garlic, eat fresh fruit and veggies and lots and lots of bone broth soups. Especially during the flu season. Hand washing is also very important and we are teaching our kids how to watch the spread of germs when sneezing or coughing. Light switches and door knobs are in the weekly cleaning rotation.

Last year our youngest was diagnosed with Influenza A. They prepared us for the "horrible" week to come. Now I know that the flu can be very serious for some people and it should not be taken lightly but boy did they make it sounds like this was the worst that could have happened. There was no medication for our son to take so we did what we usually do. Lots of bone broth, vitamin C and raw garlic. He had one lethargic day and then walked around with sniffles and a small cough the rest of the week. I believe that the milder symptoms were due to good diet along with the grace of God.

Since we started taking care of ourselves this way we have not seen the doctor in the last year for ear infections. We used to have an average of 4-6 visits each year for that for one or more children.

I suppose the proof is in the pudding for us.

What things do you do to protect yourself during this season?

1 comment:

daughtersfather said...

At the risk of sounding "quickfix" I think the H1N1 vaccine is a good idea for children. This flu kills young people and pregnant women [little people inside]. The other flu strains focus on older people. As to the "new vaccine" concern, it is the same basic formulation as all other flu vaccines that have been used for years only with the new strain added which they change every year. Soooo...I'm getting both vaccines. One down, one to go. Each to his own.