Here are the Top 3 things you SHOULDN’T do if you have the flu… and the three things you can do instead
Antibiotics kill your gut microbiome: When you take antibiotics for an infection, they not only fight against that bacteria, but they also kill ALL the good bacteria in your gut. The long term effects of that are gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, and IBS. And, these affects can last not only a few weeks or months but years!! Also, antibiotics don’t really help you fight the influenza virus. Scientifically, influenza is a virus not a bacteria. So, taking antibiotics (that fight bacteria not viruses) are a little bit useless.
Don’t take tylenol. Most people with the flu run for tylenol which helps to decrease the fever. However, the fever is the body’s natural response to a bacterial or viral infection that it is trying to fight off! So, decreasing your fever actually decreases your immune function and will lengthen your recovery time. Also, a big down-side to tylenol is decreased ovulation and hence, decreased fertility in women.
Don’t drink orange juice, grapefruit juice, or any other juice. Why? When your immune system is under attack, it needs to be functioning optimally. And, sugar, of any kind decreases immune function. Fruit juices are concentrated sugar and will lower immune function further.
What to do instead?
- Get your immune function up with Elderberry. Elderberry extract has been shown to reduce the flu virus time from 7-10 days to 3-4 days. I would recommend either tea or extract – taken in high doses. For tea, drink 1-1.5 cups every 3 hours. For extract, take a teaspoon every 3-4 hours. You can read more about the benefits of elderberry in my last post.
- Wellness Formula: This is one of my favorites! You can find it at Whole Foods or a Health Store near you. I generally recommend 2-3 tablets every 3 hours. It has herbs that are anti-viral and anti-bacterial, as well as herbs that will help boost your immune system.Then continue at 2 tabs 3x a day for 3 days after your symptoms are completely resolved.
- Magic Socks. This is my favorite treatments of all time. It sounds a little funny but trust me, it works!
How to do it: Take the cotton socks, run them under cold water. Wring the socks out well. Put them on your feet just before going to sleep for the night. Put the wool socks on over them. Yes, they have to be pure wool (SmartWool likely will not work)
What should you expect? The socks should be dry in the morning. And, you should be feeling better (vibrant, energetic, etc).
Continue doing magic socks for a day or two after full recovery. This will ensure you’re a 100% back to health!
Optional: increase daily Vitamin C to 1000 mgs 3-4x/day. And, add in 5 drops of super potent oregano oil to your Vitamin C.