Several weeks ago I composed the following post but decided not to post it (not quite sure why--perhaps it seemed like to much information.)
Yesterday Jason and Brooklyn came home from the park to a house filled with the scent of bleach. "Do you smell that?" I said proudly. "That's the smell of germs dying."
We are waging merciless war against all viruses, harmful bacteria, and any other little creepy thingies that dare to cross our threshold. We've had enough! In the past two and a half weeks, our family has battled four nasty colds, four bouts of the stomach flu, and a urinary tract infection. While we've grown in our cultural awareness through trips to the doctor, laboratory, and pharmacy, enough is enough! The victory will be ours.
Well, apparently the victory was not ours. Since that time our family has been through a whole new series of really lousy, rotten colds that aren't getting better. Talia's nose constantly drips with green 11s, Jason's dry hacking cough keeps him awake at night, and the back of my throat looks like something from a horror movie.
I surrender. Tomorrow I'm lugging the whole lot of us back to the doctor to see what can be done. Even so, I have questions:
How do you keep your family healthy when living in very tight quarters? We just can't seem to stop passing around all the germs. Any suggestions would be great, as I really don't want to be sick all the way until spring.
8 comments:
I'm certain your neighbors or friends in France will have told you by now, "C'est les courants d'air!" I think French germs attack if you aren't wearing a scarf, at least, that is what everyone wanted me to believe when I went out scarfless as a missionary.
As for real remedies, our family is fond of hot lemon and honey in camomile tea. The boys call it "the cough drink". Also, dark chocolate (70% cocoa or more) suppresses coughs better than codeine!
Few tips that work for us: we keep the bedroom cooler during the sleep, (I’m not sure if the windows at your place have the “micro ventilation” mode (it keeps fresh air flowing in all the time)). Gargle your throat with warm water and salt (make it really salty) few times a day when it hurts. (A flush of cold water after the bath is a great way of building the immunity, however, it takes courage) And after all: don’t kill the germs, learn to live with them!!! ;)
We usually take a decent amount of vitamin C during the winter months (1000mgs). I don't get sick very often, though. However, once Mat goes to school, I suspect this will change.
Something else that I haven't tried, but several friends of mine swear by is probiotics. My friend's doctor actually suggested it to help with her daughter's ear infections.
Hope that you don't mind that I follow your journal...I just really enjoyed talking with you at Heather's wedding. :)
I try to regularly disinfect door knobs and light switch plates, just to reduce one major spot of germ sharing. I take a lot of echinacea during the winter, I think it helps. I also really like to sleep with a humidifier going. Coughs and sore throats are soothed, allowing us to rest (and heal) better. Something I love is Thieves oil. It is an essential oil blend made of cloves, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus, and rosemary. A little applied to the throat and chest works better for soothing coughs and congestion than Vicks or many over the counter meds, and it smells so festive... Good luck! We'll send our prayers your way.
Bree's sister started my current trend of swallowing a whole clove of garlic (okay, I cut it in half) when I feel a cold coming on. I have no idea if it does anything other than make my breath reek. :)
I think everyone has given great advice - but I'll chip in a few things. Bundling up and opening the windows a bit is good to keep fresh air circulating in the small space. I did this in the dorms for years to keep from getting sick. Also Vitamin A and C are the two that really help boost your immune system. Also I have to use a humidfier at night to when I'm stuffy - I use Vick's vapor steam in mine to put menthol air close to my sinuses and it has really helped. Not sure if you can find one in France, but you might get lucky! I think the chocolate sounds like a great answer to any medical problem as well!
Drink lots of fluids!
After reading your blog, I noticed an article about this problem in Parents magazine. You can find "7 solutions to stay healthy when your kids are sick" here:
http://www.parents.com/family-life/fitness/mom-health/stay-healthy-with-sick-kids/
Though I hope that by now you have all developed super immunity after all being sick with one thing or another. Also, related to a later post, I'm SO glad they were able to save your thumb. It looked like it was questionable, based on the photos!
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