# Influenza 13-14



## -prepper- (Feb 3, 2013)

I know the subject of the flu has been beaten to death on here , but this upcoming season is a whole new one ! Plus I'm a bit of a flu preventative junky ! Everybody's thoughts , how are you preparing yourself and your family. Any tips as far as disinfecting , vitamins or hand washing ? 
(Let's not squabble about flu shots people (; ! )


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

My family will get the flu shot. We will set out a couple bottles of hand sanitizer by the entrances to our home and ask guests to use them. We will wash hands often, especially when arrive at home. We will wipe down grocery cart handles with disinfecting wipes. We will make sure we maintain our diet packed with raw fruits and veggies. We will exercise and keep ourselves fit. We will take our daily vitamins, usually in liquid or gummy form. And we will send packing anyone who comes to our in our home that appears to be ill. But that's about it. 

When you have a family of 9+ you have to be on top of things like this. There are a lot of "patient 0's" running around our home.


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

Flu shot, hand washing/sanitizer, adequate rest if I can swing it, and a healthy diet with exercise.


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## Lake Windsong (Nov 27, 2009)

No flu shots (dd had severe allergic reaction to her first one). Handwashing with regular soap while singing the ABC's, neti pot or nasal swab/throat gargle with warm salt water, herbal teas, infusions, tinctures. Lots of fresh fruit and veggies. Will double up on surface area cleaning as needed in the house/traveling and at work.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

I've only had the flu once in my entire life, a 24 hour strain. I've only had one flu shot ever, (the doctor caught me having a weak moment while pregnant with number 3). I wash my hands at work, no vitamins, my sleep schedule is horrible, my diet would cause a nutritionist to have a stroke, I rarely exercise, I don't disinfect anything for me or my kids. I worked 60-80 hour weeks one year for 6 weeks solid because my patients & the other nurses kept getting the flu, I never got it. For whatever reason, I just rarely get sick, maybe a cold once every 5 years or so that lasts a few days. If my good gene donation from my father doesn't get me through it, I guess I'll just get sick. :dunno:

What do I do to keep my patients well? I swab antibiotic ointment in their noses to prevent colonization, disinfect all of their breathing treatment supplies in either vinegar (1 part vinegar, 2 parts water) or Cavicide, keep their mucus membranes moist with cool mist humidifiers, if they do get dry, I nebulize some sterile saline for them to inhale. I wear gloves when messing around their mouths or tracheostomies. No one with a cough is allowed anywhere around them. I give them a multivitamin (although there's no evidence it helps). If a patient gets congested, I nebulize sterile saline to keep that mucus thin & easily coughed up (or in the case of my patient, suctioned out) & do lots of chest physiotherapy (CPT) to move the mucus out. If they have GI symptoms or fever, I pull them off of all formula & food & give Pedialyte only. Basically, I help the body help itself. I take care of medically fragile babies on ventilators with major respiratory issues, I've never had to have one hospitalized for flu.


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

We get the flu shots annually. Hands have always been fanatically washed (something you do when you live out in the country and handle... things). Hand sanitizer is in both cars and in the out-buildings. We avoid sneezing and coughing people. I have flu masks in both car backpacks. If we have to go to town, we try to go when there are fewer people.... such as going to Wal-Mart at 6am. I use my nettie pot if I feel any congestion starting. I keep Sambucol in the preps. 

The biggest thing for us, and something very difficult for most people to do, is to keep hands off the face!


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## CulexPipiens (Nov 17, 2010)

My job involves interacting with employees and their computers for about 80 people so on any given day I can be exposed to a wide variety of stuff. Other than basic hand washing and very rare hand sanitizer I don't do anything special. Just eat right and try to get my rest. I've only had one cold/flu in the past 5 years.

This year we harvested elderberries from our bushes and I've got a tincture almost done and a couple bottles of syrup finished. Not that I want to get the flu, but I'm somewhat curious to see how well the elderberry brews work against it. The recipe I used includes a handfull of star anise which is one of the main components in Tamiflu.


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illicium_verum Star anise is the major source of the chemical compound shikimic acid, a primary precursor in the pharmaceutical synthesis of anti-influenza drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu).


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

We got our flu shots today. The nurse told me "this one stings more than the previous vaccines" ...... no kidding!


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## -prepper- (Feb 3, 2013)

Country Living said:


> The biggest thing for us, and something very difficult for most people to do, is to keep hands off the face!


This is so true ! It's fascinating really . You just don't even think about it .


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

A few years ago one of the local news reporters interviewed a teacher about her suggestions on good habits children should learn to avoid getting colds and flu. The teacher said she could not emphasize enough the importance of keeping hands off the face. Then she absent-mindedly reached up and touched her face while she tried to think of a few other suggestions. 

Most people have no concept about how often they touch their face.


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## valannb22 (Jan 6, 2012)

Mandatory flu shot or nasal mist for me. Other than that, I keep hand sanitizer in my purse all the time and have a couple at home. I try and make the kids wash their hands as much as possible. Nothing special really


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## lazydaisy67 (Nov 24, 2011)

Tea Tree, Tea tree and more tea tree!


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## Ezmerelda (Oct 17, 2010)

I diffuse various essential oils with anti-viral properties in the living room, kitchen, the bedrooms and the staircase landing.

As soon as anyone in our household even starts to sniffle, we all get dosed with massive amounts of vitamin C with echinacea, and the sniffler gets direct application of essential oils to his chest, back, throat, and sinus points.


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## lilmissy0740 (Mar 7, 2011)

This year we harvested elderberries from our bushes and I've got a tincture almost done and a couple bottles of syrup finished. Not that I want to get the flu, but I'm somewhat curious to see how well the elderberry brews work against it. The recipe I used includes a handfull of star anise which is one of the main components in Tamiflu. [/QUOTE]

How do you make a tincture with the bark?

We toss some elderberries in our smoothie every day, first sign of any cold, garlic, lots of it, vit d3, and we get outside even if its snowing and blowing for a few hours a day.


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## dixiemama (Nov 28, 2012)

My husbands great grandmother died during the 1918 epidemic. She was sick for 3 weeks.

We get as few vaccines as possible. Bub had all his kid shots because I don't believe that the vaccines cause what a lot of ppl say they do. (Too many kids got them for too many years without any I'll affects).

My in laws however, make a vaccine for anything, they will be first in line.


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

Fire Cider!

Recipe can be found here: http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f3/fire-cider-10359/


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

*I am a doubter*



dixiemama said:


> My husbands great grandmother died during the 1918 epidemic. She was sick for 3 weeks.
> 
> We get as few vaccines as possible. Bub had all his kid shots because I don't believe that the vaccines cause what a lot of ppl say they do. (Too many kids got them for too many years without any I'll affects).
> 
> My in laws however, make a vaccine for anything, they will be first in line.


My great aunt died of the flu in 1918 also. After the swine flu scare a few years ago, the one thing I learned is that pregnant women are the most vulnerable. She was pregnant when she got the flu. I wonder if they realized that fact back then.

I made a decision decades ago to not get the swine flu shot. A friend of mine was head of the program for Kansas City Health and was so angry when several of us refused the shots. A couple summers later I worked at American Nurses Association as a temporary. A woman I worked with had Guillain-Barré syndrome as a result of her getting the shot. I know that not everyone gets this side effect. I had decided that I would not get flu shots and never have. Sorry folks, I don't trust them, the shots nor the powers that be that say we need them. We might need them, or we might not.

What I do believe is that there are laboratories where strains of illnesses are being developed. It may be that this flu shot contains some other undesirable affects. I am staying close to home this winter and have decided to be careful and see how this plays out. I remember the hysteria just 4 years ago.

Sometimes those are "tests" to see how people react.

I have worked for years in germ factories with sick children whose parents never feel the need to keep them home, no matter how sick they are. I have built up a strong immune system and I rarely get sick. The one thing I have had to do every year was to teach most children how to wash their hands and how and when to blow their noses. (Blow until you can close your mouth and can breathe) When you work in that kind of situation, you do get a little overboard. Wash hands after using the toilet (statistics vary, but 1/3 of men do), before and after eating, after blowing your nose, and after coughing and sneezing. Come to school coughing, sneezing, blowing your nose or using the bathroom a lot and you will spend lots of time washing your hands as well.

Many adults do not take care of their nasal passages. Watch a few youtube videos and listen to how many people have not cleared their nasal passages before beginning their videos.


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## dixiemama (Nov 28, 2012)

My sis in law got swine flu, while pregnant, after being vaccinated, and brought it home to us all. The only one not sick was Bub. I've never felt so bad in my life. Thankfully it was over in 3 days.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Years ago(70's) I got my first flu shots 2 years in a row and each time I wound up sicker the next day than I would have been with a natural case of the flu.

None since and none in the future for me.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

I'm one of those unfortunate that received the polio shot filled with cancer enzymes in the year 1956-1961??
I will NOT have any injections for anything.
If it isn't tablet form, I don't get it.
The nurse completing the forms for Gene last week at the hospital(inoperable aneurysm and unexplained seizures) asked if he had his vaccine.
I said what vaccine???:scratch
She said flu shot, like it was as every-day as toast with coffee??
I said NO--and he is to NEVER be given any flu shots here.

Both us have never had the flu and never had a flu shot. No colds either. Ages 63 and 65.


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## walter (Jun 5, 2013)

I'm one of the unfortunate who got a polio shot filled with cancer enzymes. I was wearing my tinfoil hat at the time so I didn't get cancer . . . or polio.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

walter said:


> I'm one of the unfortunate who got a polio shot filled with cancer enzymes. I was wearing my tinfoil hat at the time so I didn't get cancer . . . or polio.


Not yet.:ignore:


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