Have you or a loved one recently been through the harrowing effects of this latest flu? Influenza B they are calling it and did you know that ‘they’ are also saying that it is a rogue infection making it impervious to any flu vax. Interesting don’t you think? That is a whole other topic right there!

I recently contracted this nasty Influenza strain and believe me, my heart goes out to you if you are trying to recover or are caught up in the tsunami of the virus.
It was smack bang at the start of a holiday with a dear friend, who happens to be a trained nurse. I cannot remember ever being this sick, I recall saying to my friend in desperation as a migraine worsened on day two, “am I going to die?”

I guess that you can work out from this blog that I didn’t but boy I was feeling very poorly!

But the reason I am pouring this experience into this month’s blog is the after effects of this virus are mean! The fatigue and accompanying depressive feelings are so depleting and make you wonder if you will ever feel energized again. SO here’s the thing when you are a naturopath and a wellness practitioner, you go into “cure mode” and test the walk to the talk. So the guinea pig stage began. Yes I became my very own human guinea pig for the sake of my patients and that burning desire to heal. The result? You can recover, but how quickly depends on you.

As you can imagine, I have access to many different treatments, and I think that I have used them all! Just kidding, but I have certainly tried and tested many.
I have put together a herbal medicine that is extraordinarily helpful, picking me up in 24 hours while the virus was still trying to take over my body like something out of Alien!

Post initial infection, we must remember that the gastrointestinal tract has already let us down by not fighting the infection in the first place so now we must go in with the big guns to treat the gut.

Pre and Probiotics are essential here and must be taken in high dosage. Increasing your anti-oxidant supplementation, preferably in a powder form for best absorption through the gut and increasing zinc and selenium may also be beneficial.

Now, for your poor broken down nervous system. Although you may feel very flat and depleted, you can recover. Herbal medicine for the nervous system as in adaptogenic herbals and herbals that increase mood may be necessary for the short term.

Simple foods like stewed organic cooking apples with cinnamon are restorative to the gut also as is good quality Greek yoghurt, and yes, they do go well together.
Foods that are easily broken down in the system to allow for optimum bio-availability or high absorption are now required.

So steer away from raw foods and cook up some healthy soups and casseroles with high garlic, turmeric, ginger and cinnamon content. These foods are already broken down in the cooking process so your body can glean the nutritional effects of these quickly.

Now, I wish you a happy recovery, and if you play your cards right, you will feel better than you ever did! This will be your reward for going through this horrendous ordeal. Your immune system has had a fabulous workout and should recover stronger and better than ever.