It started with a few sneezes. A drippy nose where if a tissue wasn’t to hand, it was an embarrassing situation of a literally runny nose. The next day my energy started to dwindle. Later, body aches started to creep in. I thought it was a cold up until the all night cough-a-thon happened. I was almost like a cuckoo clock chiming on the hour, I’d wake up and cough until exhaustion and then fall back to sleep until the next bout. The chills kicked in, which signalled a fever, but it was waffling around 37.1 or so, according to my ear thermometer that I’ve had since my teenage kids were babies. It took a couple of days to get up to what I know is a real fever, over 38C. I’d go between feeling warm, not hot, to almost my teeth chattering and then submerge myself in an epsom salts bath. Having just started a new job this week, working from home has been the biggest blessing. My drive to push through how I feel and work, deliver and not let the team down, is not.
The insanity of being sick, needing sleep and not getting it is one that I have yet to figure out. As you have heard me say before, knowledge is power, especially for us overthinkers. Knowing just what my body is going through helps to have respect and even pride in my immune system and the army that shows up to defend and deal with what gets thrown at it. Holding a more positive mindset and trusting the process and intelligence that it holds, does that make a difference? I’ve flipped the script on my thoughts, catching myself having a mental pity party of how awful I feel, why me, why when I’m so healthy did this hit me, and hit me hard … to I am strong. I trust my body and all its wisdom to deal with and heal from this. Especially in the middle of the night after another exhausting coughing episode. I’m not sure if it helped, but the emotional heaviness sure shifted fast when I did. Flus, colds and other viruses are here, and although different variants, varieties and strains, we have to deal with them. Today on EAT THIS with Lianne, a vulnerable share of my experience with the flu, and our listener favourite, Dr Davis Brockenshire deeply explain what the hell is going on.
The insufferable length of time that a virus can last for varies, but no matter how long it lasts, there is a process going on in the body that we don’t fully understand. Having had the flu for the past week, sharing my experience and using my experience to ask specific and pointed questions, talk through my fears and the crazy thinking that I just need to push through, could help you navigate this cold and flu or other virus season, because while our body is fighting, our emotions are running high too. What can we do to support ourselves? Why does your throat hurt sometimes and other times, it’s all stuck in your sinuses? There’s a lot to this conversation, so I’ll save my voice and introduce our functional medicine expert, Dr Davis Brockenshire from Innovative Health Solutions in Plymouth, Michigan. If you haven’t heard him on EAT THIS with Lianne before, I’ll share all the episodes that he has been on with us after our discussion. Welcome back, Dr B.
There’s a lot to digest there, and hopefully you’re listening to this ahead of any illness, so you have a new perspective on what is going on in your body and also what you can do about it.
What I’ve been doing:
Humidifier on full in the bedroom. Dryness and the discomfort in my nose, maybe even the dryness of my cough needed extra moisture further to what I can drink.
Hot steamy showers with freezing cold at the end. As awful as it is to do this, I know that hydrotherapy is incredibly helpful.
Caster oil on my chest, back and face and heat. I’ve used my Orion Red and Near Infra Red light rather than the usual hot water bottle. It definitely helped my chest relax and my face and teeth didn’t hurt as much after having the light on my face for 20 minutes.
Drinking a LOT. Herb teas, water with the homeopathic Rehydrate in it for maximum hydration. I’ve peed about 5 times a night which really just gave me something to do as I was awake coughing anyway.
Focusing on protein and broth. I have a little cast iron frying pan and would fry an egg, add leftover salmon and chopped up broccoli and put a lid on it. I wanted the egg runny, so this covered that. Soups with homemade Meat Broth and Immune Boosting Soup with mushrooms a-plenty in it (from my book Sprout Right Family Food). NO SUGAR.
Sleep. I went to bed as early as 7 pm one night, and didn’t push it much past that. Rest during the day, if not sleeping. I used my Brain Tap, focused on breathing and put my eye black out mask on to ease my eye aches.
Supplements:
Sunshine D3+K2 – 10 sprays twice a day
Alka C – 1 tsp in the morning and ½ tsp at night
Adult Boost – 2 caps am, 2 pm
Bio Boost – 12 caps each night (5 nights so far)
Kid Boost – 1 scoop twice a day mixed with water and Alka C (+ Liposome B complex too)
Real Mushrooms – 5 Defenders – 2 caps twice a day
Real Mushrooms – Turkey Tail – 2 caps twice a day
Giddy Yo – Chaga and Reishi tincture in warm water (use code EAT THIS for 15% off regular priced items)
Physica HPA Axis – to support the stress my body is under
Physica Myrrh and Sambucus for coughs, mucus and respiratory health (special order if you’d like some, email here)
Physica Magnesium Bis-Glycinate – 4 – 5 caps at night
Quercetin – for my cough (learned that from Covid and Dr. B)
The top 4 products are in the Immune Boost package.
I hope sharing my experience helps you, or helps understand what a loved one could be experiencing. I’m not saying that everyone has the same experience and at any time of concern seek medical advice. Share this with your loved ones, who might need to understand what you are going through, especially the emotional side of all this. It’s a challenge from the head on down as Dr B so beautifully explained. There is a LOT going on in this body of ours, and supporting it in the best way we know how, will have an impact. Don’t leave the mindset side behind though. Meditate, turn those negative and pity party thoughts to I am strong and I trust my body knows how to heal me from this, to give your mind something else to focus on.
