Just survived H1N1 -- my wellness strategy

First, as you may know, both my Bride and I distrust the H1N1 vaccination, and had chosen to not get it. As it turns out, for us that wasn't really a "choice" as only a few thousand courses of the vax made it recently to the big island here, and none that I am aware of made it to either of the smaller ones.

I have to say, the past three days were the sickest I can recall being -- at least in the last 20 years.

Based on research both shared here and found here at ATS, we chose to make "flu packs" for ourselves -- basically stocking up of a few suppliments and a couple of homeopathic goods, and we've kept this all in our med-box with all the other high strangeness supplies.

PLEASE NOTE: I am NOT a medical professional, I do NOT intend this to be medical advice, but merely a chronology of how things went, and what I used. It's a very personal thing, the wellness strategy that each of us employ for the safety of ourselves and our families. I'm not trying to change anybody's mind.

I was not diagnosed. There has been H1N1 positively diagnosed on Grand Cayman, and several cases just recently here on Cayman Brac. Our flues seem to run like that -- the flu of the day, until it is done. Therefore, while I strongly believe there is evidence and high probability that what I [still] have is H1N1, it is possible that it's merely a seasonal flu.

Wednesday - 27 Jan 10

Woke up feeling fine. By 5:00p.m., I felt a "tickle" in the back of my throat that signaled to me a possibility of coming down with something. I started taking one course -- 2000 mg. Vit. D3, 3000 mg. Vit. C, 500 mg L-Lysene, 800 mg Goldenseal. I then set myself up in the spare bedroom, as is our usual practice -- whomever gets sick first gets segregated; We've learned that it's pretty nasty when we both are sick at the same time. By 8:00 p.m., I was sick. By midnight, I was sicksick. My Darlin' also started the same course. She continued to feel well.

Thursday - 28 Jan 10

Thursday morning, I'm very sick. Fever of 102F. Coughing a lot, achy, basically a whiney man-ball. I continue taking the same as before, and drink some tea with lemon, some apple juice, several glasses of water. I couldn't stop coughing, and it was not a productive cough, but a very painful one. I had a shot of dark rum, which usually quells a repetitive cough. No dice, so I swallowed 2 ml. of licorice drops. That did the job, and I slept for a while.

Thursday night, my fever was up to a tad over 103F. Now, it's always seemed to me that your body elevates its core temperature in order to kill the invading virus. I used to have a sweat lodge before the hurricane last year, so instead I bundled up for several hours, with my Darlin' keeping a close watch to make sure my fever didn't get to a dangerous level. My wife reports that I was mumbling and moaning and generally delirious. Says she woke me up at 1:00a.m. because I was making "scared sounds" and said I told her that I'd had the same G***amn dream for two days now, over and over and it was driving me crazy! Weird. Fever broke around 3:30 a.m. and settled around 101. Continued taking the above, only now just taking 2000 mg. vitamin C for reasons you don't want to know about.

Friday, 29 Jan 10

Felt like my ribs were going to crack. Not coughing as much, but everything hurts when I do, especially ribs. Fever stays around 101 or sometimes a little less. Drinking a lot of water and tea. Had some chicken soup. Getting up and around now, and had the strong desire to bake in the sun, so I did for about an hour. Don't know if my body was "calling" for more vitamin D, or just that the warmth felt good. Had some chicken soup. M'Bride wants me to eat more, but I just am not interested. Body says no.

Saturday, 30 Jan 10

Had some scrambled eggs, tea, water. All the tea I've had has been decaffinated green tea. Feel weak, tired, want to sleep and not get jacked up. Ribs ache, but finally my cough is productive. walking and stretching a little bit. Getting up and around, took a shower.

Sunday, 31 Jan 10

Much better. Pretty much feel that the pork pox has been licked.

Thanks for this...

Some very helpful advice in there.

Whatever you do, trust your Doctor. These guys are NOT just well trained chimps SOME posters claim they are...(you know who you are...) These Professionals READ things. I, myself, like to watch TV.
Not these guys. Always reading. Smartest people I have EVER met. When I'm at the Doctor's office, I have to pry them away from the Computer, they are on the Internet reading stuff, mostly political stuff. I often ask them who to vote for, these guys are VERY polictally astute!

Anyway, I hope your Bride and you stay safe! Doctors are about the most selfless people you could meet! I mainly base this on my exposure to certain TV shows about Doctors, since I cannot afford to see a real Doctor very often! But the real Doctors i have seen, all of them drive beat up Volkwagen Bugs! And once, a Doctor asked me if he could borrow some change to buy a Coke from the vending machine. I gave him a dollar, because these guys are not well off, probably because they read so much!

Besides, if i didn't give him the dollar, maybe he wouldn't help me so good, you know?

What do Y'all think?

[edit on 31-1-2010 by jcrash]

[edit on 31-1-2010 by jcrash]

Glad to hear yall are ok. My baby girl (11) had this awhile back. she stomped it. Your right, wasnt pretty.

No shots, no problems.

Glad you are feeling better. You are living proof of just how powerful the immune system is. Let us not underestimate it.

Or, you could get vaccinated and not get sick at all...



... But your way of getting unbelievably ill and suffering for almost a week sounds equally as effective.

reply to post by ZombieOctopus


OR, you could get vaccinated, and get sicker than you might from the flu itself, as with the 172,000 doses recalled in Canada..

As I said, it's a very personal choice. If you've gotten the jab or the intranasal and have suffered no severe effects from it, then I'm really glad for you, and there's not a femtogram of sarcasm in that statement. Hopefully, we do our own research, confer with trusted medical professionals and arrive at what we believe will be the best wellness strategy.

I think there's some concern that H1N1 might've mutated to a strain different than that for which the vax was made. It might still be effective.

I'm not a big regrettful of not having to worry about future squalene-induced autoimmune malfunctions.

reply to post by argentus


Hey argentus ... first of all allow me to convey how happy I am that you got through this (knock in wood) seemingly unscathed for the long run.

A question if I may ... mrs sdog and I also have flu packs at the ready, we also decided not to get the H1N1 shot (for much the same reasons as you) though she takes the regular flu shot.

May I ask why you didn't include a Tamiflu in your regimen?

Cheers!

Never have been one to run out and get a Flu vaccine and have never contracted the Flu as an adult. rencently however I did recieve both the Seasonal Flu shot and the H1N1 shot. Been over a week and I am still alive and do not expect to go any time soon. I agree it is up to an individual to get it or not. I did not have the option and i am none the worse for wear.

reply to post by schrodingers dog


Heya S-Dog; like yer new avatar.

Well, we could acquire Tamiflu or Relenza via internet, but how do you really know what you're getting when you're on the buying end of a seller's market, especially over the internet? There is NONE available here on this little chunk of rock.

The other issue -- and admittedly it's somewhat ironic to lean on an FDA report on one hand and distrust the vax on another -- however, some of the recent FDA Tamiflu warnings really made us wonder........ WHAT in the HELL have they done with this star anise-based concoction that makes it so unfriendly to some human systems? AND/OR....... are "they" just trying to scare all us CTers away from the good stuff?

Either way, in the final analysis, we both elected to rely upon the only tried and tested system we had evidence of -- the human body, augmented by some supplements that would at least do no harm (assuming vitamin-C vapors are considered harmless). I know.. TMI.

Good luck to you and your darlin', S-Dog. I guess one atvantage that we have is that neither of us had to leave home for anything if we didn't want to..... well, except for sugar-free popsicles. They were pretty nice yesterday. I'd add them to your flu-pack, if I were you.

I feel pretty good tonight. Good thing we have dark rum in our flu-pack.

reply to post by DJMSN


Glad it worked out for you DJMSN; I think you're going to be in the largest statistical group -- those with the vax who are reported as having no perceptible/measurable side-effect.

I started to distrust the process when, for the first time in history, manufacturers of the vax were legally absolved from liability in various countries. Then, after subsequent reports regarding the adjuncts that appear in H1N1 vax........ well, I'm glad to hear reports such as yours, and hope to hear many, many more. I don't mind a bit being wrong. I would hate to be right, in this case. You did what you thought best, just like us.

Have you thought about serrapeptase. Someone suggested it on the big thread and it seems like it helped me. I'm surprised you didn't have nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. Thank goodness I didn't cough much or the nausea would've been even worse.