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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Cold and Flu Season
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Graven Image
Shipmate
# 8755
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Posted
It is that time of year again when the germs are going around. I had the bug in it's nastier form. Thankfully I am on the mend. For those yet to experience the sore throat, runny nose, cough and congestion what are your go to treatments.
I went with chicken soup, vitamin C, echinacea, and for the cough a cup of warm water with brandy and honey come bed time.
Posts: 2641 | From: Third planet from the sun. USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
I got a flu shot, so far it's working as far as that goes. But I got hit with a particularly nasty cold (I'm also recovering from a root canal-- my immune system seems to be having trouble coping with both at once). Lots of congestion, coughing etc. Here in the US we have a cough drop called Fishermen's Friend that's truly magical. It doesn't cure anything but it pretty much clears up the congestion and gives you a clear throat with no coughing for about an hour or so. Took a pack with me today and was able to lecture/lead class discussions for 3 hours straight with just a handful of the magic gems. That and a big travel mug filled with peppermint tea got me thru it. After the last class I crawled home and holed up in bed where I expect to stay until Sunday services.
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Fisherman's Friend is a wondrous and magical remedy for almost anything. I have just had a cold, happily only 24/36 hours of misery but the dry cough lingers on - until I suck on a Fisherman's Friend. I get friends to bring them from UK when they visit.
During the worst bit I also take more Vitamin C and possibly some Chlorpheniramine [Class 1 antihistamine] and I also use a nasal spray.
[ 13. February 2015, 03:10: Message edited by: Welease Woderwick ]
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
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What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
I've escaped so far, despite having crossed the Atlantic twice in the space of the last 10 days (I await the onset of aeroplane flu in the not-too-distant future).
When I start getting the tickly throat, I make up a proprietary lemon cold-cure such as Lem-sip, Coldrex or Neo-citran, make it palatable by the addition of a teaspoon or three each of Manuka honey, lemon juice and whisky, and have it just before bed, which usually does the trick (or at least helps).
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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bib
Shipmate
# 13074
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Posted
I find that ginger beer is a wonderful drink to ease a cold and a sore throat and have depended on it for years. It must be something to do with the ginger because other types of fizzy drink such as lemonade don't work in the same way.
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"My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring"
Posts: 1307 | From: Australia | Registered: Oct 2007
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
It's funny you should say that, because while off sick with the aforementioned winter bug, I had odd cravings for a really fiery ginger beer. I also really like a good hot lemon, ginger and honey drink.
My other method of choice is heat treatment. Hot baths, electric blankets, heating turned up, bar fires, as much as I can stand. It's probably the good old medieval principle of drying up the excess aqueous element with the fiery one, but it works for me.
If you can stand it a curry, just slightly hotter than you can handle, can be magic for bronchitis and sinusitis. I speak as one who had a streaming cold, had a too-hot Malaysian curry one evening and was cold-free the next morning. Strange but true. It has seemed to work on other occasions, though not recommended if you're in the queasy stage of a cold.
And while we're on the subject, usual disclaimer about no medical advice on this thread please.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Galilit
Shipmate
# 16470
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Posted
Chop a small-ish onion finely
add juice of 1 lemon
add honey (same quantity as the lemon juice)
a slice or 2 of root ginger
fill a cup with just-off-the-boil water
You can drink it or eat it like a soup
You will feel results in 20 minutes
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She who does Her Son's will in all things can rely on me to do Hers.
Posts: 624 | From: a Galilee far, far away | Registered: Jun 2011
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
I go with the nuclear option – throw the contents of half a pharmacy at it ASAP before it gets really bad. I have an early warning system in that my skin usually breaks out a couple of days before I have any other symptoms and if I take zinc supplements at that point sometimes I can avoid getting the cold altogether or at least be much less unwell.*
Failing that, at the first sign of a catch in the throat/sneezing, zinc, vitamin C and maximum doses of a Sudafed-type medication for at least the first twenty-four hours. This way it never gets really horrible and is completely over in less than a week.
*This may be the placebo effect, but if it is, then I don’t want to know. It’s a damn effective placebo. The odd thing is that I’m aware that it might be placebo (the scientific jury’s out on zinc) but it still works really, really well.
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Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Do you know, Wodders, I've always imagined you as the sort of person who'd suck a Fisherman's Friend! ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
Haven't done too badly for colds thus far, just two, but it's the sheer length of time I've spent producing apparently infinite amounts of guacamole that gets to me. even now, every now and then there's that tickle in the chest and I know I'll be reaching for the nachos...
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
(All on an IANAD, home-remedy basis.)
--There's a remedy called Oscillococcinum, made by Boiron. It's homeopathic. Comes as little tubes of sugar & medicine pellets, which you let melt under your tongue. IME, always lessens my
symptoms. (It can be a little expensive, so I either buy it on sale--some drugstores carry it--or get it at Trader Joe's or a discount vitamin place.)
--Fisherman's Friend is good, but the flavor is strong and something of an acquired taste. Ricola lozenges are also good, and sweeter.
--Miso soup is soothing. It's made from a very salty, fermented soy paste. (Tastes much better than it sounds.) You can get it various ways; but IME the simplest way--especially when you're
sick--is just to get a tub of the paste, and put a spoonful in a cup of warm or hot water. (Best not to cook it, because that kills off the live cultures.) If you have access to a Trader Joe's grocery, try a carton of their "Miso Ginger Broth". IME, it's especially good for tummy/digestive trouble. When I'm too sick to do any kind of preparation, I just take the carton to bed with me, and sip as needed.
Cartons of chicken or vegetable broth are good, too.
--Putting eucalyptus oil in a warm/hot shower can help clear your breathing apparatus.
--Chocolate is supposed to be as good for a sore throat as a lozenge; but I've found it's less good if you've got congestion, 'cause it mixes in with the mucus.
--A few sips of aloe vera juice sooths the throat.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Enoch
Shipmate
# 14322
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Posted
Fisherman's Friend come from Fleetwood which is next door to Blackpool. This is their story from their website.
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
Of course- why didn't I remember Fisherman's Friends? Horrible dry convulsive cough, but tickets for the opera tonight and i don't want to miss it. I will get some.
Posts: 6498 | From: Y Sowth | Registered: Jan 2008
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
I've had that cough (so has Mrs. BT), it's horrible and drags on for weeks. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Try not to cough during the quiet bits.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Caissa
Shipmate
# 16710
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Posted
I returned from Dallas and promptly developed an airplane cold.
Posts: 972 | From: Saint John, N.B. | Registered: Oct 2011
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Jante
Shipmate
# 9163
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Posted
Just love to see the mention of Fisherman's Friend. I come from the town where they are made- a local pharmacy family recipe developed for the fishermen , its now a worldwide phenomena still made by the same family who are great supporters of their home town ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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My blog http://vicarfactorycalling.blogspot.com/
Posts: 535 | From: deepest derbyshire | Registered: Mar 2005
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St. Gwladys
Shipmate
# 14504
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Posted
I haven't tried Fisherman's Friends, but a friend introduced me to Proctor's Cattargh Pastilles. I only know of one pharmacy locally that sells them, and I've never yet found them anywhere else. They are a mixture of menthol and eucapyptus. Darllenwr hates the flavour, but acknowledges that they are effective, and even Lord P found they eased his cough.
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"I say - are you a matelot?"
"Careful what you say sir, we're on board ship here"
From "New York Girls", Steeleye Span, Commoners Crown (Voiced by Peter Sellers)
Posts: 3333 | From: Rhymney Valley, South Wales | Registered: Jan 2009
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Hall's Mentho-Lyptus cough drops. Only the honey-lemon flavor.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Carex
Shipmate
# 9643
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Posted
Lemon ginger tea. For serious cases, made from real slices of ginger and lemon.
For a chicken soup remedy we stop at a Thai restaurant for a big bowl of Tom Kha Gai as spicy as we can stand.
Posts: 1425 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
Combined vitamin C and zinc is the closest thing to a cure I have come across. Taken as soon as I get that dry sore throat that is the forerunner of a cold, I find it can sometimes even ward off the cold completely. If I'm too late to stop it, then Lemsip with honey is the best for alleviating the symptoms.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
Never touching nose and eyes, and washing hands. Prevention is my step 1. For treatment I generally increase the usual 8 cups to maybe 16. I have half a mind to try poisoning the viruses with large amounts of sherry and port next time. Something I think I read in a novel but can't recall where with the other half of my mind.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
Homemade chicken soup (simmer a chicken with carrot and onion) or even better, Hot and sour Soup are good for dealing with the type of cold/flu that has you in bed for a few days.
I find peppermint or sour fruit hard candies help a little with the sore throat. They do sell an expensive ointment in the US that is an anti-viral against cold sores. It has been FDA tested and actually works rather than just being another nostrum like most cold remedies.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jante:
Just love to see the mention of Fisherman's Friend. I come from the town where they are made- a local pharmacy family recipe developed for the fishermen , its now a worldwide phenomena still made by the same family who are great supporters of their home town
I tell everyone I know about them-- particular preacher/ teachers who need to be able to speak clearly for an hour or so-- they're perfect for that. Work 10x better than any drop or syrup I've found. They should be called Preacher's Friend.
[ 14. February 2015, 00:54: Message edited by: cliffdweller ]
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
... I await the onset of aeroplane flu in the not-too-distant future ...
I have a nasty feeling the not-too-distant future has just arrived - I've started sneezing and feel decidedly snufflous. Considering that I've been on seven different planes in the last fortnight, I'm not really surprised.
Sadly, I don't think I've got any cold remedies, so I'll have to make do with the honey/lemon/whisky combo.
Night-night. ![[Snore]](graemlins/snore.gif)
[ 14. February 2015, 04:01: Message edited by: Piglet ]
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Belle Ringer
Shipmate
# 13379
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Posted
Someone on line taught me several years ago, and it works for me - at first little tickle or other sign of impending cold virus, take enough vitamin C to start to loosen the bowels, it's the body's signal it has all the C it can use. The guy who taught me said up to 20 1000 mg pills for him. I usually take 10-12 pills (10,000+ mg)
Then one 1000 pill per hour the rest of the day. (If my first dose is at night, I take half that much first thing in the morning to make up for not having the topping up doses all night, then do the one pill per hour all day.)
Never yet had a cold last past 24 hours.
But you have to catch it near the start because if you let it develop a couple days first, the virus is too well established for this method.
The past two years I haven't needed the vitamin C trick. I read the (small, of course, it's not a patentable medicine) clinical studies on elderberry tincture, which has been shown helpful against influenza A and B, shortening both duration and intensity. People on line say full blown flu goes away in about 4 days instead of 2-3 weeks if you take elderberry tincture 1 tablespoon several times a day when sick.
As a preventative, I take a teaspoonful of elderberry tincture daily October through April. Amazingly, no respiratory viruses the past two winters nor the current one! I'm used to several colds each winter and a bad bronchitis at Christmas.
I don't know if it cures lingering cough.
Posts: 5830 | From: Texas | Registered: Jan 2008
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Ad Orientem
Shipmate
# 17574
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Posted
I've had a cough all week. It's started to feel like a proper cold now. I've got to try and get through this weekend overtime but I should be at home in bed. I might buy some rum on the way home. That usually helps.
Posts: 2606 | From: Finland | Registered: Feb 2013
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
Thayer's Slippery Elm lozenges are also good for the throat. Package says they're a favorite of opera singers, IIRC.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Aravis
Shipmate
# 13824
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Posted
I have a truly horrible remedy for sinusitis: snorting lemon juice. It usually works but it is torture.
Posts: 689 | From: S Wales | Registered: Jun 2008
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
That sounds like one of those folk remedies (of which my mother had a stock, usually involving baking soda) which are so painful that the original condition seems quite benign in comparison.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Aravis:
I have a truly horrible remedy for sinusitis: snorting lemon juice. It usually works but it is torture.
Did you invent that yourself or was it one of those accidental discoveries?
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
Well, the Fisherman's Friends got me through the opera* last night, with barely a cough, so thanks for the reminder, whoever it was.
*The Magic Flute, though I suppose Peter Grimes would have been more fitting.
Posts: 6498 | From: Y Sowth | Registered: Jan 2008
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rufiki
Ship's 'shroom
# 11165
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Posted
For bad throats, gargle with TCP antiseptic liquid (instructions on the bottle). It took me a few attempts to get past the gag reflex, but well worth it once I had.
Posts: 1562 | Registered: Mar 2006
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Belle Ringer:
. I read the (small, of course, it's not a patentable medicine) clinical studies on elderberry tincture, which has been shown helpful against influenza A and B, shortening both duration and intensity. People on line say full blown flu goes away in about 4 days instead of 2-3 weeks if you take elderberry tincture 1 tablespoon several times a day when sick.
As a preventative, I take a teaspoonful of elderberry tincture daily October through.
Wouldn't it be easier to just get a flu shot???
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Belle Ringer
Shipmate
# 13379
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by cliffdweller:
quote:
Originally posted by Belle Ringer:
. I read the (small, of course, it's not a patentable medicine) clinical studies on elderberry tincture, which has been shown helpful against influenza A and B, shortening both duration and intensity. People on line say full blown flu goes away in about 4 days instead of 2-3 weeks if you take elderberry tincture 1 tablespoon several times a day when sick.
As a preventative, I take a teaspoonful of elderberry tincture daily October through.
Wouldn't it be easier to just get a flu shot???
Elderberry is tastier, flu shots often don't work - I think they said effective this year to prevent 5% of flus? Elderberry gets at the other 95%. (Usual rate of effectiveness is about 40% from what I've read. Flu virus mutates so fast.)
Posts: 5830 | From: Texas | Registered: Jan 2008
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Belle Ringer:
Elderberry is tastier, flu shots often don't work - I think they said effective this year to prevent 5% of flus? Elderberry gets at the other 95%. (Usual rate of effectiveness is about 40% from what I've read. Flu virus mutates so fast.)
While the results vary greatly from year to year (and this year's were poorer than most) according to
the CDC overall it's closer to 77%. Since I've started getting free flu shot every year I have never gotten the flu, despite traveling internationally. ymmv.
[ 14. February 2015, 15:29: Message edited by: cliffdweller ]
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
Another lover of the lemon, ginger and honey mixture for sore throats and feeling better.
One I haven't done for a bit is a jambalaya mix made with home-made chicken stock and a couple of chillies - sort of the chicken soup cure with added chilli for the sinuses.
The other suggestions the GP recommended for sinus infections (current bug means my boss thought someone had hit me as I look as if I have two black eyes) are:
- breathing steam for 5 minutes several times a day - peppermint tea is a nicer way of doing that one,
- sniffing salt water through the sinuses. That one I hate so much I "forget" about it until I'm in a lot of pain, debate making an appointment to see the GP and remember I won't be prescribed anything unless I've tried everything I've been told to try first.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
Re flu shots: Not everyone can tolerate them. I get flu symptoms from the shot. (Please note that I said *symptoms*.) Common for people like me, who have CFIDS/CFS/ME.
Re saline solution in the nose: I can't do a rinse (Neti pot, etc.), because of a deviated septum. The rinse doesn't come back out, and I feel much worse. I get a nasal spray from the health food store; has grapefruit seed extract (antibiotic, IIRC) and assorted other things.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
Re flu shots. Had them in the 1960s because my nurse mother insisted. I would get sick and have a sore arm, usually for about 10 days. I stopped when I could which was when I was sent to boarding school. In 1990, I caught the flu in early October, and wasn't right until April. Ill, relapse, ill, relapse, repeat. The ill periods were awful. Bodily aches, fever, head cold, nose dripping lasting for 2-3 weeks. Improved periods were a little shorter. I am a thin person, but lost 25 lbs any way. Weak, debilitated. I recall being in bed on Xmas Day, Boxing Day and also missing New Years.
This convinced me to start getting flu shots again ever since. The formulation has certainly changed. No sore arm. No symptoms. They became part of Medicare within the last decade. So no cost any more here to anyone. It used to be $20 or 25 up to ~5 years ago.
If everyone who can safely get one gets one, I am told we protect those who can't.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Ad Orientem
Shipmate
# 17574
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Posted
I have a flu shot every year. I see it as an insurance policy. As I understand it, it doesn't stop you from getting it but the systems are supposed to be much milder. I think I just had it with a dry cough, head spinning, body aching etc. No doubt it would have been much worse without the shot, or at least I'm not willing to take the risk of not taking it.
I'm not sure the rum really worked but ending up drinking half the bottle I had no problem getting to sleep.
Posts: 2606 | From: Finland | Registered: Feb 2013
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by rufiki:
For bad throats, gargle with TCP antiseptic liquid ...
My dad (who's 90) used to gargle with a tiny amount (less than a teaspoon) of Dettol in a mug of as hot water as he could stand at the first sign of a cold, and AFAIK it very rarely got any further than the first sign.
It's not pleasant, but I think it works, and as you're spitting it out, it presumably won't do you any harm.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Sandemaniac
Shipmate
# 12829
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Posted
Urgh, so much for avoiding the lurgi. Have just finished my first solid food of the day, at 5pm. Burning cold, cramps, dizziness, explosive emanations at both ends, you name it.
Having got the computer on my lab, it is about to go back down again so I can curl up again.
Haven't felt this shit for six or seven years...
AG
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"It becomes soon pleasantly apparent that change-ringing is by no means merely an excuse for beer" Charles Dickens gets it wrong, 1869
Posts: 3574 | From: The wardrobe of my soul | Registered: Jul 2007
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Piglet, one of our choristers way back when I was an Anglican used to swear by [foul-mouthed little lad that he was, now a rather senior policeman] gargling TCP.
He was an odd child! Now grown into a close friend.
My cold went but has left me with a chest infection so I have medications galore including a "strawberry flavoured" cough mixture that has to be one of the foulest things I have ever tasted. As usual the initial reaction of my body to antibiotics is that I feel worse than I did before I started them.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
No Prophet, I sometimes think that you live in an alternate Canada. Flu shots were available on demand at any surgery over twenty years ago. Nowadays, though, I get mine at the pharmacy. All pharmacists there are trained injection specialists. Before that, a public health nurse set up in the pharmacy for about a week.
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Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
I've never had a flu jab, but then again I've (so far, touch wood) only once had what I'd describe as proper flu* with aches, shivering and feeling that I've been kicked.
I understand that it's quite hard for the PTB to decide on which particular variety of flu bug they'll vaccinate against, and if it's not the one that's going around that year, it won't help anyway.
* as opposed to just a filthy cold
edited for tpynig
[ 17. February 2015, 13:33: Message edited by: Piglet ]
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Bishops Finger
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# 5430
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Posted
Praise be to God, the flu jab, and my fairly robust immune system, I've escaped so far. ![[Help]](graemlins/help.gif)
Alas, our poor Vicar, along with his wife and daughter, and also one of our Churchwardens, together with several others of our little flock, are all presently afflicted with what is known round here as The Dreaded Medway Lurgy. At this rate, our Ash Wednesday Mass will be a minimalist affair, with me dishing out Holy Communion By Extension to a handful of The Faithful (i.e. keeping at arm's length away from the germs. Where's that long spoon we used to keep in the Sacristy in case the Devil came to lunch?).
I find that a nice single malt whisky keeps the said germs away, too.
Ian J.
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Uncle Pete:
No Prophet, I sometimes think that you live in an alternate Canada. Flu shots were available on demand at any surgery over twenty years ago. Nowadays, though, I get mine at the pharmacy. All pharmacists there are trained injection specialists. Before that, a public health nurse set up in the pharmacy for about a week.
Yes, I live in the sparsely populated west, between the rocks and the Rockies. Everything between Thunder Bay and Calgary is backward I'm afraid, with Winnipeg wanting to be Toronto as an anomaly.
e're supposed to go to the pharmacists injecting next year, if they take the course. We are behind the times. Our's have been available for 4 years for free, before that for a fee, or if in a designated risk group, at specific locations set up by the district health authority. The line-ups this year were 1½ hours, with 70% of us getting the shot they reported.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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cliffdweller
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# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:
I understand that it's quite hard for the PTB to decide on which particular variety of flu bug they'll vaccinate against, and if it's not the one that's going around that year, it won't help anyway.
Yes, that's why this year's shot is less effective than usual. Still, as noted in the link above, the CDC estimates an overall effectiveness of 77%, which is good 'nuff for me to have the quick jab!
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Pomona
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# 17175
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Posted
Hmm, I have never had the flu jab but also have had the flu maybe twice in my life - I seem to be naturally quite immune.
Jakeman's aniseed and eucalyptus lozenges are absolutely brilliant for persistent coughs - I'm prone to the really awful hacking chesty coughs, and they just make it vanish. I think it's the eucalyptus so if you hate aniseed, worth giving the other eucalyptus ones a go. Yogi Tea make a few teas containing thyme/oregano/sage which are all extremely effective for treating colds - there's a tea called Breathe Deep which is thyme, eucalyptus and something else I've forgotten which is fantastic. Not very nice to drink but it works!
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Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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Kitten
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# 1179
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Posted
I've had many flu type viruses but have only had what I would call real flue three times in my life. The worst time, about sixteen years ago, came a week after receiving a flu jab
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Maius intra qua extra
Never accept a ride from a stranger, unless they are in a big blue box
Posts: 2330 | From: Carmarthenshire | Registered: Aug 2001
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