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Aloe Vera Tips & Solutions, Issue #007 - In a Sick Spell July 02, 2012 |
Aloe Vera Tips & Solutions monthly newsletter/ezine of www.aloe-vera-and-handy-herbs.com avavavavavavavavavavavavavavavav Vol. 1 # 7 July 2, 2012
Contents: Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians, and Happy July 4th to our American Friends!
Taking Care of Myself - In a Sick Spell Recently I came down with a severe cough, some fever at the beginning, and general weakness so that I literally had to give in and treat myself as a sick person at home for a week and a half. Many of us, especially if we live alone, don't know how to nurse ourselves back to health. Now I'm thinking through my experience for lessons to mark down for the future. Our minds do not work as well as usual when sick, and if we have to be our own nurse it is smart to have certain things on hand, and a bit of a plan as to how to proceed. 1. Decide for what symptoms you will stay home. eg. a bad cough, or a fever might be contagious, and you will recover quicker if you rest. 2. You will need to drink lots of fluids, but not iced drinks or pop (soft drinks), nor even most juices. The cold drinks will rouse your coughing muscles, and the juices create more phlegm to plug your airways. Instead, you want lots of room temperature water, or hot water. You may have hot broths, or put a spoon of lemon and honey in your hot water. 3. Adele Davis, in her book, "Let's Get Well!" (back in the 1970s) wrote that when sick you should increase all your vitamin and mineral supplements, so I take extras during sick days. Aloe Vera capsules is a good thing to take several times a day. In fact, a zinc tablet and vitamin D can go a long way to protect your immune system so you rarely get sick. 4. Decide where you will mainly be and surround yourself with all your necessities within reach. (I don't like to be sick in bed, so I chose my comfortable recliner). Your liquids to drink, your tissues, chewable vitamin Cs, or throat lozenges, and maybe something casual to read. If you can, place your phone nearby so you don't have struggle up to go answer it. 5. It is a good idea to let your friends know you are sick, since some might be less afraid of your germs and come to cheer you, run errands, or take you to Emergency if necessary. 6. After a few days on a liquid diet, even if your appetite is not back, you may start to feel weak and discouraged. That may just mean that your body is crying for food. Try to get some light soups, and then move on to something more substantial. Just small servings. No need to overload your digestive tract. When I made a point of eating something I began to improve. A take-charge caregiver would probably have seen to it sooner, but when you live alone, and are feeling yukky-sick, that may not occur to you right away. 7. When you start to feel better, make an effort be up and about, even for just an hour or two at a time. My parents taught me to fear getting too used to a lazy lifestyle. It has stayed with me.
A Practical Tip/Solution - Hot Towels & Tea Tree Oil Steam Along with the tips above, I discovered two new tips to help one feel better even just for a little while. (I have already shared these in my inspirational RoseBouquet ezine/blog/feed. A cold pack from the freezer can ease some feverish, throbbing headaches, even a package of frozen corn will do. But you may want to experiment. I found that putting a thick towel folded to about 20" square and put in the oven to warm up a few minutes while in the kitchen, was the most soothing thing to bury my face in and relax all those taut sinus areas. Oh, how good! I remembered that I have a tiny bottle of Tea Tree Oil, so I went online to see if that could help. Someone wrote that she put 4 drops of Tea Tree Oil into a steamer and threw a towel over her head to draw the steam into her respiratory system. I put some filtered water into a stainless steel bowl and warmed it up on the stove, then took it off and added my drops of Tea Tree Oil. (Hard to count out just 4 drops so I had more). Oh does that ever feel good in the lungs after a violent coughing spell! When the water is cooled, pour it down the sink and it will cleanse your drain as well.
I Can Recommend - Aerobic Oxygen On a flier from the health food store where I went for some supplies near the beginning, I read a day or so later about a new product called aerobic oxygen. Their website is http://www.goodforyou.ca/Aerobic-Oxygen_c_39.html I found this very interesting, because over the years that I was my mother's caregiver she was on oxygen the last few years of her life. I saw what a difference it made. But I had never heard of oxygen as drops you can put into your drinking water. I tried to order some, but my order wouldn't go through right away, so I called the health food store and found that they carried it. (I have since learned that other companies are copying this now, but Good For You claims to have been the first to come out with this product. Now, the tricky part is that the liquid has no odor or colour, so how can we tell there is really oxygen in there? This could easily be used in a scam. However, I've been putting the 20 drops in a tall mug of water which I keep beside me at the computer, and I do think it has been helping me in my recovery. Perhaps if I'd used it more intensely I'd have more dramatic results to report. However, I thought I'd mention it in case this is news to you too.
Contact & Policies - Constant CONTACT INFO: Ruth Marlene Friesen (306)856-7785 Ruth@aloe-vera-and-handy-herbs.com
POLICIES: I am definitely against S/p/a/m! I Will NOT share your COPYRIGHT (c)2012 Ruth Marlene Friesen |
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