This winter has really taken its toll on us. We're all good at the moment, but it seems that we have a week of nothing and then one or other of us comes down with something new. I can't blame it on stress or being unhappy - we're all in a really good space and enjoying life.
I think this is a combo of several things:
~ First, we are being exposed to more than any other winter with the kids now at school (we're not actually getting any more sick than any of the other school families though, and not getting sick with the same thing even). It just seems more than it is, we've each only been sick with about two things each, but spread that out amongst four of us and not at the same time, it has felt constant!
~ Lack of Vitamin D! I really think this is one of the biggest changes. When we homeschooled I was able to get us out for regular sunshine at the middle of day during winter on sunny days - not possible at school! At school, lunchtime only starts at 1pm, past the best time to make Vitamin D during winter.
~ No vitamins or supplements. For some reason I had fallen off the wagon with supplementing this year (and one less meal to include a wider range of veges and nutrients ie. school lunches mainly comprise of a simple sandwich along with fruit and popcorn, not the cooked up meal that I was used to making them). I've now started them on vitamins again (a kids multi as well as a fish oil with added Bs and iodine), so we'll see how we go as we head into Spring.
Both kids have had an ear infection this year. Ear infections are not something that they generally suffer from, and usually the ear pain doesn't last longer than a few hours when I get onto it right away (usually a combination of either colloidal silver, garlic oil, vitamin C, and homeopathics). Last time though, Danielle had had some strange viral thing that led to a ear infection that became a bit prolonged and required antibiotics (our doctor doesn't usually prescribe them as a standard treatment). Saturday night she said her other ear was aching (4 weeks since the last one), and I got onto it right away. I came across a timely post on
Watching Kereru's blog and tried out her onion wrap when Danielle went to bed (I used a woollen sock of Simon's, one of my cotton knit headbands, and Simon's head wrap he uses when he rides to hold it all together). No lingering pain in the morning (I removed the wrap after about 30mins), although there was a small amount later on towards bedtime (so I repeated it).
I have also been suffering from a lingering cough, which started after my flu and then I got a second cough a few weeks later (my cough had progressed to many uses of my asthma inhaler, which usually only gets used a few times a year normally!). Over the weekend I chanced upon some reading on fenugreek that reminded me of the benefits, so started right away drinking 2-3 cups of tea a day (I had a jar of the seeds in my herbal cupboard). Some of Fenugreek's benefits are that it relieves congestion, reduces inflammation and helps fight infection. It also has expectorant properties that are good for helping with sinus and lung congestion, and loosens and removes excess mucous. Sounds good to me! It's pretty tasty too. Just a warning though ... if like me your body needs a bit of a detox, then this will also produce sweat (and all over the skin in fact) that smells very fenugreeky/curryish - this only last 3-4 days though. Oh, and I haven't used my inhaler since!
