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Flu settled in my lungs


Grace&Violets

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A week ago the flu went through my house and ended with me. I took Oscillo, a homeopathic flu medicine, and noticed that most of my symptoms left pretty quickly. The only symptom that refuses to leave is this horrible cough. I could feel it going to my lungs and I ended up going to the doctor. Sure enough, she said that if we didn't take care of it with antibiotics, it could turn into something much worse. Well, I've just finished up my 5 day course on a Z-pak and there is only a seemingly slight improvement in my cough. At times it seems a little more productive, but towards night, it just hits me so bad. With other bugs that hit me, I'm at the end of more than 3 weeks of being sick. I've been in tears, because I feel so awful.

 

Here's the kicker, and not how I wanted to announce this to my Mrs. S family, but I'm 10 weeks pregnant and I can't really take any over the counter meds. I'm afraid of taking much and I really need some suggestions from knowledgeable people. I've been taking extra vitamin D3, a little extra vitamin C, my prenatal multivitamins, tea with honey, apple cider vinegar with honey in hot water, and a little broth, along with trying to avoid sugar. I would love to know if I can take grapefruit seed extract and Chestal (homeopathic cough syrup by Boiron). What else can I do? Every time I cough, my chest hurts more and more. I've also been waking up because when I cough, it sometimes pulls something in my stomach so hard, it brings me to tears. It's near the surface of my stomach, so I know it's probably not hurting the baby. I've also lost over 5 lbs, which probably isn't the best thing...I started out at 125 lbs.

 

Thank you!! Oh, btw, since I haven't officially announced this, if you are a FB friend, please don't write anything on my wall about it! :)

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Congratulations on the pregnancy but what a time to be sooo sick. Over 20 yrs. ago, I got ill with a bad case of double pneumonia. At the time, I had a 1 yr.old daughter and a dh that was working out of town--nights. I was too sick to care for myself and daughter, so husband took me "home" to my parents. My mother immediately made me a honey and garlic sandwich---similar to a peanut butter and jam sandwich. It was horrid (to me) but within half an hour, I had gobs of phlem coming up. It felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest to breathe and I could only sleep sitting up in the lazy boy chair. The honey makes it stay in your chest but the garlic expels the phlem.

The next day my father took me to the ER where I was diagnosed with double pneumonia. The ER dr.told me that the garlic saved my life. Over the next few weeks, I thought seriously that I wouldn't make it but I'm here to tell the tale. It took me a good 6 weeks to get well enough to go out of the house--and only bcz it was spring, nicer weather and I had 'cabin fever'.

Since then, although I/we still get sick (esp. last year, we got it good) I've increased our onion and garlic consumption bigtime..Every meal (except breakfast) generally has a few cloves of garlic in it. Last year, I feel that we had Community Acquired Pneumonia which was going round--but though we got very sick, we did not actually get pneumonia. I make a lot of homemade soups--but when we were at the peak of being sick, I still made Liptons Chicken soup and added onions and garlic to it. I feel that this helped keep the pneumonia at bay.

I also have asthma so I had to take my puffers...could you need those by chance? I'd not be alive if I didn't have those when I get sick too.

Hope this info on the honey and garlic helps you.

I

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Congratulations!

 

Grapefruit seed is usually not a problem unless you have blood pressure problems.

 

Guaifenesin, available in syrup and tablets (Mucinex, Tussin, etc.) has few side effects and is generally considered baby-safe. (It is not necessarily nursing-safe, though.) Be careful only if you have high blood pressure or high eyeball fluid pressure, because it can raise the pressure a bit.

 

Juice an onion, add as much honey as it takes to get it down, and swallow as much as you can stomach. The sulfurones help fight the infection. Salad onions (Granex, Walla Walla, Vidalia, Texas Sweet) are not nearly as effective. Smearing the onion on toast and topping with honey, then eating a little dry toast after it helps keep it down.

 

Chicken soup with garlic is good. Adding pinches of ginger and turmeric makes it better.

 

Have your husband cup his hand and "clop" you on the back a dozen times every time you think of it. Might help the first few times to wrap a towel around your kidney level and tell him to stay above the towel. This sends waves of pressure you can feel inside, and it physically breaks loose the crap in your lungs.

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Let me add my congratulations!!!!

 

This is the list that the midwife's (& OB's office) gave me this pregnancy. Tylenol, X-tra strength Tylenol for pain relievers; Benadryl, Robitussin DM, Sudafed, Actifed; Tylenol Sinus, Tylenol Cold, Claritin, Zyrtec (Rx), Cough Drops for Colds, Coughs & Antihistamine; Amoxicillin, Erythromycin, Keflex, Ampicillin, Penicillin, Zithromax, Augmentin as Antibiotics.

 

If you have a Chiropractor that does Kinesology and Homeopathics, they might be able to help (we have 3 in the area).

 

I hope you feel better soon!

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my husband had a cold a couple of months ago and he coughed bad at night and i was gettimg no sleep ,well after 2 nights of this I had really had enough i read somewhere to help with the cough at night to take vics vapor rub and rub it on the bottom of your feet and then but socks on my husband thought i was crazy well it worked we both got a good nights sleep. I know others who have done this as well. ask your Dr. what you can take to help.

 

And congratulations and the new baby on the way

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Thanks so much for the congrats on the baby! I wasn't really ready to announce it yet, given that I'm only 10 1/2 weeks, but there you go. :)

 

Motherhen - Thanks for the garlic and honey advice. I've been using a lot of honey, but haven't been able to get to the store for some garlic. I'll have to get some asap! When I went in to the doctor's, they told me that my oxygen was good, so I didn't have to take any inhalers. I did feel like taking them, though!

 

Ambergris - I had DH "clop" on my back and I had a hacking fit! I'm not sure if it worked, though.

 

Jori - thanks for the list from your OB. My doctor was telling me that it's ok to take Advil, but that counters the advice I got in my previous pregnancies. I wish I would have had the list of cold meds earlier, though! It might have helped it not settle in my chest.

 

S.K. - I did use Vick's on my chest and it seemed to help, but I didn't do it on my feet. I should have thought of it, though, because I've done that for my kids. Thanks!

 

I am feeling a little bit better today, so I'm sure things will be clearing up soon. I'll definitely be adding more onion and garlic to our diets for the winter. I'm sure that our mostly good, traditional diets are what kept the duration of our kids' flu down. Two days is pretty good.

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Nana's Kick-A** Chicken Soup! It's posted here somewhere on MrsS. There were studies done *somewhere* that I can't remember, that said that chicken broth has something in it that's good for colds. Closest thing to a *cure*. I think there's some cayenne or something in it to which is good. Any type hot pepper would do, as it's the capsacium (sp?) that helps.

 

Coffee (unless you're against caffiene) will dialate and open bronchial tubes and airways to help get the stuff up and breathe better. Works great for an asthma attack. It's the only asthma *medicine* I use, as the OTC and script stuff wires me up so bad I feel like I'm having a heart attack.

 

Hope you feel better soon and CONGRATS on the little one to be. :)

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Congrats on the baby. The only thing I can suggest that works for me is to not lay down. I sleep sitting up and when I am having trouble, in addition to everything else, I put the heating pad or something warm on my chest. It helps it feel better and breaks it up a little.

 

As far as capsacin, anything like peppers, hot (spicy) dip, nachos with jalapenos, etc. will help the mucus to move. i use that when I am having congestion problems.

 

 

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MomM - Thank you!

 

Necie - I actually have some 24 hour chicken stock brewing on the stove, right now. I will probably dip into it before it's been a whole 24 hours, though. I was able to make some good soup with beef broth and I added some cayenne powder to it. It didn't seem like much, but the kiddos couldn't eat it, so I ate the whole thing in a few settings. It seemed to help some. I've also been allowing myself a 1/2 cup of coffee in the mornings. So many people say that you shouldn't have it when you're pregnant, but I have so many friends that drank 3-4 Dr. Pepper's or other highly caffeinated beverages while pregnant, and their kids were just fine.

 

Scrubbie - I definitely can't lay on my back! It makes it all settle in the back of my throat and then I feel like I'm choking. Yuck! I've been sleeping on my side with my upper body elevated. I don't think I could sleep sitting all the way up, though. The heating pad sounds nice. I'll have to get dh to pick up some super hot salsa on his way home from work today.

 

Thanks again, everyone. I really appreciate all of the suggestions and help you've been able to share. I don't really know anyone in RL that knows these things; they would all rather just go to the pharmacy and grab something off the shelf. :bighug2:

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Congratulations on the baby, dear...I'm sorry you didn't get to announce this the way you were hoping, but we are all so happy for you! :)

 

I get bronchitis all winter and pneumonia at least once a year, thanks to my turd-bird lungs, and here are some things that help for me --

 

If you have a nebulizer, you can put cold water in the cup and breathe that in. It's even more effective if you go hang out in a steamy bathroom for about ten minutes beforehand (sort of like the croup tactic). The hot water opens your bronchial passageways, and the cold mist lubricates the gunk and helps it come up, no meds involved.

 

Also, if your belly muscles are hurting from your cough, grab a pillow and wrap it around your tummy, then give it a big hug while you cough hard. That's a nifty trick that I learned after my first c-section and it works great for muscle pulls, too. It'll allow you to cough like you need to to get the gookies out.

 

Vicks on the feet does indeed work wonders...I have NO idea why, but it really does! :D Wear woolen socks to keep it really locked in if you have them.

 

I hope you feel better super-fast, and many blessings to both you and that sweet baby! :)

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Here are three more things to try.

1. A naturopath dr. told us years ago to stimulate your immune system, to soak your feet up to your ankles in hot water--as hot as you can stand it. Have a towel over your head and breathe in the steam at the same time. Then dry your feet, put on warm socks and go to bed.

2. I find if you have a whirlpool bath, that the water swirling around, helps break up congestion.

3. Get a massager and have someone use it on your back and all over your body. You'll find many sore spots. This opens up blocked areas--I can't explain it; I'm sure someone here can (yin and yang and all that stuff) . After I have a massage with the massager, I always start to feel better.

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  • 1 year later...

I am sure you are feeling better by now! However; for anyone reading this post after the fact and needing help I thought I would add a comment. I currently have pneumonia. I went to the Dr on the weekend (not my naturopath obviously) and was given antibiotics and inhalers. When I had my follow up in five days with my Naturopath I was only a bit better. She put me on a ton of vitamins, natural antivirals, and natural antibacterials. But she also told me the best thing I can do to help clear up my lungs is to use a mustard poultice. She states this is one of the oldest methods of helping clear up a lung infection. I will give the instructions here: Mustard poutice is useful as a treatment for coughs and chest congestion. Mustard acts as an irritant to increase blood flow to the congested area. This will encourage the congestion to clear. During this treatment you may experience increased productive cough. It's a good thing and a sign the poultice is doing its job. To make the poultice, Mix: 2 Tab. Dry Mustard powder, 1 Tab flour, and enough oil to make a thick paste.

Rub olive oil on chest then apply the mustard mixture. cover with a wet warm cloth. cover up with a blanket. Leave poultice on until the skin reddens, but watch for skin blistering. Remove if skin feels as if it's burning. Generally it is left on for 5-20 minutes. When finished remove poultice and wash skin.

 

This worked wonders for my cough and that elephant feeling on my chest. Just be sure you dont use special wasabi mustard or extra strong mustard. Use simple mustard powder you would cook with and listen to your body so you don't get burned.

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lots of tea , hot , keep the water flowing . it will help loosen up the phlegm.

 

that and slices of onions on bottom of feet when you lay down in bed, old socks on to keep the slices snug. Old Russian trick for viruses, colds and illness. It sounds gross but it works. Overnight. it sucks toxins and viruses and bacteria's right out of your body evidently.

 

I think there was a post made on the findings or I did but I cannot recall the name of the post originally. Maybe someone else can remember?

 

If I get a bad case of flu or bronchial stuff I will be reaching for the kitchen knife and a big onion.

Heck, I may just try it and see if it helps me generally as it detoxes overnight. ( Cheap method to do that too! ) . Cant hurt.

 

If you are sensitive to the smell of it, maybe putting plastic bags over it and loosely securing them around top of ankle so circulation is ok might help cut down the scent.

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