This year’s flu has been a doozy. We have a number of friends who are nurses, nurse practitioners, and medical doctors (in one of the Bible studies we are part of, more than half the attendees are in healthcare), and they have all told us that the hospitals and clinics where they work are overcrowded with flu patients, to the point where some are having to place beds in the hallways. Tragically, a devastating number of folks of all ages have passed away.
A few days after New Year’s, I came down with what was likely “the flu.” My temperature peaked to 103 degrees Fahrenheit, and I had a terrible cough. Thankfully, I was able to bring my temperature down with Tylenol.
I tried a couple different types of cough syrup (even one with guaifenesin), as well as a prescription cough tablet, and nothing seemed to help. (Surprisingly, many studies have found that the vast majority of conventional cough syrups don’t actually work.)
Well, Mr. Handsome was talking to a nurse practitioner friend (one who has been treating flu patients left and right), and he recommended black elderberry. We immediately headed over to the vitamin store and picked up the three products pictured above. They turned out to be game changers.
If you’re sick, I highly recommend these all-natural cough and flu products. And if you’re around sick people frequently and want to protect yourself, you can do as our NP friend does and take a low dose, specified on the back of the middle box, for prevention. If you can’t find these specific products at your local vitamin or health food store, just ask the clerk if they have any other black elderberry cough and flu combatants.
Out of curiosity, are the countries represented by my loyal international readers suffering from the flu as much as we are?
Terra La Belle
Many of my church family had the flu, including a few of my own family members. It certainly has been terrible.
Thank you for sharing these products with us! I'll be sure to use those next time we're sick. 🙂
Christine Sanford
YES!! it's everywhere here in Canada. I have been trying to avoid it as much as possible being pregnant it's the last thing i need. I have heard great things about elderberry and it's cough and cold uses. Glad you both found some relief.
Anonymous
Here in Alberta, Canada, there have been lots of flu cases and several deaths. My husband and I get a flu shot every fall when they are available. I have some auto immune diseases and asthma and the flu shot really benefits me. Eileen
Anonymous
You didn't mention this, but please consult your doctor or pharmacist before taking elderberry products. Pregnant and nursing mothers shouldn't take them. You shouldn't use elderberry as a prophylactic (the low dose) for longer than 12 weeks. Speak to your doctor first if you're on immune-suppressing medications, diuretics, laxatives, or if you are diabetic. Don't try making elderberry extracts or juices at home, since stems, leaves, or unripe and uncooked fruit can be toxic.
nashvillewife@gmail.com
Great reminder! That info is also found on the containers of the products I recommended. 🙂
Have a blessed day,
Ellie
Anonymous
It's ok to take elderberry products for diabetics.
Anonymous
If you're on insulin or other diabetes meds, adding elderberry as a supplement can cause low blood sugar.
Anonymous
Uncooked fruit is not toxic you don't know what you are saying.
Anonymous
It says "unripe AND uncooked fruit." It doesn't say "ripe and uncooked fruit." The fruit becomes less astringent (and less likely to make you sick) as it ripens. Cooking also helps deactivate the astringency.
Eating uncooked, under-ripe elderberries can make you sick. Problem is, people unfamiliar with this plant may not know the point at which an elderberry goes from unripe to completely ripe, or may not know what color the ripe berries should be. If picking them yourself for home use, unripe berries could end up in with the ripe ones by mistake. Or leaves, stems, and bark could end up in your juice. You have to know what you're doing with this plant.
Anonymous
Elderberry doesn't make your blood sugar low. I'm a diabetic and it doesn't make my blood sugar low mine says at normal
Anonymous
Please read what the University of Maryland's Medical Center says about elderberry. The same dangers and precautions that some people here have been trying to say, they say, too.
https://www.umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/elderberry
Anonymous
Hi Ellie,
Zinc is also a really good supplement to add to your sick regimen. I think it is especially helpful when used along with elderberry syrup, or you can get lozenges that contain both zinc and elderberry.
There are also a number of mushrooms that have immunological benefits, and may help prevent illness and/or speed up recovery. I add a heaping spoonful of a blend of 7 of them (I get the blend from Amazon) to my morning drink, along with some other herbs and some raw, unsweetened cacao. I almost never get sick, regardless of what I’m exposed to.
I did want to mention that only one of the remedies in your photo is actually a homeopathic, the one on the far left. The others are natural herbal remedies, but are not homeopathic. Homeopathic refers to a very specific philosophy and type of formulation, most natural herbal remedies are not produced in this fashion, and are based on entirely different medical philosophies. Only products specifically labeled as homeopathic actually are, even though the term is often used generally.
It’s an important distinction for a variety of reasons, but one of the more important ones is that homeopathics rely on almost undetectable traces of whatever the active ingredient is, and rely on it’s vibrational qualities to treat the illness. Herbal remedies rely on measurable quantities of the active ingredient, and rely on the actual ingredient, and not it’s vibrational qualities, to treat the illness.
It’s important to mention that a lot of things interfere with the action of true homeopathics. If you use them within an hour of brushing your teeth, for example, they won’t work. They are very easily overpowered by other things.
This ran longer than I meant for it to, but I’ve studied herbs and other natural approaches to health and healing for about 35 years, and these distinctions are important.
I’m glad you’re feeling better. This year’s flu is vicious. A healthy and athletic 47 year old I knew as a child just died of flu related pneumonia a few weeks ago.
Anonymous
We are the only state not hit hard by the flu, but thank you for sharing the information.
Anonymous
I use the Sambucol and it really helps me.
Anonymous
Ellie, I love your blog and wish you had the time to post every day. I work with a woman who got over the flu and came down with another strand of it. Now her baby granddaughter has it. I take an echinacea pill every day, have for years, and I take a lot of detox baths, plus keep my hands off my face as much as possible. I've been blessed.
Anonymous
Hope you are feeling better.
Joan,Marion and Marilyn
Anonymous
Can you please give a correct definition of homeopathic?
That is something that I do not know about.
Anonymous
From Merriam -Webster-
a system of medical practice that treats a disease especially by the administration of minute doses of a remedy that would in larger amounts produce in healthy persons symptoms similar to those of the disease
Homeopathic- relating to homeopathy.
Anonymous
? what's that mean ? ?
E
Have you ever made your own elderberry syrup? We have several friends that have, and we have elderberries on back order to do our own! We are grateful for our probiotics, multivitamin, and also the additional tools for extra boosting during times like this. 🙂 ~Eunice
Anonymous
Be careful making that syrup. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/raw-elderberry-dangers/
Anonymous
Homemade elderberry syrup is AMAZING!
Anonymous
You should take a bath when you are sick because you can died from it. A neighbor daughter who was taking a bath and was 9 years old had the flu and died in the bath tub.
Anonymous
You shouldn't take a bath when you are sick. SORRY
Anonymous
That's an old wives' tale. There's no reason to avoid bathing when you have the flu, as long as you aren't so dizzy that being around a hard tub and water would be a problem. In that case, have someone there to help you.
Anonymous
I haven't had the flu yet. And I never get a flu shot and never get sick. Most people that I know got the flu shot and have also gotten sick from the flu.
I was just at the hospital last Monday Feb 5 for cataract surgery and never got sick.
Anonymous
The first year I ever got the flu was the first year I got the flu shot. Never again!
Anonymous
Me too! I won’t get the shot anymore. I just make sure to always wash my hands. I also increase my vitamin C,D and zinc to help boost my immune system.
Anonymous
I just want to say that the physiology of the body all of the structures and functions down to the smallest level and the interaction with outside input fascinates me but I have found trying to really learn about it in great depth way beyond me!
Anonymous
You would think that a system so well designed or evolved would also be designed or would have evolved so as not to be taken down this hard by a virus. But that's how determined viruses are, and that's our immune system's limit. It's a biological battle against some very cunning little critters who know how to mutate and move between host species in order to survive and multiply. Fascinating stuff.
Anonymous
Ellie, Thank you so much for this information! My husband is very ill with what is going around and I told him about what you shared. You are a blessing Ellie!! Thank you for all of your blogging!
nashvillewife@gmail.com
So sorry to hear that. Hope he feels better soon!
Ellie
Anonymous
My family uses essential oils. Only two of my family members have gotten flu like symptoms this year, and they only lasted for three days.
Anonymous
It would be nice if you could say something about Valentine's Day. That is more interesting than flu medicine. I wonder why you just put up a dull post like this? As if it were just flu season and nothing nice.
Anonymous
I don't think it's a dull post. However, I don't think that what one person takes or does when sick is necessarily what others should take or do, too. Take all this info as a report, not a prescription.
Anonymous
Why shouldn' you take a bath when you are sick? Is it OK to take a shower?
Anonymous
That's what I'm wondering too about the bath. How would sitting in water cause a death (other than drowning, which would be very rate).
Anonymous
It wouldn't, that happening was just a coincidence. I took baths when I was sick when I was little and I obviously didn't die.
Anonymous
You could bath as long as you aren’t dizzy. If you are dizzy then getting in a shower or bath is not a good idea.
Fuzzyferet
You should not have the bath water too hot when you have the flu as hot water can affect the cardiovascular system, putting undue strain on it & as this is often compromised when you have the flu having a hot bath would not be a great idea. I wonder if this is maybe what happened to the poster who said they knew a young girl who died taking a bath with the flu, perhaps there was also an undiagnosed underlying heart condition. There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking a warm bath (unless you are very dizzy or light headed) in which case a shower would not be a good idea either. Actually a nice warm bath with a few drops of eucalyptus oil can be a great help at clearing the sinuses & radox (assuming you can get that in the states) is very good for aching muscles. We in the UK have also had a very bad flu season, so much so that many of our hospital wards have been closed to visitors to help with infection control, & many patients have had the misfortune of being left on trolleys in corridors due to lack of beds.
Anonymous
Flu for me here in Normandy( France) ! My partner is actually in bed trying to get over it as well !
Fuzzyferet
Anon 23/2/18 hope your husband recovers soon from his bout of the flu, my son & his girlfriend have just been on a wonderful visit to France for her 25th birthday, she had never been to Paris before though my son has a friend working in Paris so goes often. They had a wonderful time & just love your stunningly beautiful country. Keep well & hopefully your immune system is strong & you don't catch your husbands flu too.