By Tim Wood D.C.
The goal of our Inside-Out approach to health is creating a fortress of protection against being sick by optimizing your immune system. I get asked a lot by patients about what to do once they are sick and this list is meant to help you fight off an illness, and much of it are the same strategies used to keep your immune system functioning well to prevent illness. It is important to note that this list is a compilation from my discussions with other health professionals and my experience as a parent and chiropractor.
It is key to recognize that getting sick is ALWAYS a sign that your immune system was weakened, even if it only takes a day to feel better the fact that you could tell your body had a cold or flu means it was not at its best. You are around the bacteria and viruses that cause illness constantly. Small exposures do not make us sick, they build our immunity by creating memory immune cells so we can fight off a larger exposure. Extreme sanitization is meant for hospitals and surgical rooms where germ exposure through open incisions gets directly into your blood. Normally, it takes a large viral load to be at risk of illness like being in a closed space with someone for a long time and even then, BLAME YOURSELF if you get sick, not others, because direct exposure can still be fought off. Studies show even when they inject a flu virus directly into your blood, less than half of people will get sick!
If you get sick identify what weakened you, and follow these steps to fight back quickly:
Step 1 – Boost Your Immune System!
- Double Your Intake of Probiotics and Vitamin D – Take 2 probiotics daily (1 am & 1 pm) and 2 drops of Vit. D per 25lbs of body weight (double dose). These two supplements are vital in kicking your immune system into gear to fight off bacteria and viruses. 80% of your immune system strength comes from the bacteria in your gut. Vitamin D is the most common deficiency and a very proven, effective intervention to prevent and fight viral illness.
- Ensure More Quality and Quantity of Rest – getting to bed early in the evening and waking up naturally when your body has had enough rest is vital to getting better fast. Remove sources of light and electronics from around your bed.
- Avoid Sugar – sugar shuts off your immune system for hours by filling vitamin C receptors. So if you are fighting something stop all possible sugar consumption. This can be why colds and flus linger for many days to weeks for people, especially kids. Halloween, Christmas and Easter all play a role in cold and flu season. If you have had a lot of sugar one way to re-engage your immune system is to have 1000mg of Vitamin C per hour until you have loose stool.
- Get Adjusted!!! – Adjustments have been shown to improve immune system and immune cell activity to help you get well faster and prevent sickness. If you are sick we want you to get adjusted to benefit from that.
- Ramp Up Your Intake of Green Vegetables and Fruits – These two foods provide the nutrients your immune system needs to fight well. Taking Vitamin C or powdered greens is not necessary if you eat a lot of fruit & veg & avoid sugars.
Step 2 – Help Your Body Fight!
- If Congestion Is Draining Your Day and Keeping You Awake at Night
- Rinse your sinuses with a neti pot or hydrasense sea water rinse
- Sleep using “Warming Socks” – put on cold wet cotton socks with dry wool socks over top at bedtime until morning
- Avoid Treating Symptoms – your body knows what it is doing. If you have a cough it is to get pathogens trapped in mucus out of your lungs / throat into your stomach, a fever kills off the pathogens, etc… Stopping symptoms will keep you sick for longer as you are taking away your body’s ability to get you well. Trust your body’s innate responses to get you well.
- Don’t Panic – Everyone has a point at which they lose faith in their body’s ability to heal the problem. I would argue that the point where this should happen is far beyond when it happens for most people. BUT, it is up to each person to make that decision and not up to anyone to judge it. As parents we are making that choice for kids and that can be full of fear, guilt, etc…
- Know When to Intervene – I feel it is logical to seek answers for why your body is struggling to get well in 2 cases.
- If a child is really unwell / lethargic (can’t get off the couch, climb stairs …) for days.
- You fight off the problem then get unwell again right after and this happens 2 or 3 times and gets worse each time.
These situations should be really rare, we had this once ever in our 3 kids who are adults now. In these cases do testing like throat swabs, sputum sample, blood tests, stool sample to FIND OUT WHAT THE ACTUAL CAUSE OF THE INFECTION IS. Without knowing the cause you end up chasing the effect (such as earaches) and any intervention is guessing whether it is bacterial or viral which is ineffective. There are other cases where really abnormal alarming symptoms might happen which would warrant a closer look sooner and your instincts are important in determining this. Using the medical system for testing doesn’t mean you have to use medical treatment. You could use a naturopath to provide a natural treatment once the cause is diagnosed, but that is up to you.
- Comfort and Calm Yourself and Your Kids – Be there to cuddle kids, insist you / they drink lots of fluids and smoothies (not sugar or juice), follow the advice above and reassure them you/they will get well soon and you will! We are all healing machines! Teach kids about how their body works, why it is raising their temperature, creating a cough, etc., they will learn to trust their body if you do.