Category: Health

When you have a cold or flu (a real flu where you have aches and pains and fever, and you have trouble lifting yourself out of bed) – what is the best way to treat this?:

A) soldier on, and take cold and flu “medicine” and go to work.
B) drink a glass of Harden Up and go to work.
C) call in sick to work, take 1 drop of  *On Guard* essential oil by doTerra in a shot glass of water, have a warm shower, eat small nutrient rich meals like Chicken soup, cover yourself in a doona and retreat to the bed or lounge for a couple days to allow yourself rest and recuperation, and don’t feel “bad” that you aren’t at work doing something “really” important (whilst you expose others to your germs).

In my opinion, the trouble with the Codral “soldier on” campaign is that it is asking people to reject the warning signs their body is showing, and to keep on living as if your body is healthy and well. I admit it – I have taken Codral cold and flu over the course of my adult life. And sometimes I have felt relieved that my symptoms have abated for a few hours. Usually, if I am really unwell, I will be watching the clock 3.5hrs after the first dose, ready with glass of water in hand to down the next dose. Some days I have known that I just “have to” keep going.

But what about the days when I know I can actually call in sick – or I know that it is better for me to cancel clients so I can protect them from my germs? I don’t take any cold & flu tablets on these days, and I try to look after my body the way nature intended.

For many people they haven’t learned natural health care, nor do they know how to read the signs of the body, so this blog is a small introduction to that.

Health Care vs Sick Care?

Dr Bradley Nelson – the creator of The Emotion Code and The Body Code (of which I am certified and currently undergoing certification, respectively) talks about how the American (and obviously Australia is following) Health Care system is actually based in “symptom chasing” rather than “making well”.

For example: “Katie goes to her doctor about a persistent cough she has had for 4 weeks now. Her doctor says “Take some Amoxicillan (penicillan) that should help you.” As a result, the cough goes, however she develops thrush which is a known side effect of antibiotics. So she goes back to her doctor and he/she says “Take some Diflucan. That should help you.” So she gets rid of the thrush symptoms, but now has depression, as thrush infections can often cause low grade depression and do can Diflucan treatment. So her doctor says “Take some Anti-depressents. That should help with your low mood.” So she starts to feel more like her herself, except her blood pressure rises, which is a known side effect of some anti-depressants. So her doctor says “Take some blood pressure medication. That should help you.” So Katie now has her blood pressure under control. However she has developed a persistent cough, which is a side effect of her blood pressure medication”. So her doctor says “Here, take some penicillin. That should help you”……. and around the cycle goes.”

You see, the doctors are chasing the symptoms, and yes the medicines are working on fixing he symptoms, but sometimes they create more symptoms. Rather than boosting the immune system and helping the person get well, increase vitality and energy and ultimately help them feel better, they can cause all manner of other symptoms that the untrained/uneducated person will not know how to put 2 + 2 together and come up with “Hang on a minute! This isn’t Health Care – this is SICK CARE!”

I believe it is imperative that lay people (that is – YOU and ME) begin to learn how to take control of their health by learning simple methods to “check in” with their body and see how they are doing. Meditation is a good place to start, but so often it is considered “too hard” and so people often won’t continue to try. So what else can you do if you want to start learning how to read your body’s signs that there may be disharmony or imbalance in your body?

Give yourself a little Health Quiz and Check In with yourself:

1. You can note how you are sleeping. Are you getting less than 7 hours sleep each night? Do you constantly yawn and find it hard to get going without a coffee? Do you remember your dreams? Do you have nightmares? Do you wake after 10 hours sleep and still feel tired? Do you fall asleep easy but wake at the same approximate time each night? o you have insomnia? Do you have sleep apnoea?  All the answers to these questions give you an indication of what is going on for you.

2. Do you eat a balanced diet? By balances I do not meal 3 squares and then some cheeky “treats” that you won’t mention to me if I asked you. But by balanced I mean do you eat carbs and proteins and veggies and fruits and have a wide selection from each food group? Do you pick all day long? Do you crash around 3-4pm and binge on sweet things to make it through to “home time”? Do you drink your calories with flavoured drinks and milks and soft drinks? Do you eat late at night in front of the telly? Do you skip breakfast? Do you drink water? (or do you not like the taste of it?)

3. Do you have random aches and pains in your knees? Shoulders? Neck? Hips? Do you have chronic lower back pain that was once from a disc injury that never really got better? Are you always complaining about something hurting?

4. Do you have a vast medicine cabinet?

5. Do you have low energy and nothing seems to make it better? Do you drink lots of coffee? Energy drinks? Chocolate?

6. Are you overweight and if someone asked you about it, you would say “I just can’t seem to lose weight” ? Do you feel like your body doesn’t actually represent the way you feel about yourself?

7. Do you suffer from regular colds, runny nose, random cough, catch everything the kids have? Do you always get headaches or PMS, or bad menstrual cramps?

8. Do you exercise regularly? Do you get enough sex that you want/need or is your sex drive low and you could care less?

9. Do you enjoy doing things on your own? Do you indulge yourself in hobbies or recreations that you always wanted to do?

10. Do you drink more than 3 times per week or take the odd spliff or other recreational drugs? (no judgement, just a question. God knows I recreationally assaulted my body with more sugar than is necessary for years – but that is the topic of another blog).

GO ON, go back and honestly answer the questions above and start to put together a story about how your life / body actually IS. Not how you want it to be, but how it is today. From there you will be armed with areas you want to change and improve, or seek help and guidance from people who know more than you. But how do you know who to ask or what to work on if you never take a moment to actually put pen to paper and write it down. When you can actually look at yourself on paper (rather than all up in your head) you will be able to see things more clearly.

WHY is a real “sickie” not taken, but we “chuck sickies” when we aren’t sick when we really need to?

In this day and age people tend to put others first and leave themselves last. This means when we “soldier on” through a heavy cold or flu we are actually draining our body’s reserves of vital energy needed for healing. WHY do we do this?