EXPERIMERRIMENT: I have the F-ing Flu, Part 1

So I gots the flu.

How do I know it's the flu, you ask. Well.

Generally my herbal skills are high enough now that I can drop kick a cold in about 72 hours if I know what's going on. Also, everyone in my office has been sick for MONTHS, which pretty much always means a viral infection. I have been using Umcka and neti pot, trying to put off the inevitable for about a month now, and ALSO keeping my eye out for the Pre-Flu-Super-Hunger.

This is a weird symptom but it's pretty consistent for me - that the day before I get sick I feel both SUPER energetic, and SUPER starving. I have never been able to figure out why this is exactly. One thing is that my body is trying to fight it and needs fuel. The other - and this actually tends to be what I think is going on (and I know this is a weird theory) but that the virus is fighting to take hold and wants my body to be in a more acidic state so it can multiply. I know, I know. But I know that I am one of those individuals who does better when I'm nursing an illness by seriously limiting solid food intake. Which is murder, cuz I love to eat.

So, Saturday was a shoot day, and I ate my face off all day without paying much attention to it. By Sunday, I started feeling the heaviness and loss of balance that usually is the precursor to illness, so I started the following:

-Umka, full dropper 6 times a day
-Echinacea, full dropper 5 times a day
-AND thinking that it was a virus, Colloidal Silver, half dropper about 8 times a day.

Most people who have gotten this thing have a heavy nasal component (including my husband, who I managed to infect as well). So far, with this herbal regimen, no nasal component. Mostly just feeling heavy, tired, and my stomach is WAY upset.

Knowing that the thing about the flu is that it tends to rally just when you think it's going away, I added another anti-viral yesterday:

-Astragalus, full dropper, six times a day

So I'm not better. But I don't feel like I'm getting worse. And not getting a sinus infection? PRICELESS. More on the anti-flu experiment tomorrow!

RANT: Smooth Move Tea

Let's talk for a second about Smooth Move tea. It looks harmless enough. It's a tea! It's natural! It must be...gentle.

For those people who think that herbs are just weaker versions of pharmaceuticals without nasty side effects, I bring you Rocket-From-Your-A*s tea. This is not something to be taken lightly, no pun intended. It works, yes, and if your digestion is rock solid as well as Totally Not Moving, then this might be a good idea.

The thing to know is that this stimulates the intestine to move. And it might not stop when you have moved what needed moving. If your stomach is sensitive, this tea makes a suggestion to your bowels that may keep on giving several days later. You started with constipation and ended up with diarrhea. Awesome. And while the inconvenience is one thing, the other is that you will totally f-up your intestinal flora, which is no joke, and will further erode the stability of your digestive tract.

Herbs can be very strong and effective. Just because you didn't have to get it from a pharmacist doesn't mean it can't be potent and harmful. Herbal laxatives can erode intestinal strength and tone just like pharmacological laxatives - and then you will really be in a pickle.

I GOTS ME A TWITTER FEED, YO.

http://twitter.com/#!/spleenondrugs

You will follow me! YOU WILL FOLLOW ME! Why do you want to read a whole paragraph when you could read selected shorts of my wisdom? Is it me or is JUST SO AWESOME TO LIVE IN THE 21st CENTURY? Um.