Winter has finally hit and we are more tempted to stay inside on a cold night with a good book or tv show. It’s also the time of year that colds and flu start to hit. You can try to prevent these things by seeing your Naturopathic Doctor in September, eating healthy, exercising, taking Vitamin C and drinking lots of water. The reality is that sometimes you cannot prevent an illness. So what do you do when you get a cold, ear infection, strep throat, the flu?
You call the clinic and get an acute appointment with your Naturopathic Doctor! We offer acute, 15 minute appointments for things such as a cough that will not go, a sore throat, an ear infection and lots more. What is even better is that if you are too sick to make it into the clinic we can do this over the phone and mail out your supplements/remedies or you can send someone else to pick them up. This will work for any member of your family, kids included. I’ve often used a homeopathic to stop Jack’s cough at night so we all sleep more soundly. We do our best to fit you in to the lunch hour or at the end of our day so that you can get relief more quickly. If you let Kathleen know the nature of the acute illness we can also be better prepared.
If we catch something at the beginning often you don’t need to go to that next step of taking antibiotics or getting an x-ray. But if you are already there we can still help you recover more quickly and help prevent you from getting sick again.
Some things that you can do now include:
- Eating foods high in Vitamin C: fresh fruits and vegetables, rose hip tea, hot lemon water
- Sleep! Try to get 7-8 hours a night.
- Increase your zinc intake: pumpkin seeds are the best source
- Pick up a hobby in the colder, darker nights; learn to knit, read a book, learn something new to help you re-energise
- Have some onion cough syrup on hand (see the recipes below) and we sell natural cough syrups at the clinic
- Warming Socks (1-2 times a week a week or more if you are sick, see handout)
Onion Cough Syrup:
Slice a white onion thinly. Place in a Mason jar and cover with honey. Let sit 24 hours. Take 1 tsp of honey as needed for a cough. If you leave the onion in it gets stronger so for kids you may want to strain. (you can use the same process with garlic, or both!)
Winter is for rest and recovery, put that into practice before you get sick!