The cold and flu season is fast approaching and a lot of preppers are thinking of putting away summer clothes and getting the cool weather ones out
So what does cold and flu season have to do with prepping?
Show of hands. Who here here has had a cold camping? Don’t be shy. Raise your hands. Pretty miserable trip wasn’t it? Now imagine that with the flu. Some body PLEASE shoot me I am so sick! Right? OK Now imagine. SHTF and your out in Bum frack New Mexico. Walgreens Osko Drug and Kroeger is long gone. Pop quiz hot shot. What do you do?
Long time listers of the Medic Shack have heard Cat and I preach about preventive medicine. Well how can you protect against a cold? You cant. But you can make it a lot less troublesome. First. Just because SHTF doesn’t mean that personal hygiene takes a back door. If anything it needs to be #1 on your list. Next. Again since SHTF proper nutrition goes a long way to lessening a cold or the flu. First Chicken soup does help a cold. One theory is that the virus infects the upper respiratory tract. Whiite cells rush in to attack the viruses. But WBC”s can not kill a virus so they envelop them and for the thick greenish yellow mucus, which may cause the traditional cold season symptoms of stuffy heads, coughs and sneezing.
Dr Renard one of the doctors who has investigated soup vs flu tested the ability of those white blood cells to migrate from one side of a chamber across a filter to the other side, as they normally do. In the presence of the chicken soup, however, he noted that fewer cells migrated to the other side of the chamber.
His theory is that some ingredient in the soup blocks or slows the amount of cells congregating in the lung area, possibly relieving the development of these cold symptoms.
OK So diet has a start. Eat decently and have the staples goes a long way.
Now to further lessen the grip of that damned bug. The standard OTC drugs are good to have. But when they run dry what do you do?
For this I am turning to my friend and co host Cat Ellis The Herbal Prepper.
First is Elderberry. Natures flu medicine in a little purple berry. Elderberry taking as a tincture syrup or made into a chewy Gummi (Yeah Cat did that and the recipe is on her site) It works and works well.
Tamiflu., What a chemical in a herbal piece? Yeah because of its origin. Tamiflu was originally made from Star Anise. It will not grow in most parts of the US, but it will grow in green houses outside of zones 9 and 10. But used with in the first 72 hours of the start of SYMPTOMS it does well.
Set of Spice Herbs – Hanging and Drying, isolated
So some to have on hand:
Horehound – anti-inflammatory and is often used to treat respiratory aliments such as asthma, bronchitis and whooping cough.
Licorice – has been used traditionally to restore breathing and calm the breathing passageways.
Marshmallow – a powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-irritant. The soothing and healing properties that are found in the mucilage in marshmallow make it a valuable herb for many lung ailments such as asthma.
Wild Cherry– is an expectorant, antispasmodic, and antitussive. These properties indicate its usefulness as a preparation for bronchitis or whooping cough and can be helpful in coughs that accompany pneumonia. It is also helpful in coughs with influenza, where there is associated shortness of breath and or wheezing
These are just a few and on NEXT weeks show we’ll start our cold and flu shows of the season.
Cold and Flu during SHTF CAN be a dangerous thing. But by following the some simple items of Hygiene, Diet and some comfort herbs it can make the difference in just huddling in a ball and praying for something to take you, to getting up getting out and getting on with the prime task of not surviving but thriving