Along with plenty of rest make sure you are getting your RDA of vitamin C. (Vitamin C is found in high concentrations in immune cells but is consumed quickly during infections.)
So that means loads of fresh fruit and veg and maybe popping a vitamin pill too.
I was thinking that too. I used to get laid up by colds and flu every winter until about 3 years ago someone at work suggested I give it a go. Though I'm a natural cynic about such things I gave it a go and since then, I take it throughout the winter at a low level and go up tot he max level when i feel something coming on. Whilst I still get the occasional cold, they are most definitely less frequent, less serious and are gone a lot quicker. Pre-echinacea I was losing a couple of weeks training a year to a bad cold or flu, since taking it I've lost 3 days. There's a a fair amount of empirical evidence to support this too.Originally Posted by John Walker
If you do want to get some, try Lloyds chemists - they tend to be a bout a 3rd of the price for the tablets than Boots /Superdrug.
zinc .
Some good suggestions there, which however for me won't work, because I already take the supplements required, eat healthily... I have been spoken to firmly by a GP friend who says I am merely lacking patience and that I am under estimating the seriousness of the operation and subsequent recovery needed... It may very well be the same for your Flopsy. Pamper yourself, eat as healthily as you can, get some fresh air and exercise within the limits of your state of fitness, use some of the above mentioned supplements...
Nothing else one can do... *sighs* I am so impatient... and I hate being ill!
Hanneke - I am most definately impatient but then I've more time recovering from operations in recent years than I have had training! I seem to get the contradictory advice from the surgeon and doctors that most people bounce back in a couple of weeks but I shouldn't underestimate how long it can take to recover from major abdominal surgery, which can take months. I'm at the doctors every pretty much every week (this will be my sixth week off work) and they always start with ' so, you've been having a really rough time' - no kidding!
I'm trying to eat healthily. Am also taking supplements on the advice of the doctors. I'm also drinking honey and lemon several times a day at the moment for my chest as well as 'steaming!'.I had forgotten about echinacea so may give that a go. The trouble is I worry about taking so many tablets. Currently on antibiotics but also Omeprazole for a month as the two courses of antibiotics may have given me an ulcer or at least aggravated my stomach. Plus max dose paracetamol and multivtamin. I'm rattling!
Can't exercise or even walk for long at the moment due to the chest infection, which isn't shifting. Prior to that I was walking the dog for an hour each day though. I don't exepect to get back to proper exrecise for quite a while and the surgeon said I wasn't allowed to until pain free, which I'm not. Just getting back to work and walking the dog is my current goal.
Walking chaos, that's me!!! :wink:
Flopsy,
If you have done, or are doing, all the chemical and nutritional stuff now maybe the time to review the other parts of a healthy lifestyle. An Occupational Therapist once showed me the LESSON plan which they use a lot.
L = leisure
E = exercise
S = sleep
S = spirituality
O = optimism
N = nutrition
It is meant to be used to search for the positive so, for leisure it might be as simple as cutting out depressing documentaries on TV in favour of something light hearted. Exercise might be trying some Yoga, even if it is only a DVD it could be fun, optimism could be a result of taking charge of the other areas and feeling more empowered. I am not by nature an alternative therapy/hippy type this plan is more about addressing a range of things at a point when you may have a bit of time to focus on things we all often take for granted.
Hi John,
I'm not necessarily 'hippy' either but do believe in the the body as a whole and in the the power of having a positive mindset. That's why every day, no matter how bad I have felt, I have got up first thing and had a shower, washed my hair, got dressed and gone downstairs for breakfast. I did that even in hosital and even when feeling dreadful because I am a strong believer in the importance of psychologically maintining a routine and looking after myself. I may collpase in a heap on the sofa afterwards or even go back to bed for a snooze but getting up and dressed has always been important to me.
You have reminded me though that someone lent me a pilates DVD and so maybe I should have a crack at that.
Echinacea and the LESSON plan were all I had - I'm played out now! Hope at least some of it helps.
All advice has been gratefully received!! :thumbup:
I'm an advocate for echinacea too. The tincture and not tablets. A few drops in a little bit of water doesn't taste too bad and it really has made a difference to me in the past. I've never had anything as serious or debilitating as you and Hanneke but for general feelings for being run down, onset of colds etc, I've managed to pep myself up after a few weeks of taking it and I don't get half as many colds as most people that I know. I only take it when I feel I need it though and haven't done for ages. Good luck and hope you get better soon!
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