Risks of the Flu Vaccine and Natural Remedies for Immune Function

Cold and flu season is in full swing, and I know many of you are concerned about what can be done to

help reduce the risk of getting sick.

If you are thinking about getting a flu shot, be sure to consider the following risks and side effects:

• Soreness, redness, or swelling
• Hoarseness; sore, red or itchy eyes
• Development of cough
• Fever
• Body aches and pains
• Headache
• Abdominal pain
• Diarrhea
• Itching
• Fatigue
• Seizures
• GBS (Guillain-Barré Syndrome)

You might also consider some of the other ingredients that are found in the vaccine:

• Egg
• Mercury (thimerosol)
• Aluminum
• Sugar and gelatin
• Formaldehyde
• Residual antibiotics

If you have an egg allergy, this could be a dangerous vaccination for you.  Mercury is a known neurotoxin and has been linked to a number of diseases, and together with gluten exposure can pose a serious health risk.  Some researchers believe that the increase in autism and other developmental disorders in children are linked to gluten and mercury exposure.

Support Your Immune System Naturally...

Vitamin D Keep tabs on your vitamin D levels.  Get your 25 OHD levels checked (simple blood test).  Make sure your level is above 50 ng/ml.

If you're not getting a lot of direct sunlight on exposed skin for your body to manufacture it, you need to supplement it liberally enough for your D3 blood count to be high.

Usually 4,000 to 10,000 IU supplement doses will do the trick. But getting a vitamin D3 blood test from a health practitioner who understands vitamin D3's real story.

Astragalus is an ancient herb used in Ayurvedic (India) and Chinese medicine as an adaptogenic tonic. Adaptogenic means that it adjusts your immune system (up or down) according to what's needed.

This adaptogenic activity is similar to vitamin D3, which is considered an immune regulator. It should be started before any flu "season," and it can be taken daily all the time. Astragalus can be purchased as a tincture anywhere or bulk herb powder online.

Golden seal and/or echinacea are two reliable flu and cold prevention herbs, available in tinctures or capsules. You should consult with a knowledgeable herbalist or health food store clerk to determine which is better for you.

Improve lifestyle and diet by avoiding processed foods that contain toxic additives, oils, sweeteners, and GMOs. Include generous amounts of raw garlic with your organic foods. Hydrate often with purified non-fluoridated water. If you can get real spring water, that's perfect.

Get your own reverse osmosis filtered water to eliminate 85 percent of fluorides. Add lime or lemon to that water to balance out the resulting acid (pH) forming property or re-mineralize that water with trace mineral drops or real sea salt.

Get plenty of quality sleep and stress less. Make sure your bedroom doesn't allow any light into it. Keep electronic and EMF devices away from your bed. Meditation, laughter, and mild exercise help handle stress.

4 Natural Solutions for Fibromyalgia

Though there is still some debate over whether or not it is an inflammatory or a neurological condition, or some combination of both, most everyone will agree that fibromyalgia is a severely debilitating health condition that robs its victims of their energy, their strength and ultimately their lives. But the good news is that there are a number of natural remedies that individuals with fibromyalgia can use to help keep the chronic illness under control, and maybe even cure it altogether. Here are five of the most effective ones:

1) Fish oils. There are numerous theories as to what actually causes fibromyalgia, but it is generally recognized that the poorly understood condition often results in what appears to be systemic inflammation for many of the people that suffer from it. Because of this, it is important that fibromyalgia sufferers stick primarily to an anti-inflammatory diet that includes plenty of fish oils.

Since one of the marked characteristics of fibromyalgia is intense muscle and joint pain, supplementing with high-grade salmon oil, skate liver oil, or a fermented cod liver and butter oil blend, for instance, can provide amazing relief for fibromyalgia sufferers, as these oils help lubricate the muscular system and fortify the body with necessary omega-3 fatty acids, which feed the brain and quell inflammation.

Fibromyalgia is also marked by neurological damage in the brain, particularly as it involves the normal production of brain neurotransmitters such as serotonin. By regularly supplementing with therapeutic doses of high-grade fish oils, fibromyalgia sufferers may be able to help restore proper neural function and balance out their central nervous systems' response to pain and other sensations.

2) Turmeric. Another powerful anti-inflammatory food with amazing pain-relieving properties is turmeric, an ancient spice commonly used in Indian and Asian cuisine. As it turns out, turmeric works better than many painkiller drugs at relieving joint pain, stiffness, arthritis, muscle spasms, and many other debilitating pain symptoms commonly associated with fibromyalgia.

A natural painkiller and COX-2 inhibitor, turmeric has been shown in a number of studies to be a safe and effective remedy for treating both arthritis and fibromyalgia symptoms. This is due to its ability not only to halt inflammation, but also to suppress nerve-related pain. From both a neurological and inflammatory standpoint, in other words, turmeric is a powerful weapon in the fight against fibromyalgia.

3) Fermented foods and beverages. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and various other forms of gastrointestinal upset often go hand in hand with fibromyalgia, which is why it is vitally important for individuals with the disease to actively work towards restoring floral balance in the gut. One of the best ways to do this is to consume plenty of fermented foods like raw sauerkraut and kombucha tea, both of which have helped many fibromyalgia sufferers to avoid the headaches, brain fog, and systemic pain they would otherwise face.

Kefir, which can be made from either dairy or water, is another fermented food that can greatly relieve fibromyalgia symptoms, particularly when taken in conjunction with other probiotic-forming, fermented foods like kombucha tea and kimchi.

4) Avoid wheat gluten. Eliminating wheat and other gluten-containing foods from the diet has helped many people with fibromyalgia all but eliminate their condition and its corresponding symptoms. Most modern wheat varieties contain high levels of complex gluten compounds that greatly upset the digestive tract, which is where many inflammatory and neurological conditions like fibromyalgia are thought to begin.

Eliminating gluten from your diet, along with refined sugars, artificial sweeteners, trans fats, and other unnatural compounds, can go a long way in alleviating fibromyalgia. Other common food allergens like soy and corn are also worth eliminating from the diet as well as these ingredients, particularly when derived from genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), can trigger an inflammatory response in individuals with fibromyalgia.

Dominick Hussey

Osteopath and Functional Medicine Practitioner

Ottawa Health Wellness Centre

Sources for this article include:

http://www.taoofherbs.com/articles/93/fibromyalgiaherb.htm

http://www.naturalnews.com/035840_fibromyalgia_remedies_solutions.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/028696_fibromyalgia_remedies.html