Pandemic aside, we are actually heading into a regular cold and flu season. It’s been a thing to navigate with kids because of the pandemic and the new rules around when you can send them to school and when you should keep them home. In our school district it’s basically like, 100% good health or they stay so, prevention is key.

I have a medicine chest (figuratively you know, I don’t actually have a chest) of remedies that I’ve been using since my son was born - on him and myself and the rest of our family. Here’s what I’ve found really works and when to use it.

So - my medicine chest looks more like an old apothecary than those new-fangled shiny-white pharmaceutically-driven models. And it probably reeks of snake-oil to some people. But, being a natural lifehacker and witch, I prefer not to turn my nose up at any medicine based on ideology alone. It’s important to track our biases and see where they may be holding us back or keeping us from important tools or allies.

Homeopathy

I know a lot of folks online like to scoff at it. Even worse I find, folks from the UK actually seem to find it extremely personally offensive for some reason. Oooh it makes them angry! And hey, it’s easy to tear apart: so you take a tiny piece of the plant and put it in water and then dilute that and then shake it a bunch and then whack it on the counter and then there you have it? It sounds like magical thinking!

Well, in my experience it’s not magic - but it is energy medicine.

According to the new physics, the universe is made up of energy. You and I and that rock and that chord-in-G and that rainbow all have our own energy waves that make up who and what we are. Energy medicine utilizes these energy signatures to co-mingle with our own and promote well-being and healing. Some popular examples here are Reiki/Healing Touch and hands-on-healing, Sound Bathing with gongs, crystal bowls and tuning forks and Colour Therapy. Homeopathy is just another kind of energy healing - utilising the energy signatures of plants.

I don’t know why this should offend the mainstream mind so badly, much more than Reiki does - or why, even though most other forms of energy healing are becoming more and more accepted in mainstream settings like hospitals and hospices, homeopathy is still viciously vilified and called ‘quackery’. The only thing I can think is that it’s because homeopathy, like herbalism, is a much older form of medicine than allopathic medicine is and it was once a direct competitor. There was a smear campaign that had to happen for allopathy to become the accepted medical paradigm. And that whole story is fascinating and worth a whole other post (or some Google explorations).

I use homeopathy at home for head-bonks and bruises, coughs and malaise and even teething (oh it was amazing for teething). When colds and flu come in, I head to my naturopath who actually makes us up custom brews in his office and when in a regimen with other herbals, supplements and even sometimes sound-wave frequency medicine (yes really!), we have together cured my son of his yearly bought of winter pneumonia three times. This means no more antibiotics!

I swear by homeopathy.

My Favourite Plant Medicines for Cold and Flu

There’s a few and really, the best medicine is situational. So - it will depend on the ecosystem of the patient and on the virus or bacteria that you are working against. Trick is to try it and see how the body feels. With kids, and adults too really, I find they ‘know’ when something is making them feel better, before it actually does. You just have to learn to trust their knowing.

My favourites are:

Oil of Oregano - anti-viral, anti bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory - we eat this daily for prevention of colds and flus, and then in larger doses when sick. LOVE oregano oil. It supports immune, digestive, and respiratory health and for me just ‘feels right’ when I take it - like my body is giving me a big yes! Tastes terrible (!) until you get used to it. Take it with orange juice I find - it’s the only thing that masks the taste.

Lemonbalm - this grows in abundance in my garden with very little input from me. Packed full of flavonoids (antioxidants) and with a mild sedative effect similar to Chamomile, it’s such a sweet ally for fevers. You’ll enjoy its lemony taste and the warm spirit.

Douglas Fir Tips - Another folk remedy, I harvest these new green shoots in the spring but they freeze nicely. Just add them to hot water for a citrusy, woodsy tea that is full of Vit C and antioxidants. I also add it to Lemonbalm to switch things up.

Marshmallow and Licorice - My son was born with Asthma so, rather than feed him the steroid puffer (with all of its potential side-effects) at such a young age, I did a lot of research into herbals for lung health. I found a good herbalist who supported my endeavour and I found these two herbs. He drank a sweet tea mixed with these every day in his sippy-cup for the first 4 years of his life. By age 5 he was having 1 or 2 attacks per year. By age 7 the asthma was gone. Both of these allies have been used for thousands of years in many cultures for cough, bronchitis, inflammation and too much mucus in the lungs.

Food MEdicine

Elderberry - comes in tincture, oil and a really yummy syrup. Super nutritious, high in Vit C, this berry has superpowers. In folk medicine, it’s used to treat influenza, infections, sciatica, headaches, dental pain, heart pain and nerve pain, as well as a laxative and diuretic. We use it immediately when symptoms comes on and then just finish the bottle as it doesn’t last long in the fridge. It’s so tasty we don’t mind - and it’s a food medicine you know so, you can’t really take too much. Or you could make your own.

Ginger Tea with Lemon & Honey - Seriously this is one of the best remedies of all time for fever, colds and flu. It actually markedly reduces the pain in the body that fever causes.

This amazing flu buster soup.

Congee - one of my favourite dishes when its cold and people are sick in the house. I like to add ginger and veggies to mine with chicken thighs with the bones in them. It super easy on the gut, nourishing and comforting. Even picky eaters will love it with soya sauce. I usually do mine from my head but here’s a nice recipe I found.

No refined sugar!! Sugar is one of the worst things you can eat for immune system function.

Water - common direction is your body weight in pounds divided by 2 = ounces per day. Put lemon in that (the rinds too) for extra Vit C.

Supplements & My Virus Defense Team

We don’t do a lot of these, as one of my doctors told me “nutraceuticals” are actually just as hard on the liver as pharmaceuticals. Did you know that?

However, when sick Vit C is a serious go-to. You can eat a ton in foods but I always have the chewables around to munch through the day. Vit C is the number one vitamin that the body uses to combat stress (ie: when under attack). Because our bodies are under stress all the time these days in our polluted environments, there’s little left when a virus comes in. It’s good to take extra.

We take an oil based Vit D supplement in the winter time as well. Vit D, the sunshine vitamin does so much in the body that they haven’t even discovered it all yet. Needless to say, optimal levels are essential f or good hea lth.

Vit A. This is a new one that I added because Covid. I thought we could use an extra boost in the mix. It plays a critical role in the immune system. Keep in mind you can take too much of this so talk to your health care team.

Iodine is another new addition. From what I’ve read, there is no known virus that can withstand Iodine. And, like most of these essential vitamins and minerals, we are chronically low in it in our culture. You don’t need much and you can take too much. Be sure to do an Iodine test before hand - just one drop on the skin somewhere. It will create an orange stain. In 12 hours, if it’s still there, you have enough in our system. If not then you need it. More on Iodine here.

My Favourite Unconventional Approach to Choosing the Right Regimen

I use a kind of applied kinesiology regularly to decide which medicines will work best for each illness - a pendulum!

Divining with a pendulum as a diagnostic has been a fantastic tool for me as a mama through the years. The pendulum accesses information from the Divine Source and the all-knowing higher self - the ‘knowing’ I was talking about earlier. In the case of illness, I put a remedy in my patient’s hand and then pendulum over them. The pendulum will tell me ‘yes’ or ‘no as to the remedy and whether it’s the best one for that illness. Again, this is energy medicine and with practice, an ally. It has worked for me with good results again and again.

I wish you and your family good health throughout this cold season and the dark of the winter!

Have any remedies I forgot? Tell me your favourite approach.

Take this virus-prevention regimen with the disclaimer that I am not a medical professional and you need to do your own due diligence and ask your doctor and medical team about higher dosages of vitamins when ill. I believe in a holistic approach to medicine and have done years of applied research into what works for my family unit. Please do the same with yours. Below here are some of the most dog-eared books in my medicine library.

Naturally Healthy Babies and Children by Aviva Jill Romm

Making Plant Medicine by Richo Cech

Your Guide to oil of Oregano by Tracy K Gibbs, Ph.D

Healing Wise by Susun S. Weed

Healing With Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford

Prescription for Dietary Wellness by Phyllis A Balch

*note: these are Amazon affiliate links. If you click through and buy you will help support this publication. Thanks!