How to Feel Better Faster 2015 Flu Season is on the Way!

If you received a flu vaccine last year, you still need to be vaccinated to protect yourself against the particular flu viruses expected to circulate this year.

“Because you can transmit the flu before you are clinically symptomatic, it’s extremely important that healthcare workers receive the flu vaccine,” explains T. Warner Hudson, M.D., medical director, Occupational and Employee Health for UCLA Health System. “You could infect someone who is in a high-risk group. You should get the flu vaccine for yourself, your family and your community.”

While hand-washing is a very beneficial way to prevent illness by eliminating initial contamination, by washing away or killing germs, the flu vaccine is the most effective preventive step you can take, according to the CDC.

Influenza is a predatory virus that can cause severe illness and life-threatening complications, especially in high risk people, including children and senior citizens. Each year, more than 200,000 people in the United States are hospitalized and thousands die from flu-related complications. Those at highest risk include young children, infants, pregnant women and people with certain health conditions.

UCLA Health System in Los Angeles will be offering a limited number of high-dose vaccines for people over age 65 and some small-needle intradermal vaccines for people with severe needle phobias, at various locations during flu season.

There are many locations where you can get free or low cost Flu vaccines in your area. Some pharmacists are offering Flu Vaccine Clinics in local Pharmacies which is very quick and efficient.

Vaccination remains the best tool of defense for the prevention of influenza, a contagious respiratory disease caused by influenza viruses. The vaccine formulation protects against the three virus strains that surveillance indicates will be most common during the upcoming season, including the same virus strains used for the 2013 influenza season.

On average, each year, between 5 percent and 20 percent of the U.S. population develops influenza, leading to more than 200,000 hospitalizations from related complications, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Influenza-related deaths vary yearly, ranging from a low of about 3,000 to a high of 49,000 people.

“Vaccines to prevent seasonal influenza have a long and successful track record of safety and effectiveness in the United States,” said Karen Midthun, M.D., director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “It is important to get vaccinated every year, even if the strains in the vaccine do not change, because the protection received the previous year will diminish over time and may be too low to provide protection into the next year.”

I am hoping all the hype about how really bad this years' Flu will be is just that, a lot of hype, but if your home is hit with Swine Flu or the Avian (Bird) Flu, please for the sake of your famly, have your Virus Fighting agents stocked in your medicine chest. In addition, a Vaporizor/humidifier, Vicks Rub, hot water bottles, Vitamin C, Pain and fever reducer, honey and lemon juice and soft tissues. Oh and my favorite, a Kindle and a couple of Joke Books! Can't hurt!

We all dread Flu season. Just the thought of the misery our children go through, especially at night, fever goes up, congestion settles in the chest, sometimes vomitting, sometimes just dizzy and whiney...not to mention when the parents get sick, it's usually as the children are feeling better and start running around the house getting into everything because they have been housebound and are now bored!

I learned last season that if I took Zicam the first day my little ones got symptoms, I could fight it off without major symptoms, I will do the same this year because according to the CDC, Heath Report, people living in the USA have no immunities built up for this years' flu, that being the case, unless you qualify to be on the list for flu shots...(very old, sickly or very young and at risk) you are on your own to figure out what to do to reduce the number of days you are down sick should you get exposed to this very strong virus.

I have used Zicam for the Past three flu Seasons and with no adverse effects, reversed my symptoms and got well in half the time most people (including myself) would usually take to recover.

So you don't have to use any one specific product, just because Zicam has been working for me and my kids, maybe you would prefer a different anti-viral that cuts down the time you have symptoms and shortens the "lifespan" of the Virus. There are many kinds of remedies, I have listed a few that you can research at the bottom of this page. You can Google the names and check out the research, and be sure to check any allergies to watch out for. Your next step is to take the names of the ones you have considered to your doctor or call your pharmacist. Be prepared with your questions as some medical people will suggest the products they carry or the samples they have been given by pharmaceudical companies. If you understand the seriousness of this flu, or viral infection, then you understand this would not be the time to experiment. Be prepared in advance because when it hits, it will be a rush to the doctors and ER, emergency rooms like you've never seen. That is not the time to start asking questions. Have your medicine cabinets stocked and your supplies ready.

I have noticed during my lifetime that when I prepare for a situation it often wasn't neccesary, the feeling of being prepared is worth the relief of not having your children or yourself suffer from the symptoms, loss of work and cost of symptom remedies. But if it is going to happen and you are not prepared...not a good choice! We are Americans and we know how to live, Let's do this right!