1.07.2011

an ounce of prevention

When I was eight years old I was playing in a neighbor's yard next to a construction site and I fell on a piece of wood that had a rusty nail sticking out of it. The nail went into my shin, essentially nailing the piece of wood to my leg, and I had to pull it out. I then hobbled back home where my mom took me to the doctor and I ended up having to get a Tetanus shot.

I'd rather experience that entire ordeal twenty four times in a row than get a stomach virus.

Nothing scares me more than a stomach bug except the prospect of our whole family getting a stomach bug. For a couple of weeks I've been watching families around me dropping like flies and my paranoia is increasing.

In the past I've used various remedies as a preventative for myself, and it seems to work. But this is one of those things that you can't really test since I never really know if I was, in fact, going to come down with an illness or if that milk just wasn't really fit to drink after all. All I know is, I start to feel that icky feeling in the gut, I wash some probiotics down with pure cranberry juice, follow it up with colloidal silver and within a half hour I'm as good as new.

My kids hate cranberry juice though, and I think I'm pretty convinced that's what helps the most. I've been reading a little bit about grape juice having the same effect as cranberry juice on tummy bugs so I'm trying it over here. A cup a day for my kids (and we never drink juice because the sugar makes them cray-zay so this is also an experiment in ridiculousness and tomfoolery) along with probiotics once a day. If I know we've been exposed, I'll give them a little colloidal silver also. So far so good, but I know we have a long way to go before the risk decreases enough for me to let up a little bit.

Do you guys have any success stories about using cranberry or grape juice to prevent stomach yuck? Or any other tips other than the usual hand-washing, not-touching-your-face stuff that my family can't seem to remember to do, or not leaving the house (which was our preventative method last year)?

I wish you all the best in staying barf-free this winter.

7 comments:

Jessica said...

you know me...we are basically on self-imposed quarantine. I'm OK with it. We can't do juice for Ryan who is the one I'm most afraid of getting it--we do yogurt once a day for probiotics but I'm not convinced that will derail any of these nasty GI viruses--Caitlin's in preschool, I'm in healthcare and John's in highschool--so, you know, low risk and all that :). Mostly, I'm just praying and purelling like mad. The littles know the drill. I have it everywhere. We went out yesterday and all I could see was other people sniffling and snotting and then I went into panic mode--couldn't get C out of dance class fast enough, had to stop at the store, but was a raging lunatic the whole time telling C not to touch a thing. I don't know what came over me. Anyway, no answers, but i feel your pain. We're thinking of getting Ryan's gtube out but his gastroenterologist wants us to wait until this season is over :/ smart idea, but makes me scared of him getting sick even more.
We should at least get our kids together. So far, so good and we've been healthy for the past 8 weeks or so.

Amy said...

You have just changed my life. Cranberry juice!! Who knew?

Steph - the 313 said...

sigh. i feel the exact same way. i do vitamin d drops and there's a great thing called wellness kids at whole foods that i have seemingly neglected to use this season. sigh. maybe too late. m had a low grade fever this evening and the nurse warned me that vomiting might come. you know it's bad when your 2 year old is begging you to pray for him. awesome. literally just as we are about to bring a newborn into the world. i do feel very positively about probiotics.. i'll have to try the cranberry stuff, although in its purest/best form, it's pretty nasty. praying that your household will be well this season!! and jessica - i am a raging lunatic about "don't touch that!!!" ALL THE TIME. Glad to know i'm not alone.

Jessica said...

ah, Steph, I totally forgot about vitamin D---Ryan and I are taking supplements too. Ryan for deficiency, but having adequate D is surely helpful...me, I'm not sure if I was deficient or not, but could use the immune boost :)

Southern Queen of the Crazies said...

We did the grape juice a few weeks ago when my daughter got the stomach flu. My husband, my three year old daughter and myself were spared.

Cassie said...

Jessica, I know you guys are in the same boat. It completely sucks-- I wish I had a nickel for every time I say, "Don't touch your face! DON'T touch your FAAAACE!"

Amy, if you try it please let me know how it goes!

Steph, did M end up with tummy yuck? I hope not. Praying all is well with you guys as you await the arrival of your little gal.

Southern Queen- thanks for commenting! I feel validated. We'll keep it up. (And I'm so glad it seems to have worked for you!).

Steph - the 313 said...

cassie - sorry i'm posting a response so late! i just saw your comment. No, we did not end up with the GI bug.. Thankful! It was just a two-day fever. So grateful because little girl made her arrival later that week (and is now crying in that awesome fussy-newborn way, so I better go!) glad to hear that you all made it through although so sorry to hear that you got it in the first place. This week already feels like spring!