Survivng H1N1

It's been a tough week in the Wagner household! My youngest daughter was diagnosed with H1N1 flu virus on Wednesday. I am happy to say that she is doing MUCH better and the rest of our family is still symptom free! I attribute that to the many prayers so many friends have offered up for her and our family! You know who you are... YOU ROCK!!! THANK YOU!!! Keep praying PLEASE. We still have 2 more days to wait to see if symptoms show up before we are declared OK.

I have also been on the receiving end of some great advice and tips for preventing it's spread among our family. Some information I knew, but other pieces of good advice I did not realize about H1N1. If it comes close to you and your loved ones consider the following preventions...

H1N1 only enters through the nose and mouth/throat. Contact with H1N1 is not so much the problem as proliferation is. In order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infection follow these very simple steps...

WASH HANDS! ...as often as you can.

Keep your hands off your face! Resist the temptation to touch your face unless eating or bathing.

Gargle 2 times a day with warm salt water or listerine.

H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in throat and nasal cavity to proliferate. Gargling is inexpensive and a powerful preventative method and will kill the virus before it takes effect.

Clean your nostrils with saline nasal mist like Ayr, which is a simple bottle of saline solution that you can squirt in each nostril several times a day. OR you can simply clean with warm salt water. Blow your nose hard once a day and swab both nostrils dipped in warm salt water. Very effective.

Boost your natural immunity with Vitamin C (citrus fruits). Take zinc with your Vitamin C supplements to boost absorption.

Drink warm liquids as much as possible. Hot tea is especially good and has the same effect as gargling but in the reverse direction. It helps wash off prolifearion viruses from the throat to the stomach where they cannot survive or do harm.

Let's keep praying for each other in regard to this flu bug and thank God for the preventative things we can do to stay healthy!

Donna