Avoiding the Flu

Why is it that some people succeed in avoiding getting the flu and others seem to get it every year? It may have more to do with your personal hygiene then getting the flu shot.

If you want to avoid contracting the bug during the flu season then the key is to continually wash your hands, especially if you have just visited a public place or shared any type of implement or tool with other people. The flu virus can live on places such as doorknobs, computer keyboards, coffee mugs and phone headsets so be sure to wash your hands after using any of these things with soap and water. You can also keep an antibacterial gel on hand to keep your hands clean while traveling.

Yet another way to keep yourself from contracting the flu bug is to keep your hands away from your eyes, ears, mouth and nose. If you encounter someone who has the flu or who has recently had it then be sure to avert your face if they sneeze or cough in your direction.

There are also some preventative supplements and vitamins you can take that can help fend off the flu. Ginseng is an herb that has been used for centuries in Asia to ward off the flu as well as shorten the duration of the illness once it has begun. Echinacea and Oil of Oregano can also be taken to help boost the immune system and fight off viruses.

It is also a good idea to take plenty of Vitamin C during the flu season. Taking 500 to 1000 mg has been shown to help the body fend off infection.

It is essential that you don't smoke or drink alcohol while ill with the flu as these substances weaken your immune system and also dehydrate you.

Don't take antibiotics unless they are absolutely necessary to treat another infection in your body. Antibiotics, which treat bacterial infections, can weaken your body's defenses when it comes to trying to fight a viral infection like the flu.

If the flu is diagnosed within 48 hours of when symptoms begin, especially if you are high risk for complications, taking antiviral medications may help shorten the length of symptoms by approximately a day.

In the past, doctors commonly prescribed the antiviral medication amantadine to treat this type of influenza. But in January 2006, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that neither drug should be used for such treatment as it was aiding the virus in mutating. Instead drugs such as Tamiflu and Rlenza may be used to treat the flu.

In most individuals who are otherwise healthy, the flu goes away within 7 to 10 days but it can be hard for a young kid to handle especially if they have asthma or another complicating problem.

Possible complications of the flu include pneumonia, encephalitis (which is an infection of the brain), bronchitis, sinus infections and ear infection, which is why it is important for you to keep your eye on your kids.

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Young Girls More At Risk Than Ever

When it comes to drug addiction young teenage girls are more at risk than ever. Am I surprised. No I know this from watching my own young teen. The other day I caught her talking on the phone to a friend and telling her 'I could really use a lorezapam.' She is only fourteen.

So where did she get this idea she could really use a lorezapam (which is a drug ten times as strong as valium.) Well it just so happens that her cousin who is eighteen has bee prescribed it for some kind of anxiety disorder. And now she thinks it cool to be all upset and on a drug as well. It does not help either that half of my family is on anti-depressants are anti-anxiety drugs of one form on another either. So she gets the idea that it is her life path to eventually be on them from us as well.

Not only that a ivillage.com also recently reported a study that teen girls are also feeling more competitive with boys lately and think they can do everything the same way boys can – including the way boys drink and do drugs. Girls now take steroids and chug down kegs of beer too after a football game. They are also smoking drinking and getting into car accidental at accelerated rates. There is also a terrible rise in teen pregnancies, which means that these girls also have an unrealistic view of themselves as being strong enough personally and financially to be a single mother.

A study conducted in 2006 by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse showed that girls aged 12-17 were at a high risk than boys for substance abuse. Another 2006 study, this by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy also revealed that more teen girls rather than teen boys are addicted to drinking, drugs and shoeing. And finally, a recent University of California study revealed that teen girls are almost as bad as the boys when it comes to getting in car accidents.

The bottom line is that girls cannot handle the same amount of this type of addictive stress as boys. They are smaller physically and more hormonal. However I can't tell my teenager daughter anything like that or else I am being sexist and not a feminist. Not that she likes feminists much either. She would see having a baby out of wedlock as an expression of her independence or even love of some guy rather than as an act of feminism.

Still I know that her and her friends consider themselves to be better than boys in many ways. I have heard them talking about how women have greater stamina or how a girl can do anything that she wants. Still, having girls on par with the boys when it comes to adolescent alcohol or drug abuse or car accidents is not great of an achievement.

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