Symptom Free With Vitamin C!

It's that time of year - to get sick! After hearing about my friend being under the weather, I thought I would pass along what has worked in our household: Vitamin C!

Since my husband read Doctor Yourself by Andrew Saul (info here), he as become known as "The Vitamin C Pusher." As soon as anyone in our family starts sniffling, hubby is there with his precious C, pushing it on you until you give in!

At first, I found this quite annoying. Then, when hubby bought me "jewelry" (a hot pink MP3 player I can hang around my neck!), for our 15th anniversary and one of the few things he'd loaded on it was the Doctor Yourself audio book, I must admit that I found that mildly amusing and . . . annoying.

After a few weeks of "encouragement" from hubby, I decided that it would be best for me (in my efforts to become a Proverbs 31 wife!) to actually listen to the book. Before I finished the first chapter I was hooked!

Since my C conversion, I have noticed a dramatic change in the length of sickness in our household. Rather than the typical 5-10 days of sore throats, coughs, fevers, and runny noses that somehow stretch out for about a month as the nasty bug works its way through each member of the family, our illnesses have lasted, at most, only a few days.

Now, let me preface all this by reminding you that I am not a doctor (I just wish I played one on TV!) You should always check with your doctor before starting any kind of Vitamin C therapy, especially if you're pregnant or suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). I actually have IBS, spastic colon and microscopic colitis, so I do react to taking C more quickly than my husband. As soon as the gurgley stomach starts, that is when you know you've had too much and it is time to back off. It's important to take C throughout the day or in time-release form since it is water soluble leaves the blood stream almost as quickly as it enters. If you purchase the buffered C in powder form it is much easier on the tummy and the kids don't mind taking that in juice. I make them what we lovingly refer to as "vita-juice" each day at dinner, so that they get their daily dose of C and other vitamins. All of the natural remedies we take in our family is under the care of our family physician, who has encouraged us to keep it up.

Forgive me for this rather long post as I recall some of our personal Vitamin C victories:

In June, hubby was actually quite sick with the flu right before our anniversary. Now, being the hopeless romantic he is not, he surprised me by re-proposing, arranging for us to renew our vows and celebrating with a reception to follow. He couldn't afford to be sick at such an important time! He ended up taking 1,000 mg of C every 45 min. the day before and by the time we completed the festivities he was only a bit tired!

In the fall, I came down with an annoying cough. I faithfully took 1,000 mg of C several times throughout the day. After a week I had had enough, so I went to the doctor. They told me that I had had bronchitis! Now, I've had bronchitis before and those coughs really hurt - but not these. I'm convinced that the C enabled my body to fight it much better and kept the symptoms reduced.

Winter arrived and Buddy Bear came down with a persistent fever. (One would think that all the C we take would keep the bugs away entirely, but it just seems to get rid of them quicker!) We kept pumping him full of C, but couldn't get the fever to go away after a week. To the doctor we went. They declared that he may have been suffering from Mono! As soon as we left the office I called hubby and congratulated him on successfully treating our flus, bronchitis and perhaps a bout of mono. . .unbelievable!

Just last week, my Darlin' was getting sick with only a week to go before her big birthday bash. We gave her 500 mg of C every few of hours, (with no tummy troubles I might add) and within 2 days she was feeling better. I on the other hand, had picked up her nasty little bug and by Thursday morning was starting to panic about the upcoming festivities. Within the course of 24 hours I took 13,000 mg of C and knocked that nasty head cold out of the park! Mind you, I did suffer from some tummy troubles on Friday morning, but I chose to put up with that rather than the alternative head cold which made me feel much worse. By Friday evening I had been able to clean the house, bake and decorate the cake, prepare for the party, host a sleep over and only suffer from lack of sleep due to giggling girls by Saturday morning!

Needless to say, I'm a true believer now! Gotta cold? "Take Vitamin C til your symptom free!"