This time of the year I bear witness to one friend after another going down for the count.
This flu stuff is no joke.
It was the inspiration of yet another friend getting sick that I thought I would do a post on alternative medication (an alternative to the actual Flu shot), as well as share a little-known secret about myself in hopes of educating the reader.
PLEASE NOTE:
I do not profess to be a doctor in any way, shape, or form.
The following information is both my personal experience and self-education, as well as an highly effective and enjoyable (as my two Littles bear witness) alternative.
Or addition.
You chose.
As with any medication, alternative medication included, speak with your doctor, but do not be afraid of educating yourself and deciding what works best for you.
The following is my personal account of Bell's Palsy.
If you would like to skip this, or first read about the alternative (Elderberry Syrup), please scroll until you reach, "Meet Wellness Momma", which follows "Bells (What I Learned about the Influenza).
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HIG Feb 14th
Bells (What I learned about the Influenza)
The week my second son was born; the week I was to turn 30; that first week in December; the month I would become a mom who held her second child for the first time, that week was eventful. For the obvious reasons I just noted.
But also because it would be the week I was to meet Bells.
Bell's Palsy.
On a Monday I went to my ob-gyn. Normal tests, still 22 days from delivery. Everything was as it should be.
Because it was Flu season, because I was so close to my pregnancy end-game, and because it's what people do, my nurse asked me if I would like the Flu shot and I said yes.
On Tuesday my top lip began to feel funny. A little numb-like.
I had tried something new that week in my diet and assumed I was having a bit of a reaction to it.
It was not a big deal, I told myself.
I began to feel Braxton Hicks contractions.
Normal, I told myself.
On Wednesday my top lip was still feeling funny and now my bottom lip was as well. Additionally, the left side of my face was a little weak.
Suddenly the muscles that helped me to smile my entire life where not working and the skin beneath my eye was saggy.
Then I was drooling.
Late Wednesday night I was preparing for bed. For over 24 hours I had these contractions: consistant but still too far apart for concern.
Just to be on the safe side, because my firstborn was an emergency C-section as I was not supplying enough oxygen to him and I wanted neither to cause him nor this sweet baby any harm, I called my OB and mentioned the contractions.
Nothing else.
My OB recommended that I go to the hospital and get monitored.
This is the same hospital my firstborn was born into.
The same hospital I had spend four days and three nights during my first trimester with baby number two, being monitored for Hyperemesis Gravidarum.
The same hospital I woke up in, months earlier, bleeding and fearing a miscarriage.
I was admitted and my contractions monitored.
After two hours or so, the nurse ran my tests to the delivery doctor.
He said that I had two choices: to wait-out the pain and labor for what could be hours or days, or to have a C-section, that night.
Once clearing that baby was healthy enough to enter this world, I chose the C-section.
It was while I was on the stretcher, being pushed down the hall in a paper gown, legs not shaven, that I asked the nurse if my face was a reaction to the contractions.
She was puzzled.
So was another nurse, and later, still another.
Thursday morning I was holding my sweet baby Demitri in my arms! He was there and I was in love and the entire world seemed right again.
No one had mentioned anything about my face and my focus was on this new, little life in my arms; at my breast.
Here is our first Mother-Son photo for the public
(The photo in the frame was the boy's first photo together!)
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Here is a close-up so you can better see
the difference in the two sides of my face due to Bell's Palsy
After awhile, the subject of my face felt taboo and it seemed like each nurse excused herself from discussing it; each dumping the topic it on the next.
Finally I had had it.
I wanted answers!
There I was, in a hospital and surrounded by intelligent, supportive people- why was there no one to help me?
I eventually received an answer.
One of the nurses brought me a response.
The result was Bell's Palsy. (A form of facial paralysis.)
When finally I left the hospital, I left with limited knowledge, however fully aware that this disease has no expiration and can make permanent residence on my face, if it chose to.
Saturday I left the hospital, flowers, balloons, and new little man in-tow. There were too many other things to concern myself with and, with the help of God, I was able to -mostly- tune the Bell's out.
During that first week home, my Big Strong Man and I did some research on Bell's Palsy.
Two of the things I learned jumped out at me. One in particular felt like a sharp slap to the face.
Bell's Palsy is often associated with the delivery of a child; for both/either baby and/or momma.
And, BELL'S PALSY IS A SIDE EFFECT OF THE INFLUENZA SHOT.
Eventually I had my one week check-up. When I arrived at the front desk, my left side was at it's worse. Cramping in place, denying me a true look of joy, and hiding the smile I tried to paste on there. I was, after all, more in love with the grace of being a mommy again than I was in love with my face.
But it was still my face and for 30 years I could recognize it.
That day I could not.
I tried to keep a straight face, again, tried to look happy, but I was afraid.
While at that window, speaking to the same, kind Receptionist I spoke with every time I came, the fear took over and I began to cry. She asked what was wrong, but it was obvious.
My face was not right and I was freaking out.
After I was examined for all things pregnancy and delivery related, my nurse sat me down to talk. I told her the diagnosis was Bell's Palsy and she agreed. She offered me some literature. Some pictures of others with this disease and how it has disfigured them, some for shorter periods, and others the remainder of their lifetime.
She reminded me that there were no definities.
When I began to share with her what I had learned about the connection between the Flu shot and Bell's, she quickly rebuked it as mere rubbish; not enough scientific facts to support it; untrue.
I left disheartened.
It took about three weeks for my face to get back to normal. It came in two big steps. One morning I could drink and not drool, soon after, I had full control over my facial muscles again.
I was released.
Although Bell's can rear its head at any point, and having had had it once makes me more susceptible to getting it again, I don't live my life in fear.
It was a three week period of trusting in God and denying myself.
It was humbling and yet liberating.
Flash forward one year. It is now winter time, this time I have a recently turned three and a recently turned one year old.
Big Littles :)
We were at the pediatrician and the subject of the Flu shot came up. Against my better judgement, I said yes. Maybe it was the way my older son could then chose between a shot and a nasal spray (duh! no-brainer), and maybe it was because my Little Man was already getting so many vaccinations, what was one more? (And please, I am learning as I go and really trying to do my best. I don't love vaccines but until I know more, I am *trusting* the health-care specialists as best I can.)
We left the pediatrician and within two days my three year old had the Croup.
CROUP IS A SIDE EFFECT OF THE FLU SHOT.
Although my family's experiences are fairly unusual, as I assume since no one else has voluntarily shared their own horror stories with me, these experiences formed a seal that sealed the deal for us: McFour will politely refuse the Flu shot indefinentely.
Please make your own decisions concerning you and your loved ones.
I am clearly no doctor and there is evidence both for and against my experiences.
This is not a fictional story, however, so please educate yourself.
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Jan. 3, 2015
Meet Wellness Momma
One of the best blogs that I have come by has been one from a woman who calls herself, Wellness Momma.
Around this time last year, Big Strong Man and I decided to make an effort to chose a healthier lifestyle for our family. In the process, I discovered this blog and the woman behind it and became something like obsessed.
I think I read every one of her posts.
Some of them more than once.
One post that quickly caught my eye and heart was the one for making your own Elderberry Syrup. Once I learned that this was what people used to prevent the Flu before the Flu shot was invented, I was sold.
So I put this recipe to the test.
The verdict?
Two Little Men and their mommy (me!) agree that it taste good and is something we can do everyday. Big Strong Man decided he didn't care much for the taste, but when I offered him reminders to take it, he did so willingly.
Without further ado, here is the link to Wellness Momma's Elderberry Syrup recipe.
This is, again, the one I use.
I hope to have some pictures up eventually. Unfortunately, Elderberries are out of stock at both of the health food stores in my community which means that we have to wait to make the syrup, and I have to wait to post pictures of the syrup being made.
Pheew, that sounded like a riddle.
I ran out of the yellowish Honey shown above and purchased some more,
only this one was dark brown, so the honey (far right) looks a little funny.
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This is a pretty simple recipe and my Littles LOVE it!
When they awake in the morning, every day, they will ask for: yogi (yogurt), vitamins, and vitamin syrup-this is the "vitamin syrup" they adore!
-gomommyblogger
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