Battling the bug: remedies for flu prevention

REGINA – At the height of the flu season, phones at The Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy keep ringing.

“I’m finding a lot of people are calling us on the phone asking for advice,” said Jarron Yee, who runs The Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy in north Regina.

There are some over-the-counter methods for treating your symptoms, such as Tylenol or Advil.

Yee also recommends zinc tablets or Echinacea. He says the same vitamin supplements that help eliminate the flu when you have it can also work in prevention.

“What they’re supposed to do is help build your immunity,” Yee said.

If you’re already infected with the flu virus, you’re not alone. Saskatchewan health officials say the flu season has not yet hit its peak.

“I expect the numbers on Friday are going to go up,” said Dr. Denise Werker, deputy chief medical health officer. “In terms of the number of lab confirmed cases, (intensive care unit) admissions and deaths.”

Battling the bug might include herbal remedies – anything to strengthem the immune system, according to Dr. Allison Ziegler, a naturopath.

She recommends:

Vitamin A 10,000 intl units
Zinc – 25mg
Vitamin C – 4g
Vitamin D – 4,000 intl units

Also? Warming sock therapy.

“Before you go to bed, you take a pair of cotton socks, wet them, squeeze them out,” Ziegler said. “Over top, you put on a pair of dry wool socks.”

She says it increases circulation and boosts the lymphatic system to fight infection quicker.

But short of getting vaccinated? The simple tip of washing your hands may be the best for keeping you healthy.