As a child I grew up in a suburb of Tokyo Japan near a US Airforce Base. This was way back in the sixties and the communal baths were still popular. In the winter cold/flu season the Japanese used to eat hot noodle soups while soaking in very hot water (the local US folks handed out warning fliers to newbies explaining the dangers of the super hot bath pools - I didn't think they were THAT hot, but still). To this day I tend to take a hot shower, put on all my various sweat pants, sweaters, pj's whatever and climb into bed with extra blankets and sweat it out all night. It sorta makes your body have a high fever which sorta races the progress of the infection along. So a 10 day bug only bothers you for 5 days or less. Not everyone's cup of tea but it works well for me. I do remember going to a doctor once for a cold or flu and they asked me how long I had been ill and what my first symptoms were. I figured out from their questioning that they were looking at how the infection was progressing (from nose to throat to chest..etc.). The progression is normal. It is your body fighting off the illness. The problem is when the infection stalls in one area and your own defences can't overpower it.

The noodle soups sold at the Oh-furo (public bath) were most often the big soba noodles made of buckwheat in a broth with onion and a little bit of seaweed (I think every dish in Japan has seaweed in it!). Kinda salty but tasty when your plugged up.

Another trick that they did up in the mountains was to roast tangerines in a fire and wait til they were blackened, cut them in half, and eat the soupy pulp with a spoon (chopsticks won't cut it). It is a strange flavor but very edible. They always ate them while they were steaming hot, I waited til they cooled down.

If that sounds too weird, I also used to bake grapefruit. Cut them in half, carve out three sections - fill them with butter and brown sugar, roast til the cut edges turn brown and the butter melts. Taste different than fresh citrus. Evidentaly it used to be a southern staple but no one does it anymore. Now I take thyroid medicine that won't work if I eat any grapefruit - wahhhhh

The baked fruit actually sounds pretty good to me. We do the sweat it out technique too. My Master herbalist friend has had people sit in a hot steamy tub with a cheesecloth bag full of yarrow soaking in it, while sipping a few cups yarrow tea. You want to be wet inside and out (as far as moisture). She always says drink it till it comes out your ears when you tilt your head and then drink some more. After that they bundle up and go straight to bed and pile the blankets on. I don't always do the yarrow but rarely take anything to lower a temp until we've done the sweat and usually don't need to take anything after that, aside from vita c and nourishing foods. I was taught that as long as a fever is moist you're ok, it's when the fever is dry and high that you get into trouble.

As to the stages, I think this flu going around bypasses the other symptoms and goes straight to the lungs.

Sorry your hubbie has not been well. Mine just had surgery for dooping eyelids and brow. He has not been a good patient, (most men are not) but he is on the mend now.

There is medication that will shorten the duration of flu, but you have to start on it the first couple of days after flu symptoms hit.

I don't think I've had the actual flu yet, and I haven't caught any bugs for a couple of years, but when I had abdominal surgery last year my heating pad was my best friend. That and my two cats that laid on me and kept me warm. They were great!

Hubby has seen a lot of patients with the flu, which has developed into pneumonia in a couple of his elderly patients. He's cursing the flu vaccine. We can get it this year, he told me, and it doesn't work!

I like the idea of soaking in a hot tub eating hot noodles. We have heat pumps and the house always feels a little cold.

Deborah, I hope your husband feels better soon.

My mom's best friend told us for a sore throat to add cayenne pepper to a spoonful of honey and swallow it. The honey soothes your throat and the cayenne helps "bake" the germs. When my throat hurts I like really really hot tomato soup.

I also put lavender and eucalpytus oils on a rag and put it in my pillow or on a lamp ring when I am congested.

Root- How did you learn so much about herbs and I hope DH is feeling better! Your soup sounds like it could cure anything. Shannon/Dirtrx

Dang hubby's caught the flu. Root would you like the share the recipe for your chicken soup?

DS2 came here today feeling like he has the flu. He's a pharmacy student who also works as a pharm tech at a drugstore, so he knew what was going on. He went to the Minute Clinic at our local drugstore where the nurse practicitioner did a nose swab and confirmed it is the flu. He told her he wanted Tamiflu, and she agreed, giving him the prescription. He took the pills, slept all day long and finally felt well enough to eat a bit of dinner. He has now gone back to his apartment.

Anyway...if you think you have the flu, don't mess around with it. This strain is serious and some folks have been sick for months. Go get the simple test, get the meds and get well...PLEASE!

Cameron

Cameron gave great advice, do not mess with this stuff!!! Don is back on his feet for the most part, it's still kicking me around pretty good.

Alicia, just basic chicken soup with lots of strong onions and garlic and then any nourishing herbs/veggies/spices that I have available. Hope dh is feeling better!

Shannon, I use the eucalyptus with rosemary, sprinkled on a tissue and stuffed into the pillow case..mmmmmmmm... and love hot tomato soup, major comfort food when sick, but with this flu it just taste weird. The cayenne is great in a tea too...let me think... sliced fresh ginger and fresh garlic simmered with cayenne, strain and then add lemon juice and honey to taste. I can't remember specifically what that formula was for but it was some kind of cold soother or toddy.. I think we added rum or something to it before drinking and it was pretty good.

I'm sorry to hear you folks have the flu yourselves or in your families. Three years ago, I caught a respiratory virus that made my heart go haywire (I was born with mitral valve prolapse). I was sick for almost 5 months. By the time I went to the ER, I had been sick for a month. My heart was skipping beats and having extra beats. At one point in the hospital, my pulse went up to 170 bpm! Two other women in their 50's where I worked also had to go to the ER. They thought they were having heart attacks, but the heart events were caused by the virus. One was sick even longer than I was.

So...be careful!

Stay healthy!
Cameron

Talk about freaky timing! My nextdoor neighbor just DIED from the flu virus causing a heart attack!!! She was less than 30 years old! only sick for a week or so, didn't think it was anything serious so she never went to a doctor for treatment. Died in her sleep Saturday morning. Her husband (who I have mentioned here on GardenWeb before) is devastated and totally unprepared for all that he is going through. I feel so bad for him and her family. Total surprise.

Makes me think that I might want to start getting a flu shot. I never get them because I rarely get the flu.

I just read her obit in the Tuesday paper - she was 35. Her husband just turned 30 so I assumed she was younger than him.

He also said she was only sick for a few days.

I have heard of the sudden death of a young person (mid-30's) who had the flu. An acquaintance of my FIL. So horrible for everyone, to have someone young die unexpectedly like that.

The neighbor told me that the EMT that responded to the 911 call said she had seen it recently before. Not sure if she meant really recently or just sometime within the last year. Its all news to me. I have a new respect for the flu.

That's so sad John!

I've read a little about the Pandemic of 1918/1919 (genealogy) and it killed mostly young people due to what they call a 'cytokine storm'...mean stuff.

:::snip:::1918-19, "Spanish flu," [Type A, subtype (H1N1)], caused the highest number of known influenza deaths: more than one-half million people died within the United States (nearly half of the deaths were young healthy adults aged 20-40), and between 50 and 100 million people may have died worldwide. Most deaths occurred within the first few days after infection, some deaths within hours of symptom onset, and other deaths occurred later as a result of complications.:::snip:::

It's strange but in this case the people with the healthiest immune systems died the fastest as a result of the cytokine storm. As I recall my great Grandmother lost 2 siblings within 24 hours of each other. It was secondary infections that took the elderly. I've read a lot of personal accounts of that era and it was amazing how fast this ripped through people.