Triaminic can help with the cold and flu season! (plus a giveaway)

These winter months are the peak season for illness and it's time to focus on being prepared when those cold and/or flu symptoms appear. Triaminic can help with two great online tools to help you and your family through this cold and flu season.
• The Sick Day Guidelines, created in partnership with the National Association of School Nurses – Parents know when their kids aren’t feeling 100%. These Guidelines are aimed at helping parents decide when to keep them at home or send them off to school.
• National Cold & Flu Tracker – This resource provides a weekly data feed of cold & flu symptom trends by region, based on data from SDI Fan® (a source used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Being aware of the activity in your area (or an area that you are traveling) can help you prepare for when cold and flu symptoms appear. For example, Greensboro, Lexington, Knoxville, and Albany have the highest incidence of illness this week.
The Sick Day Guidelines, Cold & Flu Tracker, and a coupon for a discount on Triaminic® products can be found here: Triaminic.com.

Feel free to print out this coupon and use it!

Win: Would you like to win some Triaminic Thin Strips? Triaminic is sponsoring a giveaway to my readers, and they are sending me some Thin Strips to try out. Single-use products like Triaminic Thin Strips help ensure accurate dosing by providing a pre-measured dose of medicine that dissolves quickly on the tongue. Please remember to read the product label and use only as directed.
This contest is open to residents of the United States, bloggers and non-bloggers. Contest ends on February 8th, 2009. To enter, leave a comment about how you have handled sick days, or what things you like to do to help comfort your child.
**For extra chances you can: blog this contest, add my button to your site, subscribe to my blog, twitter and/or become a fan on facebook, and/or visit everyday and add another friendly comment about something else you found on the menu. Lots of chances to win! Don't forget to put the extra comments for the "extra" work. Good luck!**

This review was provided from Triaminic. They have provided me with a free product to review and information to share with my readers. I am sponsored to offer a giveaway prize to giveaway to my readers through this review. I was given the product for my personal opinion and option to share with my readers. I was not compensated for my time or written review.

Cold/Flu Season getting the better of you? Try these natural remedies:

The most effective preventative medicine during cold and flu season is keeping your immune system healthy the natural way. This can be done fairly easily, by ingesting certain immune-boosting and nutrient rich foods.

ChicagoHealers.com Practitioner Dr. Helen Lee offers the following flu-fighting foods:

· The Importance of Digestion: Keep your digestive system happy. When the digestive system is healthy it is able to breakdown and access nutrients from the foods you eat, it is better able to get rid of toxicity, and process “bad” bugs such as bacteria & viruses
· Ginger: The volatile oils in ginger warm the body, helping the body to sweat, break a fever and eliminate toxins. Ginger also stimulates mucous release. Ginger is also a metabolic enhancer and the warming also helps with nausea, is a great digestive aid, lung and chest decongesting, and a body cleansing herb. Add fresh ginger to your food or in tea, or eat alone. Ginger tea (especially combined with honey) helps too sooth the throat.
· Garlic: Garlic has allicin as an active ingredient giving it antiviral and antibacterial properties. Garlic cleans your liver (which cleans your blood) since your blood cycles through your liver every three minutes. So thereby stimulating the white blood cells and in turn boosting the immune system. An onion garlic syrup can help with mucous release.
· Honey: Honey acts as a natural antibiotic with antiseptic properties. There are vitamins such as B-complexes, C, D, E, minerals enzymes and propolis. The propolis in honey boosts the immune system, disables viruses and fights infections. Furthermore, pediatric studies have shown that honey is more effective than cough syrup because it coats the throat better. Locally grown honey is best for seasonal allergies, asthma and respiratory conditions because you are treating with the irritants that are common to your area. Take a tablespoon 4 times per day, taken straight or in tea.
· Cayenne: Cayenne pepper has a high vitamin C content making it a natural choice for a cold, as well as vitamin A, B, calcium and potassium. Cayenne also increases the circulation in the body. You may take in capsule form taking 2 – 40,000 heat units (950mg), or liquid 4 drops of the 200,000 heat units. Place a few drops in water and gargle with it every 15-30 minutes to make a sore throat disappear.
· “Good” Bacteria: Increase “good” bacteria such as acidophilus and bifidus which can be found yogurt or kefir.
· Go Green: Eat dark leafy green vegetables like kale, swiss chard, and spinach provides vitamins B12, folic acid, potassium, vitamins A, C & K which supports a healthy immune system.
· Acid and Alkaline: Keep your internal acid/alkaline chemistry balanced by squeezing a half lemon into a cup of hot water to break up congestion, stimulate digestion, and create an alkaline or healing pH chemistry in the body

For additional information please visit www.ChicagoHealers.com.

Looking for medicines?

Our family was yet again hit with the cold virus. Every winter and spring we go through the rounds of sickness bugs. I was readily willing to review cold products from the Quigley Company, makers of the popular Cold-EEZE zinc lozenges.

I got Kids-EEZE Chest Relief, which is a new product from Cold-EEZE. It is a single-ingredient, allopathic expectorant with guaifenesin to help children suffering from uncomfortable chest congestion. Kids-EEZE Chest Relief is a unique soft chew, available in both strawberry and grape flavors, that offers relief of chest congestion for children six years and older. Because Kids-EEZE only contains guaifenesin (100mg), it’s a safe, effective alternative to the many multi-symptom children’s cold products that could potentially lead to overmedication. Nathaniel was dealing with coughing and chest congestions, and the Kids-EEZE chest relief helped him out. He said the taste was good, and it didn't leave any bad after taste. Each box of Kids-EEZE Chest Relief contains 12, individually-wrapped, kid-friendly “soft chews,” which is a safer way to take medicine (no chance of spillage or meds left in the medicine dispenser).

Cold-EEZE zinc lozenges (for adults) are clinically proven to safely and effectively reduce the duration and severity of the symptoms of a common cold by 42 percent (or within three to four days). Cold-EEZE, which contains zinc gluconate glycine, provides 13.3 mg of ionic zinc per lozenge. Zinc can help promote the strength of the immune system, and is required for the development and activation of T-lymphocytes that help to fight infection. Once you feel a cold coming on, start sucking one Cold-EEZE lozenge every two-to-four hours. Available in tasty flavors like new sugar-free pomegranate, strawberries and cream, cherry and honey lemon, among others, Cold-EEZE lozenges are a good way to get your zinc without a metallic aftertaste.
I had the Chocolate Mint Organix Cough and Sore Throat Drops, and I can say that it is tasty, and I think it worked well for me. For me, these are the best tasting cough drops (that are effective) out on the market! Cold-EEZE makes the Organix Cough Drops, and they are Certified USDA Organic. I like that the Organix cough drops are great for kids, too. My kids like the taste, and I know that these cough drops don't contain any harsh chemicles~but they are natural.
These great-tasting, medicated drops contain a proprietary formulation of natural menthol derived from organic peppermint oil combined with pectin to suppress coughs, cool nasal passages and soothe irritated, sore throats. Organix is available in a unique Dark Chocolate Mint flavor, as well as Purely Peppermint, Orchard Cherry and Golden Honey Lemon, and you can purchase over the counter. Even the twist wraps of each lozenge is made from fully compostable corn starch!

Cold season marks the start of antibiotic season. But for many, antibiotics are not without side effects. One out of five people suffer from antibiotic-associated diarrhea, or AAD. Florastor and Florastor Kids have been clinically proven to help prevent and treat AAD. Antibiotics are necessary to kill the bad bacteria that cause ear infections, strep throat, etc., but these medications also kill the good bacteria in our stomachs, often causing AAD. Florastor and Florastor Kids contain a yeast-based probiotic called Saccharomyces boulardii that helps repopulate your tummy with good cells that protect from AAD. Because Florastor contains a yeast probiotic, it won't be killed off by antibiotics like bacterial probiotics will be. Florastor comes in a capsule, and Florastor Kids, which is safe to use in children as young as 2 months, is a powder, so it can be mixed into formula, juice, soft foods like applesauce, etc. Fortunately, I have not needed to sample these yet. I am glad I have a product available if needed, though.