Struck Down By The Flu


*This post may contain affiliate links, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Don’t worry though, you won’t be charged extra and your purchases help fund our adventures. *
This last week or so has been rough! We got taken out, one by one, with the flu. It started with my parents. They both had their flu shots (insert eye roll here) and it was downhill after that. Thanks to that, we had to postpone our homeschool plans that I talked about in this post.
I was able to hold it off for a few days by taking elderberry syrup, staying hydrated, and various other things. Sadly, it got my on Wednesday. Thursday Aaron came down with it and a lot more mild. Friday was when Wildchild got it. I can honestly say that in the almost 10 years of our relationship, we have never been that sick. I ended up with a fever of 103. Wildchild had a fever of 104 at one point too. It was honestly the most miserable we’ve ever been.
I’m sure we would have rather had a 24 hour stomach bug over this. At least it would have been over with quick. Three to four days of fever, body aches, and headache is just no fun at all. Not that being sick is fun, but we literally spent most of our time just laying there.
How To Not Be Miserable The Entire Time You Have The Flu
It is so hard to not lay there and whine the entire time. This flu came with some vicious chills that reminded me of my Avonex side effects minus the painful teeth chattering. It also came with a killer headache and generally feeling like we’d been hit by a bus. So, how did we survive without being miserable the entire time?
- We watched a lot of TV. Probably more than usual. Lots of binging Naked & Afraid. Oh and InuYasha!
- Cool showers.
- Fresh air. Since we finally have some sunshine, we made it a point to get outside for a little bit every day. We also opened windows throughout the house to air it out.
- Popsicles. We love the all natural fruit popsicles the most.
- Jell-O
- Juice. Mostly orange juice, but we did some mixes as well.
- Cuddling. Kinda sucks when you’re feverish, but super important.
- Massages. This was mostly me massaging Wildchild and Aaron’s head.

What We Did To Treat Things:
- This Elderberry Syrup recipe from Wellness Mama. I used the Instant Pot version cause I love my IP and it was super quick.
- Liposomal Vitamin C in juice
- For the adults coughing we did this cough syrup for daytime and this one for nighttime. This nighttime one will make you cringe a bit, but not in the way something like NyQuil will.
- These echinacea chewables
- The game changer, which we were able to find in stock finally after a few days was this Boiron Oscillococcinum. Seriously, keep this as part of your arsenal during flu season!
Thoughts On Fevers
Obviously, I am not a doctor. Just a Mom who likes to try and do things the natural way. Which is probably not natural enough for some people (hello jell-o and popsicles), but you do you boo. You should always consult your care provider if you have any questions.
With that said, fevers are not the enemy. They are a sign that the body is fighting off something. We tend toward not treating fevers with things like Tylenol (yuck) or Motrin unless the kids are acting “off” or having trouble sleeping. Here is a really great link from Seattle Children’s Hospital on fevers.
I did not treat Wildchild’s fever until it went a little above 104 and he started acting off. Wildchild has always handled illness like a champ and is hardly slowed down by it. Much to our dismay sometimes. Case in point, he would not rest at all during this flu. He was going along like normal, being his bouncy energy filled self. Which is so not fair! How did he have that much energy?! The reason I knew the fever was affecting him was only because he was turning into a hot mess of emotions. Otherwise, he was totally fine. He got 2 doses of Motrin, one of which was to help him sleep and that was it the entire time.
Wellness Mama has some great tips for dealing with a fever naturally and it was pretty much what we did for the entire time we had the flu. It is super important for our immune systems to be allowed a chance to fight things off so that they can come back stronger the next time we encounter illness.
Back To Normal?
As you can see, we survived just fine. Wildchild has bounced back the quickest, but we all have a lingering cough. The adults still have low energy levels, probably from not getting much sleep due to the cough at night. I am sure we will all be back to 100% by next week and we can get back to a normal daily schedule because I really miss working out.
Have you guys been struck down by the flu? Leave us a comment with your best tip for surviving!
- Barbara
STAY UP TO DATE
Join our newsletter to stay in touch, hear about sales, and extra perks!
Recently on the Blog
A Dream Realized
Exciting things are happening here over at The Wild Paduanos! We recently stepped out of that dreaded comfort zone and took some huge steps toward our dream. I wish I could say that we finally purchased our dream land, but we aren’t quite there yet. Hopefully sooner rather than later!
Sorry for Disappearing
I am so sorry for disappearing, again. Things have been quiet on the blog for awhile now, despite my intentions otherwise. Adding Wildbaby into the mix has been a lot harder than I had imagined. She is such a velcro baby that it is hard to get much accomplished besides nursing and if I am lucky, a thirty minute workout.
Spike Down: Harvesting My First Deer
My second season started after my wife. She was able to go down before me with her dad. While she was there on her last night she tagged out. So not only did she tag out before me she also got a deer before me. She got a nice doe too. My first year I didn’t get to tag out despite seeing deer and releasing some arrows.