Anti Viral medications

This is a reply I posted in response to a post by the Lazy Iguana. I decided to duplicate it here, because unlike my previous post, this is news you can use!

Unless there is a really heinous potentially deadly even to normally healthy people strain of the flu going around, I do not get the flu shot. All this annoying medical training has taught me one thing: the new anti-viral medications are very safe and very effective. The one caveat is that you have to take them as soon as you realize you're really sick. Not just the coughing-stuffy head-sore throat-minor upper chest congestion kind of sick. The kind where you have a cough that feels like you're going to hack up one of your lungs, which will probably feel like you inhaled water. Also there is usually fever and muscle ache with the flu. There isn't a stuffy nose. There might be a sore throat, but it's usually from coughing. At any rate, get ye to the doctor and ask for an antiviral. It won't destroy the viruses that are already in your system but will stop them from replicating so you will get well faster. Rather expensive stuff but very effective. One of the few medications to come along where I've said "this stuff really rules!"

Chemical Sensitivity

My mother thinks I'm just being a drama queen when I tell her this, but I start having difficulty breathing whenever people use those chemical air fresheners like Febreze. She sprays that stuff around the house like its going out of style, and then if I don't leave quick enough I end up gasping for breath for the next 15 minutes. Tonight I changed out one of those "scented oil" type air fresheners for the lady I help with her shower, and I got some of the crap on my hand. I thought I got it off, but I must have gotten some on my clothes because I keep smelling it and then this giant hand reaches around my chest and squeezes me.

Now researchers are discovering that people like me aren't just being overly dramatic. The chemicals in these types of air fresheners really aren't good for us and a lot of people have trouble breathing after spraying air fresheners or chemical cleaners. Could this be part of what's contributed to the rise in asthma over the past 25-30 years? I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

I like the essential oil air fresheners. They smell a lot better than the laboratory synthesized stuff and don't make me feel like I'm trying to breathe under water. Also, there is a cleaning grade vinegar, and there's a company that makes cleaners called "simple Green" that has pine oil, and an orange cleaner as well. And when it comes down to it, unless you have someone with a compromised immune system, being exposed to certain microbes is actually better for us than wiping everything down with stuff that was originally only meant to be used in sterile settings such as operating rooms. Unfortunately for one of my favorite television characters, Adrian Monk, life ain't sterile! Good thing--if it was, my house would have spontaneously imploded long ago.

A Good Thing

This worked so well for me that I want to spread the word about it in case it can help someone else. The problem? Excess ear wax. Kind of embarrassing to talk about but I've suffered from it for all my life, to the point of having to have drainage tubes in my ears to prevent the multiple infections that were actually threatening my hearing as a child, and ending up in the ER once around New Year's Eve of 2006 thinking I was having a stroke or something, but it was actually excess ear wax pressing on my ear drum, which caused me to be dizzy, nauseous, have trouble walking, and my blood pressure spiked to 210/100.
The cure?
Alpha Lipoic Acid.
My mother read about this recently. She told me and I thought it was worth a try. Most of these "miracle cures" are half-assed at best and really costly, but this literally worked within five days. I still get ear wax (we do need some) but it's drier, far less copious, and way more manageable.
Alpha Lipoic Acid is a simple antioxidant. It costs around $10 for 100 capsules and is available in any natural food store. I'm not being comped in any way for saying this. I use the Now brand, which is usually the least expensive of the natural supplements brands. I just wanted to let anyone else who might be troubled by excess ear wax know that there is a possible, very inexpensive solution that may work for you too!

Update

I'm doing all right mood-wise. A wise person suggested that it sounds like a major part of my son's problem may simply be being a night owl in a world that caters to larks. His sleep patterns are much like mine would be if I were able to let them go on their own. Poor guy--it ain't easy.
Also there are the stresses of keeping his grades up in a school that while very caring and devoted to their students has a rigorous academic program. He does a great job--gets all A's and B's. He's something of a perfectionist and I think that the struggle he's having with physics bothers him. He was also very stressed out about the ACT. He doesn't even want to take the SAT because he hated the ACT so much. And of course there are concerns about college. I almost wish he could have another year at this school to kind of take it easy and just plan. He didn't get into this school until last year and it's been the best thing in the world for him.
At this point I'm concerned about my father. He had a stroke 3 years ago. Not only is he partially paralyzed on his right side, his inability to exercise or walk very far has contributed to his circulation in the lower body becoming impaired. Combine that with some atrial fibrillation and edema builds up in the legs. He has a bad wound on the right leg that just won't heal. This is the kind of thing that happens to diabetics because of their poor circulation. He's 71 but looks much older. My mother is angry because over the years he was too stubborn to take care of a lot of health needs and now she has to take care of everything for him. Fortunately at least he can still go to the bathroom and take care of business himself. That at least is a relief. His back and legs were bad before he had the stroke. He didn't want to get an MRI because of being stuck in that little tube and I don't blame him. They didn't tell him that he could be sedated, which is the only way you could get me into one of those things. I'm claustrophobic as hell.
My father also had to have this heinous procedure done to test whether the urologist thinks they can do a particular procedure to reduce the excess prostate tissue. I asked if the urologist was still alive. I won't go into details--it was barbaric.
I go to the doc once a year and get the general tests done as well as the test for my thyroid. Other than that I don't go unless I feel like I'm dying. But my mother was definitely right about my father being stubborn. He's really not in very good condition and his mental outlook is pretty bad. He's never accepted what happened and is very angry. I can understand, but in many ways he's also unrealistic. He thinks that if he hadn't had the stroke he'd magically have the health he did when he was 20. He's writing a book. I enjoy reading it but a lot of it seems to be a personal wish to go back in time. I may write more about this at some other point.
Thanks to everyone who expressed support when I was on the down-low. It is appreciated.