Category Archives: Health

I’m Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired!

Health, Personal
Will putting on a pink Tutu, cape, and goggles make me feel better?

I’ve had it with being sick.  I’m over it.  Doneso.  Finito!

I am a very grateful person. I appreciate everything I have.  Like most people, I didn’t come out of the womb a grateful person.  About 10 years ago I was in a car accident that left me with a new outlook on life and a new appreciation for life.  But I have been sick for over 3 months now and I am getting to the point where I can’t fight the depression that comes along with not feeling well, anymore.

I could handle not feeling good for a month or so but 3 months of feeling lethargic, in pain, and scared.. it’s taking a toll on me.   It started in late December and I haven’t felt normal since. I was on meds for a double ear infection and bronchitis in January, two strong meds for the lymph node issue I’m dealing with now, for 21 days in February, and during that time I also had a mild Pneumonia and a Staff infection.  Then only a week later (now) I get Strep.  What gives?  I understand that my body is just worn out and I hate taking anti-biotics so often but I don’t know what else to do. I’m not asking for medical advice.  Just venting I suppose.

I have a business to run, two kids to care for and play with, and a home to keep clean.  I really don’t know how to keep up with it all and get the rest I need, to recover.

How do you stay positive when you’ve been sick for a long period of time?

Alicia Hagan, Editor

Kick That Cold to the Curb with C-Spray Vitamin C Supplement (Win a Bottle of C-Spray!)

Contests, Giveaways, Health, , ,

 

 

 

5 year old in doctor office

Sniff sniff.  Cough cough.  Sneeze sneeze.

These are common sounds parents hear.  I used to believe that kids got sick more in the Winter months than the rest of the year but I know otherwise now.  We have to be prepared to kick the common cold to the curb all year.

When a child has a cold, you can count on:

  • Not getting much sleep, if any.
  • Going through tissues like mad.
  • Finding popsicle sticks in the most unusual places (under the couch cussion for example) – Don’t tell me this one is just our kids?

If you’re like me, you remind your kids to wash their hands dozens of times a day but much to my dismay, hand-washing isn’t a cure for the common cold. While nothing has proven to cure the common cold, there are things we can do to lessen the duration of the common cold.

C Spray Vitamin C SupplementAs parents we talk to our kids about hand-washing, nose picking, licking furniture, eating dirt, handling pets, and eating fruits and vegetables.  But no matter how often we tell them to wash their hands and not pick their nose, they can still catch a cold.  That’s when C-Spray comes in handy.

According to clinical double blind independent studies Cspray improves the duration of cold and flu, general health, well-being and vitality over those in placebo group.  Cspray is the most portable new delivery system on the market. It is a small pump spray bottle that allows for convenient use throughout the day whenever you need it. It is the only delivery system that allows for repeated, consistent dosage anywhere you may be – on an airplane, school, office, car, restaurant, wherever you need protection and delivered instantly into the system.

Connect with Marz Sprays

Win a bottle of C Spray ($19.99 ARV)!

10 lucky readers will receive a bottle of C Spray!
To enter to win a bottle of C Spray ($19.99 ARV), leave a comment below telling us what you dread most about getting or your kid’s getting the common cold.

Earn two extra entries per action:

Entries accepted through 11:59pm March  25th 2012.
10 winners will be chosen via random.org
Winners must respond within 24 hours or a new winner will be drawn.
Open to U.S. residents, 21+.  No P.O. Boxes.

Alicia Hagan, Editor

Share a Pack of Kleenex, Free and Win a $50 Gift Card!

Contests, Giveaways, Health, New posts, , , , ,

Kleenex Softness Worth Sharing

Valentine’s Day is coming up and if you’re like me you are hustling to come up with something creative and unique for your child to give his/her teacher.  Kleenex is making it easy for kids to share an especially useful gift with their teacher, with the Share Pack program.  Of all people, teachers need Kleenex, right? Help spread cheer, not germs by sharing a Kleenex Share Pack with a teacher.

Kleenex Softness Worth Sharing program

Softness Worth Sharing – Send a free Share Pack and get free Kleenex Cool Touch tissues for yourself!

Kleenex Share PackageKleenex brand is giving consumers a chance to try new Kleenex Cool Touch tissues, the only tissue that actively releases a cool sensation to soothe a sore nose on contact, for free when they sign up to send a Share Pack to a friend or family member on Kleenex.com/SoftnessWorthSharing.

I participated in the “Softness Worth Sharing” campaign last year.  I sent a friend a Share Pack and I got free Kleenex just for sharing!  In fact, a million people jumped at the opportunity to send a free Kleenex Share Pack to a friend or loved one.  Now you can enjoy the opportunity to share and try out Kleenex Cool Touch tissues while supplies last!

We are giving a lucky reader a $50 gift card!

Contest rules and how to enter:

  • Tell us who you would share a “Share Pack” with in the comments below.   A teacher, parent, friend, your spouse?

Bonus entries for extra chances to win:

4 Entries

3 Entries

2 Entries

Contest Rules

  • Entries accepted through 11:59pm February 22nd 2012.  Open to U.S. residents, 18+.  No P.O. Boxes.
  • The gift card will be good at any of these participating retailers: Wakefern, Shop Rite, Giant of Landover, Stop and Shop, Giant of Carlisle, Kroger, Ralphs, Food 4 Less

Disclosure: I was provided with compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.

Alicia Hagan, Editor

Something that Bothers the Daylights out of me! When is a Child too Sick to go to School?

Health, New posts, Parenting Articles, School,
sick child
Photo source: Stuart Miles

My daughter had a holiday party at school before Christmas break and I couldn’t believe what I saw in her classroom.  Sick kids. Several of them.  Coughing, red-faced, snotty nosed 5 and 6 year olds.  I was beside myself.   Why had these kids parents sent their kids to school sick.  One girl was coughing so much she had to go to the nurse while I was there and several more kids had garbage cans right next to them to throw their snotty tissues in because they were blowing their noses so much.  My daughter had just gotten over a cold and I kept her home for 3 out of 5 days the week prior because I (a) wanted her to recover and (b) didn’t want her to get anyone else sick.  Why don’t all parents have the same consideration?  I guess there can be extenuating circumstances such as not having anyone to care for the child while the parent is at work but still, kids need to stay healthy and not pass these nasty bugs/viruses around so please keep your child home if they are not feeling well.

I understand that when a child is sick, it is sometimes tempting to send them to school anyway.  With many parents working either outside the home or from home,  household chores and other tasks are often accomplished while children are at school.   There are times, however, that a child is considered too sick to attend school, I believe.  There are a number of reasons, both for the child and the other students, why a sick child should stay home.

Here are four reasons why a child not feeling well should stay home from school:

  • Cough – Excessive coughing would not necessarily include the symptoms caused by asthma. Although asthma with excessive symptoms should be checked by a doctor.
  • Fever – A child with low grade fever should be kept home from school as well. Fevers are transmittable whether they are low or high.
  • Diarrhea
  • Vomiting

A few more things to consider before sending a sick child to school:

The child may be contagious.
By sending a child to school if he or she has a cough, fever, or has had diarrhea or has vomited in the last 24 hours, the risk of other children catching the same illness whether it’s a cold, flu, or other illness, is substantially higher than keeping the child home.

It is well known that to get better, lots of rest is needed.
If a child is at school and maintaining a regular schedule of activities, his/her body is not getting the extra rest required to heal. When a person, especially a younger elementary age child, does not feel well, they often times want to spend extra time cuddling with their parent. It is important that parents spend extra time with our kids when they are feeling under the weather.
A common rule that should be followed is that a child should be completely fever free for a full twenty-four hours before they should return to the classroom.
Nobody knows a child better than their parent. It is essential that the parent or guardian take the time to determine if the sickness is bad enough to keep a child home from the classroom. It is in the best interest of both your child and other children to keep your child home from the classroom if they are ill.
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What are your thoughts on keeping kids home when they aren’t feeling well or sending them on to school anyway?  Tell us in the comments below.
Alicia Hagan, Editor

This Blogger is Down and Out (Temporarily). I’ll be Announcing Contest Winners Soon – I Promise!

Health, New posts, Personal

It’s been a rough 2012 so far.  It could be worse, but I have felt like a muddy shoelace that’s been trampled on for weeks without being tied and put into the safe keeping of the little lacing eyelet.  Not sure where that came from but it sounds about right.

This is my daughter but is how I feel.
This is my daughter but is exactly how I feel.

It all started when my 5 year old daughter had a cough and runny nose and I had a major sinus thing going on, a couple of weeks ago. We were due to go to Florida to visit my Dad and step-mom right after Christmas so I took myself and my daughter to urgent care the day before our departure date, to get checked out.  After waiting at urgent care for three hours, I got two shots (steroid and anti-biotic) and antibiotic meds and she got antibiotic meds to take for five days.  I was told I had a sinus infection and that it was a good thing that I came in because my eustachian tubes looked like they were about to burst.  This all happened after a 2.5 hour wait and upon seeing the actual dr for less than 4 minutes tops.

Anyway, the kids and I drove on to Florida the next day and silly me, I thought that my daughter and I would be all cleared up of our illnesses within 24 hours of taking the antibiotics but here I am almost two weeks later, still sick with a cough, wheezing, and now abdominal pain.

I have been resting a lot. I hate resting.  I hate sleeping.  Both seem like a waste of time. I like to be busy.  I like to feel like I’m always accomplishing something.  There’s always something to accomplish, right?

Resting isn’t for me.  It’s a form of torture.  I think my husband likes it when I rest though.  He doesn’t have to watch me clean, work, organize, do laundry, brush tangles out of hair, mark the calendar up, create lists, etc.

Why isn’t this darn sickness going away? I’m resting, taking steroids, using cough syrup, drinking straight honey, using my inhaler, and drinking plenty of clear fluids gosh darn it!

On that note, I know I am behind on chosing winners for my December contests and will get to that as soon as I have the mental energy to commit to what it takes to choose winners.  I use random.org to choose winners randomly and that’s the easy part.  It’s the contacting the winner’s, writing the email with all the contest specs, contacting the PR representative/company about shipping the prizes, etc that is time consuming.  I love what I do though and that’s why I’ve been doing it for ten years now and will keep it up!

I feel bad for not having chosen winners for my most recent contests and for not keeping up with the 21,867 emails in my inbox but I have to take care of my self or I’m never going to get over this.

Thanks for your patience and support!

Alicia Hagan, Editor