I am so grateful to have one of my best friends on the blog this week. Cassy is such an incredible person and I come to her for everything. She is a Physician assistant and is super knowledgeable about our health and our bodies. She will be sharing with you some tips on how to keep you and your family healthy during this cold and flu season. You guys are in for a treat!

Hi, my name is Cassy and I am a certified physician assistant in Cleveland, OH. I attended PA school at Baldwin Wallace University where I was educated to care for patients ranging from pediatrics to adult/geriatrics in a variety of settings, including outpatient, inpatient, and acute care. As a PA, I started my career in pediatric emergency medicine. Although I have since moved on to the orthopedic/sports medicine world, I have a special place in my heart working with the pediatric patient population and understand firsthand the stressors that patients and families go through in some of the toughest health scenarios. I am fully aware that there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to medicine; therefore, the following excerpt is not intended to be all encompassing or in lieu of pediatrician evaluation/consultation but, rather, guidelines to help keep you aware and prepared for the flu season. Please consult your personal medical provider with any additional questions or if deciding to start on supplements to review risks, benefits and alternatives of therapy.

Side note, I attended high school with Taylor (aka Sweaty as a mother) and, although she will never toot her own horn (which is an attribute I absolutely love about her), she has been an inspiration and leader since the very day I met her in school, athletics, and her personal life. She continues to inspire me and now many of you through her motivating, yet realistic and raw approach to health, fitness and family. I feel honored to have been included on this blog endeavor of hers. Keep your eyes and ears open, this Mama is going BIG places!

Thank you so much for reading!
Cassy V., MMS, PA-C

Guest Blog: Tips for Staying Healthy This Flu Season

It’s that time of year again, can you believe it? Football is back! The leaves are changing! Pumpkin-spice EVERYTHING! Apple-picking! …and then there’s also influenza (Boooo!). Flu season tends to be an area of significant stress particularly for parents, and who honestly wants to be stressed for 6+ months (see below why stress=bad)? Here are a few things to help you stay on top of you and your family’s health and battle against flu season:

1) Good hygiene habits.

While there are many factors during flu season that we cannot control, there are few that we can, including hand hygiene and cough/sneeze-covering techniques. To help minimize your stresses as a parent, continue to encourage good, frequent hand washing to prevent inoculation of these winter viruses, but also prevent the spread to others. Also, teaching cough and sneeze covering techniques (ie. coughing in elbow/coughing away from others) to prevent expelling of those potentially harmful respiratory droplets. Lastly, avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unclean hands. Keep that travel size hand sanitizer in tow.

2) Hydrate and exercise!

Continuing healthy habits year-round is imperative. While some of us, depending on where you live, are moving away from the warm seasons, keeping active and hydrated sometimes goes to the wayside as we are locked in our homes for longer periods of time avoiding the cold weather. However, the body requires this fuel to function to its highest ability, especially that immune system. Not to mention, that exercise also helps to lessen stress; stress being a component that predisposes us to illness due to its negative effects on the immune system. Like exercise, adequate water intake also helps our bodies function at their highest capacity. Don’t forget your 8x8 rule (eight 8oz glasses of water/day!). Keep moving and keep drinking that H20!

3) Continue normal health habits.

Like exercise and water intake, continuing normal daily multivitamins can enhance immunity and keep the immune system at top speed. Vitamin C is the “big guns” we think of when it comes to immune-boosters. The good news is, our Vitamin C comes from dietary intake, food such as oranges, grapefruits, strawberries, spinach, kale, broccoli…the list goes on; rarely do we need additional supplementation, although never a bad idea to have supplementation on hand when you start to experience those cold symptoms starting. Vitamin C works as an antioxidant in the body knocking out free radicals to help boost immunity. Other immune boosters include Vitamin B6 and Vitamin E. Talk to your healthcare provider about supplementation and appropriate daily intake, and keep that immune system top speed!

4) Damage control.

While this point may seem obvious, you’d be surprised (or maybe not…) how many people do not “play by the rules”…respectfully, please keep sick children/family members home and out of public places (ie. school, daycare, library, grocery store...you get the picture). Not only is it in their benefit to rest and recover, but it is also protective to other people that may be defenseless in these seasons, such as that newborn infant, or the immunocompromised person that cannot build the necessary immune response to fight infection, the asthmatic child that has a generally more stressful response to these respiratory illnesses, that chemo patient with a weakened immune system or that elderly grandma/grandpa that cannot fight these infections as readily as their younger counterparts. Rule of thumb: 24 hours fever-free OFF antipyretic therapy (ie. Tylenol or Motrin) before returning to “the real world.”

5) Viral? Bacterial? Both?

Remember, if your child is definitively diagnosed with flu, it is viral; however, like any other virus, with prolonged sniffles and stuffiness there is always that potential for that secondary bacterial infection. Therefore, if you notice that your child gets better and then all the sudden takes a turn downward, PLEASE get medically evaluated to dictate necessity of further medication management outside of the over-the-counter remedies. At minimum, don’t forget to utilize your on-call primary care provider to discuss whether in-person evaluation is necessary.

6) On that same note, influenza is VIRAL.

Meaning no antibiotic is going to magically make symptoms go away; not all fevers require antibiotics. In fact, you may be doing your child a disservice by giving them unnecessary antibiotics for viruses because it is building up antibiotic resistance for those other times antibiotics ARE warranted. Sometimes, unfortunately, there is not a quick fix. Generally, fever-reducing therapy (ie. Tylenol and Motrin) is enough to address symptoms and provided comfort (see box for weight-based dosing) while the virus runs its course. What about antiviral therapy, you ask? Well, let’s put it this way, it is not a one-size-fits-all medication. Generally, these medications are best if started within 48 hours of symptom onset and work to reduce duration of symptoms. Sign me up, right?! Well, Tamiflu has been shown to reduce symptoms by 1 day (MAYBE 2) if initiated within that 48-hour timeframe. It is expensive and has a whopping side effect profile that I would prefer not to be signed up for. Some patients, however, may be candidates or necessitate this therapy. Make sure to talk to your healthcare provider about risks and benefits of this medication. Other considerations: check out Sweaty as a Mother’s elderberry recipe. Elderberry is being widely researched with promising results with efficacy in reducing duration of symptoms of the flu (again, if initiated within the first 2 days of symptoms)! Fortunately for you, Taylor shared her recipe because this supplement flies off of shelves during flu season.

7) And my final rant from my soap box: The #1 way to prevent influenza is to get the flu vaccine.

While vaccine efficacy varies year-to-year and there is certainly no 100% guarantee (spoiler alert: not much in medicine comes with 100% guarantees), it is an important protective measure, again, for those asthmatics, elderly, babies, children with neurologic conditions or other chronic medical conditions, etc., as well as a protective measures for those around you that are not immunocompetent enough to be able to get the flu vaccine or have other contraindications for the preventative therapy. Now, trust me, I get it, the stats don’t look that enticing. However, say in the unfortunate chance that you do get the flu that same season, you’re body has already become aware of the “bad guys” and can start fighting faster and more effectively aka symptoms are generally less severe with a shorter duration. While this is a whole topic in it of itself, I will drop the link for the CDC website page which references numerous medical journal studies that help lead further discussion about the flu vaccine (CDC reference).

Wishing you all a season of happiness, health, leaf piles to jump in, apples to pick at an orchard with Instagram-worthy pictures, pumpkin flavored food/drinks/body scrubs/candles, football wins (keep the Cleveland Browns in your prayers…), and everything BUT the sniffles.

Tips For Staying Healthy This Flu Season