Cold & Flu Tips & Remedies
Cold & Flu Season Tips & Remedies:
- Let your immune system work. A fever or runny nose is not always a bad thing. It’s okay to get sick and let the illness run its course – long term it’ll strength your immune system and the next time you get sick you won’t have to suffer as much.
- Nucleotides may be the answer. If you feel a cold or flu bug coming on…as soon as you get that tickle in the throat you know will lead to several days of agony, try this. Take high doses of Nucleotides over the first 48-72 hours. I’m talking very high doses – 5-20 capsules / day. At least 600mg of Nucleotides per day, up to as much as 2000mg. The nucleotides help to denature the DNA of viruses and directly attack the offending bug, acting as a second immune system of sorts. It prevents colds, sinus infections and other illnesses from ramping up.
- Garlic extract is another great option to use. Unlike Nucleotides which work on attacking the infection itself, Garlic extract, known as Allicin, helps to boost your immune system’s natural fighting powers. Garlic has antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial properties that can help to keep you healthy long-term. While the US may not support the use of supplements to help treat various conditions, the European Union has for years supported the use of garlic for the treatment of coughs, cold and sinus infections. Raw garlic is best, with most of the active infection fighting potency retained this way versus cooking it. Garlic capsules also help, but look for at least 5mg of Allicin as part of the ingredients.
- Coconut oil has many uses, but it is absolutely known as an anti-viral, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory. Consume it raw, a few tablespoons a day with food or in liquids melted. Even better, find Monolauren, the active ingredient in coconut oil that has all the anti-infectious properties. Use the supplements of Monolauren to help fight off infections over time. Additionally, consider oil pulling for sinus and upper respiratory infections. The act of oil pulling will help to pull toxins out of your body and heal from the top down.
- Vitamin D3 helps to prevent infections and support the immune system. We want to get our vitamin D from the sun, but I find a lot of patients can’t absorb and utilize the D3 hormone as effectively as they want to. Research shows our vitamin D3 25-OH levels should be at least 50 and many people should be closer to 80-100 for optimal levels of utilization by their body. When you have had your vitamin D levels tested in blood and they are very low (<40), consider supplementing at higher doses to bring them up into the normal range. When this is the case with patients, I often see doses of 8000-16000iu/day given for a period of time. Everyone is unique and you need to be careful how long you use these higher doses but a short trial of at least 10,000iu is a good idea when you are getting sick.
- Curcumin is a great tool to help improve your health. It contains potent anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-cancer and anti-bacterial properties. A lot of research has gone into using Curcumin to help fight illness, with great success! Curcumin can reduce viral load and prevent the spread of infections to other parts of the body. This ability to help slow and stop the spread of infections, especially viruses, make Curcumin potent cold fighter. It also helps to fight free radicals which can damage the immune system. Again, higher doses are often the rule. I use between 5,000-10,000mg/day on average with patients in my clinic. At home, you may need to use less unless you are under clinical supervision. Curcumin is considered an Ayurvedic natural antibiotic and many recipes exist for treatment of respiratory track infections including the flu.