More on preventing and getting rid of colds and flu....

Today's Post: Monday, 11-14-2011

This has turned into a four part series to add some more helpful and effective information in today's post.

a) See the post last Tuesday, 11-8-2011 also. It was on ways to prevent colds and flu. By far the best solution is not have them & have them last zero time by simply NOT getting them at all!

b) The post on Thursday, 11-10, had the most important strategy to protect you from being limited and debilitated or harmed if you get a fever.

c) On Friday, 11-11, our post had some effective information on minimizing how bad chest colds get.

It had some information that added ways to kill off viruses in your nose and keep it from being stuffed up.

And, it added some supplements and foods that can also help.

This post has two ways that each help you prevent most colds and flu and make them milder and shorter if you get them anyway. Each of them cuts your chances of getting sick about in half. And when you do get sick, it’s less severe and leaves a day or two sooner.

a) People who take a probiotics supplement daily get fewer colds and may get fewer cases of the flu. In fact, it may prevent up to half of them.

I’ve not seen research showing why this effect exists; but there are 3 reasons I think this is so. Your immune system is tuned up from checking on the probiotic bacteria when -- without them to check each day, it might be half asleep when a cold or flu virus shows up. It also has the probiotic bacteria as a comparison that’s fresh, so when an upper respiratory bacteria or a cold virus or a flu virus shows up, your immune system will see it as different sooner. That likely enables it to attack sooner too.

But that’s not all. Your probiotic bacteria likely also attack them directly! And, that attack may be quite effective. The first strong antibiotic, penicillin, was a substance produced for just such an attack. This may even mean that your probiotic bacteria might have or develop a way to kill bacteria that are resistant to many antibiotic drugs!

b) Just since last year, I found out that people who take the supplement astragalus each day also get fewer colds and may get fewer cases of the flu. It too, may prevent up to half of them!

In fact, this has been known and well supported by research for years I found out on the website, www.wholehealthmd.com . But I only learned it and began taking astragalus myself a few months ago.

c) Does that mean that taking both probiotics and astragalus can help you avoid as much as 75% of colds and flu by cutting your chances in half twice? It’s possible though I do not know of any direct test. Since my wife and I now take both, I certainly hope so!

d) There are two times that you can get a scratchy throat that can cause you some discomfort, cause a dry cough, or make it hard to speak.

The first time is when you first get sick.

For that I like to empty out a 30 mg zinc capsule and put it into my mouth to try to get it to my throat AFTER getting a glass of water. There’s some chance that if a virus is a cause and it has only attacked your throat so far, that might kill it off. In fact, this has seemed to work for me a few times.

(However, it turns out spraying zinc into your nose is harmful to your mucous membranes. So do NOT do that! Use the steaming we describe in an earlier post in this series for that purpose. Unlike using zinc, the steam does NOT cause pain that sticks around and damage but it does kill viruses.)

But if you tried getting the zinc on the back of your throat and are definitely getting sicker anyway, what can be done to relieve that scratchy feeling or the dry cough or enable you to speak normally?

I once tried several kinds of cough lozenges. I found them all completely useless.

But there is now something called Thayer’s lozenges. Instead of being a hard candy with a flavor or having a numbing agent, Thayer’s lozenges use a soothing herbal called slippery elm that coats over the area that feels scratchy and directly stops the irritation.

I found the effect astounding in comparison to the normal cough drops. I chewed up two and swallowed them. (I’m a bit too impatient to suck on them for a long time.) The first few seconds I felt no effect. But within a few more seconds, there was no more feeling of irritation! It was all gone. It was as if I’d hit it with a 20 pound sledge hammer. No drama. The irritation just was no longer there!

That was nice!!

So, what I do now is always have some with me. If I get that kind of irritation, I give it a few minutes first because most of the time, it will go away by itself since I wasn’t coming down sick. But if after a few minutes, the irritation is still there or a bit worse, I chew up two of the Thayer’s. I talk on the phone in my job, so having something that effective in reserve when I need it is very nice indeed.

It helps mild sore throats a bit; but for bad ones, the pain is underneath the area the Thayer’s protects and too strong. So, if you have strep throat, you will still have the pain.

The second time you get a scratchy throat that causes you some discomfort, or a dry cough, or makes it hard to speak is when you have had a chest cold. You’ve coughed a lot and irritated your throat. BUT you no longer are coughing anything up. All you have is the left over irritation.

The Thayer’s lozenges work great for that!

The key is to wait until you no longer bring up anything when you cough. If you do, even just a bit, your body will cough until you get rid of it. For stopping that the Thayer’s won’t work. And you are better off getting rid of what you cough up anyway.

But if the irritation gets tiresome, you can use the Thayer’s for that. You will still cough. It will just be easier to take.

New way to prevent & overcome colds...

Today's post: Thursday, 2-14-2008

A news article today that I found online on in the Health section of Yahoo News reveals that taking probiotics may sharply reduce the number of colds you get & make the ones you do get about 40 % less severe. Not bad !!

And, after it, I’ll list another supplement that recently has been discovered to have a similar effect.

1. Here’s the article.:

"Friendly" bugs cut respiratory illness in runners Wed Feb 13, 7:12 PM ET

PARIS (AFP) - A type of probiotic -- the term for bacteria supplements deemed to be good for health -- boosted the immune system of long-distance runners, according to an Australian study published on Thursday.

Twenty elite male athletes, competing in events ranging from 800m to the marathon, were enrolled in an experiment that coincided with intensive winter training.

The volunteers were given the probiotic Lactobacillus fermentum, in the form of freeze-dried powder in gelatin capsules, or a dummy lookalike capsule called a placebo that contained harmless starch. Neither they nor the researchers knew what the individual capsules contained.

Each runner took the probiotics daily for a four-week stretch, followed by a four-week "washout period" in which they took nothing. They then followed this with the placebo for four weeks, followed by another "washout."

The bug did not change athletic performance but did reduce respiratory illness, according to the researchers, led by David Pyne of the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.

Seven of the runners reported having respiratory problems, such as a sore throat, a cough, runny nose, chest congestion and sneezing on days when they took the placebo.

These problems were recorded on a total of 72 days and rated on average 1.7 on a scale of severity, where three was the highest mark.

But when they took the probiotics, only three of the runners reported respiratory problems. The symptoms occurred on only 30 days and rated 1.0 for severity.

In addition, blood samples showed that levels of interferon gamma -- an immune-system molecule that is a key player in fighting viral infection -- doubled during the "probiotic" period.

Lactobacillus fermentum is a lactic acid bacterium that is well established as a treatment for (diarrhea) and other gut infections.

Probiotics are increasingly showing up in food products, led by Lactobacilli -- the germ that provides the sour taste in yoghurt and other fermented dairy foods.”

********

(I added the bold emphasis of the good results myself.)

JarroDophilus from the Jarrow company, is the one I take. It has Lactobacillus acidophilus & two other of the lactobacillus family & two other probiotics. One a day is effective; & it’s not expensive to take that much.

(Probiotics are safe for almost everyone. However, there is a serious inflammatory condition called pancreatitis in which probiotics are harmful.)

2. It’s been known for some time that a daily multiple vitamin & mineral that includes vitamin C, zinc, & magnesium helps keep your immune system strong.

It’s main benefit is not so much that your immune system will be unusually powerful but that taking the daily multiple vitamin & mineral will prevent your immune system from being weak. That helps prevent pneumonia & other secondary infections when you do get a cold.

However, one of the vitamins that is in a daily multiple vitamin & mineral has been recently discovered to be at only about a fifth or a seventh the desirable dose.

It seems that our bodies need to use about 2,000 to 3,000 iu of vitamin D a day. And, with mostly inside jobs, particularly during the winter, few people get enough sun exposure to produce that much.

And, when people take 2,000 to 3,000 iu a day of vitamin D, it strongly boosts the immune system.

This not only helps prevent colds & help speed recovery from them, it appears to help prevent all cancers as well.

Even better, vitamin D is cheap. 100 caps of 1,000 iu of vitamin D3 (the biologically active version) cost only $5 or $6.

So, the JarroDophilus may help prevent or speed recovery from colds & flu based on the news story.

But vitamin D is proven to from what I’ve read.

(By the way, the reason I think the probiotics may be as strong as vitamin D or stronger is that I take both & my wife only takes the vitamin D.

She got a moderate case of the current really bad cold while I got an extremely mild one day bout.)

I hope these two supplements work as well for you as they seem to have been doing for me in escaping being sick this cold & flu season.

PS: If you do get a cold or flu, in addition to taking these two supplements, get as much extra rest as you possibly can AND, drink a LOT of extra water.

Doctors say to drink extra water. But very few explain how much it actually does for you. It helps keep you from fainting or getting pneumonia & other secondary infections.

But of greater short term value to you, it changes your feeling when you are sick from feeling debilitated, weak, nonfunctional & HORRIBLE to just feeling a bit sick.

Faster cold relief & recovery...

Today's post: Monday, 1-28-2008

Good news for people with stopped up noses or who tend to get sinus problems.

Recently I read an interesting health news item that said that in children, research had been done that found that using a nose spray with a combination of sterile water & sea salt or simply boiled sea water that had been allowed to cool in kids with colds helped the children get over their cold & its symptoms about 30 to 40 % faster than the children who didn’t get the spray.

That alone is useful info since the thinking now is that kids should NOT take over the counter cold medicines, particularly the decongestant ones. So this is a safe & effective alternative.

Then late last week I got even more useful & related information.

It turns out that it may also help prevent or treat sinus problems & secondary infections & works just as well or even better with adults.

I also got an explanation of why it works, a potentially more effective way to do it, & that you can get sea salt at a health food store or grocery store like a Whole Foods Market & get distilled water & a bulb syringe at a drugstore to do it for yourself or your kids.

(With smaller kids you likely should be very careful they don’t choke on the water by breathing at the wrong time, which is why doing it only a little at a time as a nasal spray might be best for younger kids.)

Here’s that article: (My added comments follow it.)

"This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise's Total Health Breakthroughs, offering alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription,
visit http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com " (

It appeared last Friday, 1-25-2008.)

“An Ancient Practice to Relieve Sinus Congestion
By Joseph McCaffrey, MD, FACS

A stuffy nose and sinus misery are all too common at this time of year. A lot of folks reach for over the counter remedies that may or may not help the symptoms but do nothing for the underlying cause.

Fortunately, there's an ancient practice that works great to relieve the sinus distress and improve your health without having to resort to drugs. But first I want to tell you about one over-the-counter treatment you should avoid like the plague -- decongestant nasal sprays.

These sprays work by constricting the small blood vessels in the nasal passages. As a result, the swollen mucous membranes shrink and congestion temporarily feels better. When the drug wears off, people tend to use the spray again. That's when the problem begins.

Your body very quickly adapts to the sprays, often within a few days. If you continue using them, the blood vessels will be normal size when you're taking them and overly swollen and engorged if you try to stop. The spray has had no lasting benefit and has created its own problem.

Instead of that, how about a method that has been around for over 2000 years and that modern studies (1) show is effective?

The method is saline nasal lavage -- that is, rinsing the nasal passages with a saline solution. Ayurvedic practitioners have recommended this for years and now more and more western physicians are as well.

Our nasal passages act like a filter for our respiratory system. Airborne debris, including pathogens and allergens, is trapped in a normally thin layer of mucus and cleared from the nasal passage. If the system is overwhelmed, the debris accumulates, the nasal passages are irritated and the misery begins.

Nasal rinsing helps restore balance by clearing built up material and restoring an environment that allows the mucociliary lining to do its job.

Although the lavage may seem a little odd at first, people soon become used to it.
The traditional tool is a netti pot -- a small pot, usually ceramic, with a spout that is inserted gently into a nostril to instill the solution. Many health food stores carry these. Alternatively, you could use a bulb syringe, which is available in most pharmacies.

The technique is essentially the same with either tool. First, mix a saline solution, using 1/2 to 1 tsp salt (I suggest canning or sea salt rather than the usual table salt) to 2 cups water. Some people find the solution more comfortable if they add a pinch of baking soda (not powder) since it also helps break up mucus.
You'll use one cup of the solution in each nostril. To rinse the right nostril, lean forward over a sink, turn your head to the right and then use the netti pot or the bulb syringe to gently instill the solution. The solution will run out the opposite nostril.

When you're done, clear mucus by gently blowing your nose. Now repeat on the opposite side.

If this all seems a bit too involved, you can find commercially packaged irrigation systems at many pharmacies and online. These will include either a premixed irrigation solution or a pre-measured packet to mix with water as well as a bottle or other method of doing the actual irrigation.
Simple saline sprays are also useful. Obviously, while these won't flush out mucus and contaminates the way a saline irrigation will, they do help maintain moist mucous membranes. This can be especially helpful in the dry months of winter heating.

If you have sinus problems, try these methods to see how soon you can be breathing easily.

Reference

1. Papsin B and McTavish A. Can. Fam. Physician 2003;49:168-173.
[Ed. Note: Joseph F. McCaffrey, MD, FACS is a board-certified surgeon with extensive experience in alternative medicine, including certification as a HeartMath Trainer. His areas of expertise include mind-body interaction and cognitive restructuring. Dr. McCaffrey strives to help people attain their optimum level of vitality through attention to all aspects of wellness.”

X * X * X * X

Here are my added comments.:

If your mucus in your nose seems quite thick which would make this procedure take longer & potentially be less effective, here are three solutions to try.

1. Drink a large glass of real juice with vitamin C or two cups of tea or green tea or eat a large bowl of chicken soup or drink a large glass of water about half an hour before you do this.

(Bottom line, be sure you are drinking a good bit MORE water than usual. It really helps you avoid feeling hammered by the cold & is protective against bacterial infections too. Doctors say to do it; but few let you know WHY it is important & what it does for you.)

2. Consider eating something that’s spicy hot such as adding a bit of cayenne pepper to your chicken soup because a side effect of eating spicy hot foods is that it tends to make your nose run & reduces the thickness for you.

3. You can also use the decongestant nasal spray but ONLY ONE, repeat ONE, time just before you do this procedure the very first time if your congestion is horribly thick.

And, be absolutely sure to wait at least 3 days before even thinking of using it again. By that time using the procedure above you probably won’t need it anyway.

A doctor once suggested this way of using Afrin decongestant spray to me. And, it might work really well for you to do it just before you do the procedure in the article the first time you do this procedure for each cold where the mucous is thick.

However, it also might be worth trying this nasal lavage procedure after just the extra water & hot spices the first time; & then only go to the store for the nasal spray if you still need it.

Also, ask your kid’s doctor before using the decongestant nasal spray with kids. It’s not currently thought to be wise; but your doctor may have had good experience with this just using it once idea & OK it if your kid is older.