19 replies to this topic

[Mind]

One thing about getting ill (me right now) is that it sure makes you appreciate being healthy. I don't get sick too often, so I kind-of take good health for granted.

[Mind]

I was reading the other day that honey worked better to soothe cold/flu symptoms than cough syrup. Didn't work for me. I find the best thing is caffeine. Drink a bunch during work and it gets me through, then I crash at home.

[Athanasios]

On onset of symptoms try 1g of Vit C an hour for 6 hours. Each day afterward try 1g vit C an hour for 4 hours. I barely feel a thing when I do this.

The above was based on research that I can't seem to dig up now but think it was in:
Acta Vitaminol Enzymol. 1974;28(1-4):85-95. 'The role of vitamin C in the treatment of acute infections of the upper respiratory pathways.'


Anyway, I think too many bum trials have got in the way of recommending this to the public which could really help productivity:

Nutrition. 1996 Nov-Dec;12(11-12):804-9.Links
Vitamin C supplementation and common cold symptoms: problems with inaccurate reviews.
Hemilä H.

Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.

In 1971, Linus Pauling carried out a meta-analysis of four placebo-controlled trials and concluded that it was highly unlikely that the decrease in the "integrated morbidity of the common cold" in vitamin C groups was caused by chance alone (P < 0.00003). Studies carried out since then have consistently found that vitamin C (> or = 1 g/d) alleviates common cold symptoms, indicating that the vitamin does indeed have physiologic effects on colds. However, widespread conviction that the vitamin has no proven effects on the common cold still remains. Three of the most influential reviews drawing this conclusion are considered in the present article. Two of them are cited in the current edition of the RDA nutritional recommendations as evidence that vitamin C is ineffective against colds. In this article, these three reviews are shown to contain serious inaccuracies and shortcomings, making them unreliable sources on the topic. The second purpose is to suggest possible conceptual reasons for the persistent resistance to the notion that vitamin C might have effects on colds. Although placebo-controlled trials have shown that vitamin C does alleviate common cold symptoms, important questions still remain.

PMID: 8974108 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[senseix]

I was reading the other day that honey worked better to soothe cold/flu symptoms than cough syrup. Didn't work for me. I find the best thing is caffeine. Drink a bunch during work and it gets me through, then I crash at home.

try some epicor wink:)

[Mind]

Well, now that I have gotten some sort of respiratory ailment, I am thinking of getting some epicor or DiamondV XPC, to try my best to ward off the flu later this winter.

[niner]

I was reading the other day that honey worked better to soothe cold/flu symptoms than cough syrup. Didn't work for me. I find the best thing is caffeine. Drink a bunch during work and it gets me through, then I crash at home.

Try some IV Demerol. Sorry to hear you're unwell, Mind- I hope you're feeling better soon. For colds, I find that zinc lozenges really help. I've been getting flu shots for a while now and haven't had the flu in years. I don't think Epicor would do anything for an acute illness, but I'm starting to get sold on it based on my long term response. I've had no major episodes since I started taking it about 4 months ago, despite a lot of illnesses in my family. I did have one "stealth cold", where I had some symptoms but I wasn't really sick. It would be normal for me to get sick once or twice over this time period, especially considering that I live with a couple little walking Petri dishes.

[lucid]

Sorry to hear that you are ill Mind.

I recommend 4000 UI of Vit D3 during the Winter. That has made a big difference for me. Our bodies dont produce much D3 since there is less sunlight in the winter months and we are indoors more. D3 is very important for proper immune function. This is largely the putative cause of the 'cold/flu' season.

Next, if you have a cold; I would take zinc gluconate losenges. Everytime that I have used them, they whip the $@$$ out of my cold. Cold Eeze advertises it reduces symptoms and then reduces duration by 42%.

Possibly take echinacea, there doesn't seem to be a consensus regarding its efficacy however (I am personally skeptical and have therefore not tried it yet):

A medical study (Taylor et al. 2003[2].) found that when echinacea products made from the entire plant (not just the root) were taken after the second cold symptom appeared they provided no measurable beneficial effect for children in treating the severity or duration of symptoms caused by the common cold virus. Dosage however was about a third of what clinical herbalists routinely use, and the leaves and stems are not known to be clinically effective. Studies by the University of Virginia School of Medicine (Turner, 2005 [3]) confirmed these results, and added that Echinacea had no clinically significant effects on the common cold even if taken immediately upon infection, or as a prophylaxis starting a week prior to symptoms of infection. However, a University of Maryland review of available studies concluded that Echinacea, when taken at first sign of a cold, reduced cold symptoms or shortened their duration. This conclusion was based on 13 European studies.[4] The University of Maryland study also found that three of four studies concluded that taking Echinacea to prevent a cold was ineffective, although including studies that use subclinical doses, the wrong part or unassayed material will bias such conclusions. Another scientific review, however, of 14 published studies found that the incidence of colds was reduced by 58% and the duration by a day and half.[5]

Next comes the humidifier:

The National Institutes of Health recommends the use of humidifiers to help relieve congestion from the common cold, flu and sinus infections. Any time you have congestion, a humidifier may be able to help. They add moisture to the air which will in turn moisten your skin (including nasal passages) and thin some of the mucous in your sinuses. This makes it easier for you to breathe and easier for the mucous to drain. The key is to keep your humidifier cleaned and properly maintained so you don't create an environment that keeps you sick, rather than helping you get better.

http://coldflu.about...humidifiers.htm

Antihistamines and decongestants:

Antihistamines are a good cold treatment if you’re having sinus pain and congestion. Antihistamines like Benadryl, Allegra, and Claritin will help keep inflammation of the sinuses and other related cold symptoms down, while decongestants like Sudafed will keep your nose from plugging and dripping so much. There are combination medicines like Claritin D, Allegra D, and Sudafed Plus that contain both antihistamines and decongestants.

http://www.getridoft...d-of-a-cold.htm

Make sure you stay well hydrated. I don't know what this has to do with fighting the cold, but doctors are pretty adamant about that and it is safe and free

Make sure you avoid being sleep deprived, carb binging, and heavy consumption of alcohol where as they will destroy your immune system (lots of other recreational drugs will kill the immune system to).

Its important that you make sure that you do not have strep throat because Strep throat can take weeks to clear up on its own and an antibiotic will have up and running in one day. Symptoms of strep include:
A sudden onset of a severely soar throat.
A fever for the first day which then subsides.
Generally no cough or weak cough.
Difficulty swallowing.

Good luck.

Edited by lucid, 03 January 2008 - 10:04 PM.

[Mind]

It would be normal for me to get sick once or twice over this time period, especially considering that I live with a couple little walking Petri dishes.

Funny, I call them "germ factories". When I go to schools for speaking engagements this time of year I sometimes get a foreboding sense of oncoming illness because there are always a few kids (sometimes a lot) sniffling and coughing .

[krillin]

I get good results from Now's zinc/elderberry/echinacea/propolis/slippery elm lozenges. In 2007 three times I had the beginning of a sore throat. The first two times I woke up the next day symptom free, while the third time required two days.

[Alien65]

Having gone 4 years now without a cold or flu (knock on wood) I am a firm believer in Beta-1,3D Glucan. There have been times when I couldn't afford hardly any other supplements but always scraped up money for this.
I take 500 mg to 1 gm per day. It's worth researching.

[Matt]

Practically everyone I know have been sick with colds or flu in the past few weeks. Everyone in my house had it except me! Even my father who hasn't been ill in 20+ years with a cold got ill with it! Now on top of that people are becoming sick with the Norovirus outbreaks, biggest outbreak since 2002 http://news.bbc.co.u...lth/7169347.stm with double the amount of people ill by this time of year, and it started 1 month early. Maybe this has to do with the bad Summer weather and lack of vitamin D?

All I did was;

Drink ten cups of green tea per day, gargle it as well as swallowing
Eat 1 clove of fresh garlic every 3-4 hours
Beta Glucan
Vitamin D3 - 5000 IU
Wash hands often

Garlic 'prevents common cold'
http://news.bbc.co.u...lth/1575505.stm

Beta glucan
http://www.lef.org/m...immunity_01.htm

Epidemic Influenza And Vitamin D
http://www.medicalne...icles/51913.php

Specific formulation of Camellia sinensis prevents cold and flu symptoms and enhances gamma,delta T cell function: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

OBJECTIVE: Determine if a specific formulation of Camellia sinensis (CSF) can prevent illness and symptoms due to cold and flu, and enhance gammadelta T cell function METHODS: Design: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Subjects: Healthy adults 18-70 years old. Intervention: Proprietary formulation of Camellia sinensis (green tea) capsules, or a placebo, twice a day, for 3 months. Measures of Outcome: As assessed by daily symptom logs, percentage of subjects experiencing cold and flu symptoms, number of days subjects experienced symptoms, and percentage of subjects seeking medical treatment. Mean in vivo and ex vivo proliferative and interferon gamma responses of subjects' peripheral blood mononuclear cells to gammadelta T cell antigen stimulation. RESULTS: Among subjects taking CSF there were 32.1% fewer subjects with symptoms (P = 0.035), 22.9% fewer overall illnesses of at least 2 days duration (P = 0.092), and 35.6% fewer symptom days (P < 0.002), compared to subjects taking placebo. gammadelta T cells from subjects taking CSF proliferated 28% more (P = 0.017) and secreted 26% more IFN-gamma (P = 0.046) in response to gammadelta T cell antigens, as compared to gammadelta T cells from subjects taking placebo. CSF was well-tolerated. CONCLUSIONS: This proprietary formulation of CSF is a safe and effective dietary supplement for preventing cold and flu symptoms, and for enhancing gammadelta T cell function.

PMID: 17914132 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Antiviral effect of catechins in green tea on influenza virus.
Song JM, Lee KH, Seong BL.

Polyphenolic compound catechins ((-)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), (-)-epicatechin gallate (ECG) and (-)-epigallocatechin (EGC)) from green tea were evaluated for their ability to inhibit influenza virus replication in cell culture and for potentially direct virucidal effect. Among the test compounds, the EGCG and ECG were found to be potent inhibitors of influenza virus replication in MDCK cell culture and this effect was observed in all influenza virus subtypes tested, including A/H1N1, A/H3N2 and B virus. The 50% effective inhibition concentration (EC50) of EGCG, ECG, and EGC for influenza A virus were 22-28, 22-40 and 309-318 microM, respectively. EGCG and ECG exhibited hemagglutination inhibition activity, EGCG being more effective. However, the sensitivity in hemagglutination inhibition was widely different among three different subtypes of influenza viruses tested. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed that, at high concentration, EGCG and ECG also suppressed viral RNA synthesis in MDCK cells whereas EGC failed to show similar effect. Similarly, EGCG and ECG inhibited the neuraminidase activity more effectively than the EGC. The results show that the 3-galloyl group of catechin skeleton plays an important role on the observed antiviral activity, whereas the 5'-OH at the trihydroxy benzyl moiety at 2-position plays a minor role. The results, along with the HA type-specific effect, suggest that the antiviral effect of catechins on influenza virus is mediated not only by specific interaction with HA, but altering the physical properties of viral membrane.

PMID: 16137775 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Inhibition of the infectivity of influenza virus by tea polyphenols.
Nakayama M, Suzuki K, Toda M, Okubo S, Hara Y, Shimamura T.

Department of Virology and Rickettsiology, National Institute of Health, Tokyo, Japan.

(-)Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) and theaflavin digallate (TF3) (1-10 microM) inhibited the infectivity of both influenza A virus and influenza B virus in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells in vitro. Study by electron microscope revealed that EGCg and TF3 (1 mM) agglutinated influenza viruses as well as did antibody, and that they prevented the viruses from adsorbing to MDCK cells. EGCg and TF3 more weakly inhibited adsorption of the viruses to MDCK cells. EGCg and TF3 (1-16 microM) also inhibited haemagglutination by influenza viruses. These findings suggest that tea polyphenols bind to the haemagglutinin of influenza virus, inhibit its adsorption to MDCK cells, and thus block its infectivity.

PMID: 8215301 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Edited by Matt, 04 January 2008 - 05:18 AM.

[Matt]

The amount of colds and the duration were significantly different between the groups. I stink of garlic...

Preventing the common cold with a garlic supplement: a double-blind, placebo-controlled survey.
Josling P.

Garlic Centre, Battle, East Sussex, United Kingdom.

One hundred forty-six volunteers were randomized to receive a placebo or an allicin-containing garlic supplement, one capsule daily, over a 12-week period between November and February. They used a five-point scale to assess their health and recorded any common cold infections and symptoms in a daily diary. The active-treatment group had significantly fewer colds than the placebo group (24 vs 65, P < .001). The placebo group, in contrast, recorded significantly more days challenged virally (366 vs 111, P < .05) and a significantly longer duration of symptoms (5.01 vs 1.52 days, P < .001). Consequently, volunteers in the active group were less likely to get a cold and recovered faster if infected. Volunteers taking placebo were much more likely to get more than one cold over the treatment period. An allicin-containing supplement can prevent attack by the common cold virus.

PMID: 11697022 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[christines]

Here are some useful flu prevention tips: http://www.emedexper.../flu-tips.shtml

[lucid]

To protect your child hang up to the cot a small gauze bag with crushed raw garlic.

Was that the vampire or the cold and flu section?

[caston]

Does anyone remember something called umuckma or something like that? I can't remember excatly how to spell it and google isn't helping me get the correct spelling either. I had a cold recently and have got over it now but I think that product may help me prevent further colds in the future if only I can rememeber what itis called and how to spell it.

[niner]

Does anyone remember something called umuckma or something like that?

It's Umcka

[caston]

Thanks niner

[Mind]

Well, I haven't had a bad episode of the flu since 2008, knock on wood. I haven't done anything special since then really except to try and stay healthy with a good diet and exercise. I also have started taking vitamin D3, which has some immune-boosting evidence behind it. Most of my colds and flu's have been very minor. For those following this thread, I think Niner had one bad case of the flu (the dreaded swine flu) during the intervening years since the start of this thread.

I was reading this by Ben Best and it made me think that we should redefine influenza as an age related disease in some manner of speaking. Influenza affects all age groups but primarily kills the elderly - a good marker for declining immune function. Deaths from the flu are very very highly correlated with age. Death from the flu in ages 5 through 49 is ten times less likely than the 50 to 64 age group and 100 times less likely than the 65+ age group.

Edited by Mind, 07 January 2013 - 06:45 PM.

[dz93]

Not sure if this had been said yet but I haven't been sick at all since I've been taking colloidal silver nanoparticles. I've heard great things from others about it and I've experience great health effects from it. Id recommend at least trying it and if its not for you then its not for you simple as that. But its definitely worth a try.

[kurdishfella]

Getting sick by the cold is a myth. in order to get sick you must first be infected. Coldness does have the ability to kill you but it wouldnt be because of your immune system but cauase of natural forces. whoever has the better immune system is stronger physically and mentally

Edited by kurdishfella, 20 November 2022 - 03:46 PM.