Flu and Cold Prevention (juice, remedy)

[KaraG]

My husband and I never get sick, but Sunday night I caught a cold, first time in many years. I used an essential oil, DoTerra On Guard, topically and also 3 drops in shots of orange juice. I knocked it out in 48 hours. Very happy - first time I used this oil, glad I had it on hand, just in case.

Now the flu is going around all over our town. I just ordered Elderberry Juice. We're going to take 1-2 teaspoons a day which is supposed to help with prevention.

[jaminhealth]

My preventions:

Cold maybe coming on = loading with Echineaca

Flu maybe coming on = starting with Oscillococcium

These have worked in my life for many years.

[in_newengland]

There's a thread in the Retirement forum that has people discussing the best treatments and one of the recommended products that sounded good to me is Nature's Way Sambucus Immune Syrup: Elderberry, Echinacea, Zinc, and Propolis.

I think some of these ingredients have been proven to work. I know zinc is supposed to be good for the immune system and black elder has been proven in trials and is a traditional winter remedy. Best to look up the ingredients and see what you think--that's what I intend to do when I get a chance. Might be something good to have on hand.

[MissTerri]

I always keep elderberry on hand during the winter. I will take it or give it to family whenever anyone is feeling run down or showing signs of illness. We use oil of oregano in the same way. It seems to work . I also take vitamin D and C during cold and flu season as well. So far so good.

One of my daughter's caught the flu a few years ago and she was in bed for a good solid 24 hours straight. We used the above regimen and while she still had the flu, she was much improved after the first 24 hours. Of course there is no way to know for sure if the supplements were what made the difference but I certainly can't rule it out. No one else in our household caught it from her either and we took supplements as a preventative measure.

[saibot]

Having a good vitamin D level (say, over 50, confirmed by blood test) really helps prevent most colds and flu. It's important to maintain your vitamin D levels all the time. It doesn't really help if you take it only when you feel something coming on, as building up to a healthy level takes some time.

If I do feel a bit of a scratchy throat or other cold symptom, I take echinacea, zinc, extra vitamin C, and also drink lots of hot ginger tea. It also seems to help me to stay very warm, even slightly uncomfortably warm--wear socks even though I usually don't, for example, and have an extra cover at night. Doing all of the above often makes the cold symptoms go away within 12-24 hours.

I haven't had flu for many years, so no advice about that.

[LittleDolphin]

Originally Posted by saibot

Having a good vitamin D level (say, over 50, confirmed by blood test) really helps prevent most colds and flu. It's important to maintain your vitamin D levels all the time. It doesn't really help if you take it only when you feel something coming on, as building up to a healthy level takes some time.

If I do feel a bit of a scratchy throat or other cold symptom, I take echinacea, zinc, extra vitamin C, and also drink lots of hot ginger tea. It also seems to help me to stay very warm, even slightly uncomfortably warm--wear socks even though I usually don't, for example, and have an extra cover at night. Doing all of the above often makes the cold symptoms go away within 12-24 hours.

I haven't had flu for many years, so no advice about that.

I'm doing much the same regimen to avoid the flu that's making the rounds. Also adding lots of fresh garlic to soups and stews -- don't know if it helps but as I like garlic, figure it can't hurt...

How do you take your echinacea? I brew and drink echinacea tea, but just bought some capsules, too. Figure I want to up the amount just now and the capsules are easier...

[saibot]

I just have echinacea capsules, but I'd be open to trying the tea. I wonder if I could blend it with the ginger tea I already drink when I'm feeling under the weather.