Help your body resist winter chills
Coughs, colds, flu,
chest and throat infections, and bronchitis
POWERFUL YET SIMPLE REMEDIES
It's frequently the case that more serious illnesses such as chest infections and bronchitis happen as a consequence of picking up that cold or cough or sore throat in the first place. So anything you can do, especially before the onset of winter, to boost your immune system and help protect your body from unwanted viruses and bacteria has to be worth the effort. It wasn't until I studied nutritional and herbal medicine in the 1980s and began to put training into practice that I discovered I could stop a cold virus in its tracks and thus often prevent secondary infections ending up as something infinitely more serious. Please note that I didn't say 'cure' the common cold since I have no wish to be burned at the stake for my heresy or cause the flat-earth society any unnecessary anxiety. No, my treatment protocol, honed from more than 30 years of patient experience, is based around prevention.
I sometimes wonder if my long-time interest in treating illnesses linked to the respiratory system might stem from my family history. All those stories about generations of past relatives confined to ancient, onion-strewn four posters, weighed down by necklaces of threaded garlic, shivering under shawls and patchwork quilts, their towel-covered heads snuffling over steaming basins of Friar's Balsam, and basting their croaking throats with goose grease. Well, maybe not quite that bad but there were certainly plenty of tales of various uncles, cousins, brothers and others throughout my childhood spending long winters of discontent, wheezing and heaving their way through unbearable bouts of bronchitis and dodgy lung disease. I do remember that symptoms and prognoses were always discussed in reverential whispers, presumably lest careless talk might cost lives! 'Nothing you can do about it', some family sage would say in reference to the latest sufferer, shaking their heads grimly, 'they've inherited Grannie's chest'. Sadly this meant neither a worthwhile B cup nor the solid wooden type with ornate brass hinges, stuffed with gold coins or long lost booty.
SO WHAT HAPPENS?
I’m sure you already know that we don’t actually ‘catch’ colds; rather they ‘catch’ us, multiplying via a rather disgusting sounding activity known as droplet inhalation. Not only are they able to travel considerable distances in the air (unthinking sneezers please note), they also hitch rides with oblivious humans - from digit to door handle, hanky to handrail and handshake to handshake. And because, on average, we absent-mindedly brush, scratch, rub or otherwise touch our faces more than thirty times each day, we make it easy for viruses to travel from one host to another.
When winter approaches and people spend more time inside with windows and doors closed, opportunist respiratory nasties are able to spread unhindered. You probably already realised that these little Houdinis are especially clever at sneaking past airport security and stowing away unseen in aircraft cabin spaces, spreading misery wherever they fly. If that weren’t enough, cold viruses are extremely fond of any human target that sniffs and snorts onto wrists and cuffs rather than choosing instead to blow discreetly into those square white things called paper tissues.
No-one is completely immune but neither is getting a cold inevitable. Although a medical cure remains elusive (viruses are always trying to stay one step ahead of the body’s immune system police by constantly morphing into new aliases, changing tiny details about themselves to avoid detection), there’s plenty that can be done not only to reduce the spread of infection. If you are unlucky enough to succumb, there are also lots of really helpful home remedies that can relieve symptoms and make you feel more comfortable.
ON THE BASIS THAT PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE, HERE'S WHAT I'VE FOUND MOST HELPFUL IN REDUCING THE RISK OF GETTING A COUGH, COLD, FLU OR SORE THROAT:
* Infected hands are one of the most common sources of cold viruses and bacteria. Most important of all, be scrupulous about hand washing after contact with others, coming home after shopping or shaking hands with someone. Use anti-bacterial handwash after every nose wiping or bout of sneezing and always before preparing food or eating. * Take Dr Vogel Echinaforce drops or Viridian Echinacea Tincture once daily throughout the winter and most importantly during a cold. This specific herbal remedy rates highly as an effective treatment for colds and related conditions. Widely available in health stores, pharmacies and online. For more information go to www.avogel.co.uk * Invest in a top quality Vitamin C supplement and taking at least one daily with meals. Two of my favourites are from Bionutri and Biocare. See Kathryn's Favourite Products for more of my favourite brands. (By the way, in my practice experience, the types of vitamin C that fizz in water are not effective for cold prevention and can irritate the stomach in some people.) * Take a pucker probiotic. Buy the best that you can afford and take it at least from October to December. Research results suggest that a regular dose of probiotic bacteria helps to boost natural immunity. Click here to read my article on why we need good gut bugs and here for more information on my favourite probiotic products. * Learn more about Vitamin D. Well known as the vitamin that helps bones absorb calcium, new research is showing Vitamin D to be very important in reducing the risk of viruses. Recent studies not only confirm the importance of Vitamin D to the immune system but, more specifically, that a lack of it may be a factor in a wide range of conditions, including heart disease, Parkinson's, depression, chronic pain, type 1 diabetes and obesity. * Eat at least two pieces of fresh fruit and three servings of vegetables or salad foods every day. Vegetables added to soups and stews and drinking freshly prepared juices every day - these are great ways to up your intake without really trying. * Keep fluid intake high. Especially herbal teas, fresh juices, water, vegetable soups and probiotic drinks. And a final note: If you really have no choice but to be up and around, an over-the-counter cold remedy can relieve discomfort but won’t shorten or cure your cold. I’ve always had far more success by using dietary therapy together with the herbal and vitamin-based remedies mentioned above. In the meantime, at the foot of this feature, you'll find a couple of case histories which I hope might be helpful. Here's wishing you the best of better health. Kathryn Marsden IMPORTANT CAUTION:
The information I have provided you within these pages should NEVER be considered a replacement for medical advice. Eating healthily, taking good quality herbal medicines and nutritional supplements can certainly help to reduce the duration of colds and flu, and in many cases are preventative. However, if you think you may have an infection, you should see your doctor without delay. |
IF A COLD VIRUS DOES STRIKE, I WOULD ALWAYS: * Isolate myself. Even though it may not seem convenient, resting at home or staying in bed for 24 hours not only decreases the duration of symptoms and the risk of complications such as sinus and chest infections but also cuts the spread of infection to others. * Call up the four items I always keep in my first aid cabinet (doubly important if winter is approaching): 1. Dr Vogel's Echinaforce or Viridian Organic Echinacea Tincture 2. Bionutri's Elderberry Complex 3. A good quality Vitamin C such as Biocare, Bionutri, or Viridian and 4. Comvita Manuka Honey Syrup with Mullein * Take Dr Vogel’s Echinaforce drops ( or Viridian Echinacea Tincture ) twice daily together with one gram (1000mg) of Vitamin C twice a day. In my view, this is essential. I do this throughout the winter anyway and I've only had one cold in ten years, so something must be working. If I thought I'd picked up a bug from someone else, I'd double the dose for a few days. Many times, I've found that if I take action really quickly, this treatment can kick a cold into touch before it even starts. * If I thought I was at risk of influenza or bronchitis, or I was in the grips of a really serious cold, I'd add Bionutri’s brilliant Elderberry Complex and would use Comvita Manuka Honey Syrup with Mullein, because it's mega soothing for coughs, catarrh, sinus and sore throats. In fact, I think it is one of the absolute best cough medicines on the market. The Comvita range also includes Propolis Herbal Elixir and Propolis Lozenges - all really helpful for coughs and sore throats, and Comvita Olive Leaf Complex which I find excellent for reducing the duration of an infection and where there is fever. The herbal remedy Pelargonium Cold Relief from Higher Nature can also be especially useful for those 'chesty' conditions. * More detail on all these recommendations, including links, can be found in my Favourite Products section. * I'd definitely keep my diet light. For a few days at least, it’s best to steer clear of rich, highly spiced, sweet and fatty foods, meat, bread and cereals; also milk, cheese and wheat-based foods, notorious for creating mucus. By avoiding foods that need a lot of digesting, the body has more energy to devote to the immune system. * Drink plenty of fluids; herbal tea, green tea, boiled water with fresh lime or lemon juice and honey, mineral water, probiotic shots, fresh fruit, juices and soups, especially vegetable soup and chicken broth; these are all top notch fluids that not only ease symptoms but also help to wash the virus out of the system. Anything goes except alcohol, caffeine or drinks containing sugar or artificial sweeteners. |
PS All the products I've mentioned in this article are available from:
The Natural Dispensary 01453 757792 www.naturaldispensary.co.uk
and also from Sunshine Health Shop www.sunshinehealthshop.co.uk
The Nutri Centre
and
Planet Organic
Or from a good independent health food store
Or you can order specific products direct from the individual manufacturer such as Biocare or Viridian-Nutrition
OTHER TIPS:
If your throat feels like grazed sandpaper, then gargle. Dr Vogel's Echinaforce or Viridian's Echinacea tincture are great for this job. Put 30 drops in half a glass of water. Gargle. Swallow each mouthful as you go. If you don't have any other remedies in the house, you can gargle with salty water. Boil the kettle and dissolve a teaspoon of salt in a mug. When the liquid is comfortably tepid, use it as a gargle (in this case, spit out, don't swallow). May not taste great but the salt helps to discourage viruses and bacteria from settling in your mouth and throat, and also soothes soreness.
If your nose is bunged up, don't blow it too hard. This could damage nose membranes and might make your nose bleed. The blowing pressure can also aggravate your sinuses, increasing the risk of sinus congestion and infection. Blow gently and clear nostrils with anti-bacterial wipes.
Remember that the nose is a humungus source of bacteria. If you have a cold, forget regular hankies and use tissues, but once only, then discard. May seem extravagant but re-using nose wiping gear can just spread the infection.
If your throat feels like grazed sandpaper, then gargle. Dr Vogel's Echinaforce or Viridian's Echinacea tincture are great for this job. Put 30 drops in half a glass of water. Gargle. Swallow each mouthful as you go. If you don't have any other remedies in the house, you can gargle with salty water. Boil the kettle and dissolve a teaspoon of salt in a mug. When the liquid is comfortably tepid, use it as a gargle (in this case, spit out, don't swallow). May not taste great but the salt helps to discourage viruses and bacteria from settling in your mouth and throat, and also soothes soreness.
If your nose is bunged up, don't blow it too hard. This could damage nose membranes and might make your nose bleed. The blowing pressure can also aggravate your sinuses, increasing the risk of sinus congestion and infection. Blow gently and clear nostrils with anti-bacterial wipes.
Remember that the nose is a humungus source of bacteria. If you have a cold, forget regular hankies and use tissues, but once only, then discard. May seem extravagant but re-using nose wiping gear can just spread the infection.
CASE HISTORY 1:
A lady in her 70s presented with a 23 year history of winter bronchitis, the said calamity requiring often more than one course of antibiotics followed swiftly by iatrogenic bouts of cystitis and thrush. She came to me after reading an article of mine about cystitis in one of the women's magazines and clearly expected that I’d provide some remedy for that condition alone but when her devastating health history revealed itself during consultation and I suggested that it might not be all that difficult to break the bronchitis cycle, she was highly sceptical. She took my suggestions to a friend of hers, a retired nurse teacher, and reported back that the friend was singularly unimpressed with my ideas and advised my patient not to bother. Apparently, this person dismissed the dosage levels of vitamin C supplements I'd suggested with 'what's the matter with oranges' and considered probiotics to be a 'nonsense' when there were plenty of friendly bacteria in yoghurt. (My book Good Gut Bugs, on page 270, tells it rather differently and on page 187 of that same book, there's also a useful chapter on Colds, flu and Respiratory Infections) Anyhow, to the patient's eternal credit, she decided to follow my advice and from that day to this (which is now 10 years), she has not had a single cold or other respiratory infection. No bronchitis, no need for antibiotics, and consequently no bladder infections and no thrush. The diet and supplement plan this lady followed is the one detailed above.
CASE HISTORY 2:
Another case that sticks particularly strongly in my mind for its unusualness was a man in his mid-thirties who told me that his life was completely ruled by a cold he'd contracted as a teenager and that had never gone away. He suffered constantly with regular chest infections, a permanently blocked nose, sore throat, coughing, sneezing, and sinuses which were not only tender on palpation but which irregularly ejected plugs of dark green mucus. Whether he had, in truth, kept company with the same virus for nigh on 20 years or more likely was either simply swapping one contagion for another, possibly made worse by the effects of some as yet undiscovered allergen, there seemed little doubt that repeated infections sought out his weakened immunity like flies drawn to a field of Friesians. He was also ashen, lacked energy, was white inside the lower eyelids and had a rapid pulse.
Visual symptoms alone suggested that his diet wasn't so great, something which the one week food diary I asked him to keep had confirmed. He worked on a building site and daily sustenance was based on what calculated as 6 pint mugs of milky tea and four double rounds of white bread sandwiches, mostly containing ham or cheese. Apart from peas and potatoes, he considered vegetables to be poisonous, he hated fish (which reminds me - I once had a patient who professed she 'couldn't eat fish that swims' !), rarely ate fruit (the occasional apple) and drank no water.
The main focus of treatment was, first, to cut back as much as possible on anything that was either mucus-forming or a potential allergen and, second, to introduce foods which would help support the immune system. The new diet would be backed up by choice quality supplements to be regularly reviewed but which would remain in place at least until symptoms has been eradicated.
So fed up with his situation was he that he took on board every suggestion I made regarding his diet, giving complete lie to the old adage that man pain is all too often the result of man pig-headedness. Certainly not in this case. He removed milk totally and overnight (brave, given his admitted addiction to milky tea), and drank weaker black tea instead. (Note: His blood test came back showing low haemaglobin which may have been made worse by excess tea intake). His GP prescribed ferrous sulphate which produced the inevitable constipation and hard-to-pass pelleted black stools but with the doctor’s complete agreement we changed it to Biocare Iron Complex together with Biocare Vitamin B12 which did the trick within a month.
The plastic sandwiches (his words, not mine) were upgraded to one round of wholegrain bread with sliced ham off the bone rather than the reconstituted packet ham of previously; to this, he added home-made coleslaw plus salad greens (dark leaf lettuce, watercress, rocket etc.). The processed cow's milk cheese (very mucus-forming stuff) was dismissed entirely in favour of goat's cheese and he also included sliced tomatoes. Nowadays, he eats more Ryvita crispbread which, apparently, his workmates thought was 'for girls', until he told them that, unlike ordinary bread, it doesn’t create mucus. The fish thing was harder to resolve because he couldn't get used to a taste he'd hated from childhood and most fish oil capsules repeated on him. But he did embrace canned sardines as a suggested sandwich filling and takes Biocare's OmegaBerry for his daily dose of Omega 3s.
His diet has improved immensely since those early days, 'no more packets or take-aways' he tells me and he now does a lot of his own home cooking with 'ingredients I never knew existed'. He stays on a simple supplement programme of Viridian Essential Male Multi, the aforesaid OmegaBerry, and now also uses the new Vitamin C Complex from Bionutri. Throughout the winter months he has 20 drops a day of Dr Vogel Echinacea tincture (fantastic stuff, Viridian also do a good one). If he thinks he might be susceptible to a passing bug, he doubles the Echinacea dose and, for extra support, adds Bionutri's Elderberry Complex. He followed a six-month course of probiotics at the outset of treatment, and now takes a one-month pack of Bionutri Ecodophilus every three months. He has now been free of colds, catarrh and all other related symptoms for 9 years.
Another case that sticks particularly strongly in my mind for its unusualness was a man in his mid-thirties who told me that his life was completely ruled by a cold he'd contracted as a teenager and that had never gone away. He suffered constantly with regular chest infections, a permanently blocked nose, sore throat, coughing, sneezing, and sinuses which were not only tender on palpation but which irregularly ejected plugs of dark green mucus. Whether he had, in truth, kept company with the same virus for nigh on 20 years or more likely was either simply swapping one contagion for another, possibly made worse by the effects of some as yet undiscovered allergen, there seemed little doubt that repeated infections sought out his weakened immunity like flies drawn to a field of Friesians. He was also ashen, lacked energy, was white inside the lower eyelids and had a rapid pulse.
Visual symptoms alone suggested that his diet wasn't so great, something which the one week food diary I asked him to keep had confirmed. He worked on a building site and daily sustenance was based on what calculated as 6 pint mugs of milky tea and four double rounds of white bread sandwiches, mostly containing ham or cheese. Apart from peas and potatoes, he considered vegetables to be poisonous, he hated fish (which reminds me - I once had a patient who professed she 'couldn't eat fish that swims' !), rarely ate fruit (the occasional apple) and drank no water.
The main focus of treatment was, first, to cut back as much as possible on anything that was either mucus-forming or a potential allergen and, second, to introduce foods which would help support the immune system. The new diet would be backed up by choice quality supplements to be regularly reviewed but which would remain in place at least until symptoms has been eradicated.
So fed up with his situation was he that he took on board every suggestion I made regarding his diet, giving complete lie to the old adage that man pain is all too often the result of man pig-headedness. Certainly not in this case. He removed milk totally and overnight (brave, given his admitted addiction to milky tea), and drank weaker black tea instead. (Note: His blood test came back showing low haemaglobin which may have been made worse by excess tea intake). His GP prescribed ferrous sulphate which produced the inevitable constipation and hard-to-pass pelleted black stools but with the doctor’s complete agreement we changed it to Biocare Iron Complex together with Biocare Vitamin B12 which did the trick within a month.
The plastic sandwiches (his words, not mine) were upgraded to one round of wholegrain bread with sliced ham off the bone rather than the reconstituted packet ham of previously; to this, he added home-made coleslaw plus salad greens (dark leaf lettuce, watercress, rocket etc.). The processed cow's milk cheese (very mucus-forming stuff) was dismissed entirely in favour of goat's cheese and he also included sliced tomatoes. Nowadays, he eats more Ryvita crispbread which, apparently, his workmates thought was 'for girls', until he told them that, unlike ordinary bread, it doesn’t create mucus. The fish thing was harder to resolve because he couldn't get used to a taste he'd hated from childhood and most fish oil capsules repeated on him. But he did embrace canned sardines as a suggested sandwich filling and takes Biocare's OmegaBerry for his daily dose of Omega 3s.
His diet has improved immensely since those early days, 'no more packets or take-aways' he tells me and he now does a lot of his own home cooking with 'ingredients I never knew existed'. He stays on a simple supplement programme of Viridian Essential Male Multi, the aforesaid OmegaBerry, and now also uses the new Vitamin C Complex from Bionutri. Throughout the winter months he has 20 drops a day of Dr Vogel Echinacea tincture (fantastic stuff, Viridian also do a good one). If he thinks he might be susceptible to a passing bug, he doubles the Echinacea dose and, for extra support, adds Bionutri's Elderberry Complex. He followed a six-month course of probiotics at the outset of treatment, and now takes a one-month pack of Bionutri Ecodophilus every three months. He has now been free of colds, catarrh and all other related symptoms for 9 years.
Important notes:
A slight temperature is a sign that the immune system is actively fighting the infection. However, high temperatures should always be carefully monitored and medical assistance requested especially in children, teens and twenties, and the elderly.
The articles included on this website are for information only and are not intended in any way whatsoever to be prescriptive. If you have any health concerns you should see your medical adviser without delay.
© Kathryn Marsden 2017
A slight temperature is a sign that the immune system is actively fighting the infection. However, high temperatures should always be carefully monitored and medical assistance requested especially in children, teens and twenties, and the elderly.
The articles included on this website are for information only and are not intended in any way whatsoever to be prescriptive. If you have any health concerns you should see your medical adviser without delay.
© Kathryn Marsden 2017
Kathryn's views are completely independent. She is not employed by any pharmaceutical company, supplement supplier or food producer nor is she persuaded in any way, financially or otherwise, to recommend particular products or services. This website is for information only and not-for-profit.