I figure we can share some tips and tricks to wipe out colds/flu's.

I was recently advised by proto-pax in the chat-room to eat some garlic for this cold I had coming on. I took 3 cloves worth of crushed garlic and mixed it into salsa ate it with some chips, tasted pretty good! Then a vitamin B & C supplement. Woke up, no more runny nose no more sneezing. So I decided to follow up this morning with some garlic in scrambled eggs.

I've heard turkey tails, maitake, and reishi mushrooms have similar benefits. Same with horse radish. Wondering if anyone else has any tips/tricks. It is cold season after-all!

InMotion

One of the best natural remedies that I personally know of for colds and flu is ginger, honey and lemon tea. All you need to do is take fresh ginger chop it up incredibly finely, simmer the ginger on a low heat in a cup or two of water until the ginger fully infuses with the water.

Than add a squeeze of lemon and some honey to taste. Try have the tea everyday until your cold or flu symptoms subside. Truly you cant go wrong with ginger, honey and lemon tea as it boost's your immune system and soothes the symptoms of colds and flu like nothing else.


Much Peace and Compassion

Garlic is the most powerful antibiotic afaik. We use to give it to our dogs to keep the mosquitoes away ( because they carry leishmaniosis ).

Also, like Aegle said, but I use honey with cinnamon to make like a syrup.

Rectal Garlic is also very powerful for the brave *link*

for the even braver...put a nick in the segment...

Ginger tea and nasal rinses do help to prevent the common cold, as well as washing your hands ALL THE TIME. Also, do not try to ride the train or bus if possible. If you have to, stay as far away from people as possible. If you have to stand next to someone, choose wisely
Look at their faces - are they white, sweaty etc? Sot sick people and stay away. It is anti-social enough that these idiots are coughing and sneezing without remorse in your vicinity, but don't try to make a point..just stay as far away as you can.

Treating the disease? Well, i don't think there is anything that really helps. I believe zinc-gluconate sublingually has shown to shorten it by 0.5-1 day but it comes with side-effects.

I get the cold 6-10 times per year and i wish i could somehow fight back because this really sucks away my life!

Best thing you can do for a cold or flu is to take the time to rest, and eat really nourishing food. Soup made using bone broth (boil bones of chickens or other animals) is fantastic, most spices (garlic, ginger, cayenne etc) are also great.

Other than that, I work with a lot of immune modulating/immune stimulating herbs. Most of them work best at the very first stages of immune infection (when you feel that first little scratch in your throat, or sense you might get sick). Some good ones are:

- Propolis: this it the stuff bees use to seal their hives, it is made from resins they gather from trees in their local environment. You usually find in tincture form. I take 20-30 drops any time I feel my throat is a little scratchy.

- Any of the medicinal mushrooms you mentioned (reishi, chaga, maitake, shiitake, turkey tail etc) are great. Medicinal mushrooms (especially reishi) are nice because they work at all stages of immune infection, not just the initial stage. So if you have a cold or flu that has moved deep into the body, they are probably your best bet

- Astragalus is a great immune supporting herb that specifically targets the lungs and spleen, so if an infection moves into the lungs it is a good option

- Steaming with essential oils daily can also help you recover a lot faster. Common ones like Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Spruce or Fir work fine. Some oils will make you cough when you smell them, so are best used if you have a productive cough (one that is bringing up phlegm). If you have a dry unproductive cough (not bringing up mucus, but hurts), pick an oil with a licoricey scent (like Anise or Fennel), as these oils will calm the cough down. Sometimes if I have a nasal infection, I will snort a drop of Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) oil into each nostril - it is a powerful antimicrobial.

- Licorice root tea is also good for soothing a dry cough

- Myrrh resin you can boil in water till it dissolves and drink it, has been shown to increase white blood cell counts significantly. You can also use frankincense or other tree resins, though not all of them will dissolve in water with boiling.

- If you have a high, spiking fever (and especially if you aren't sweating much, indicating a potentially dangerous fever), you can break it using a hot tea of yarrow (Achillea millefolium) which will induce sweating.

- Lots of people find gargling with salt water and/or using a neti pot helpful.

There's tons of other plants out there to play with... siberian ginseng, Echinacea, Usnea lichen, cat's claw, sagebrush, holy basil and so on. Try experimenting with some, and see what is available locally and works for you.

... oh yeah, it's kind of intense but for nasal congestion you can mix some ground horseradish root with apple cider vinegar and then squish it around in your mouth. Not for everyone, but it sure clears your sinuses out!!

I've found this stuff oreginol , comes in a dropper bottle
Intensely powerful stuff . Hitting a cold early before it
Hits is key . During cold season if you start feeling tired
For no reason that's the time to hit it hard with whatever
You got .

I also have this food grade peroxide that's also
Very potent . I add peroxide and baking soda to saline solution .
Between that and oreginol , colloidal silver and garlic I've cut
My colds almost completely . Once it sets in all can really do
Is treat the symptoms , rest and let it run its course. Catch it early .

Wash hands often , don't touch door handles

garlic ftw!

herbals teas (like those mentioned..also echinacea is a good preventer and cats claw is always a good idea), medicinal mushrooms, LOTS of water, fruit juice, and big doses of vitamins D, B, and C are always a good idea and seemed to help quite a bit before/during colds/flue for me

also for sinus issues i remember jamie saying he would put a pot of water on the stove with eucalyptus oil in it, then lay a towel over his head and take some deep breathes right over the pot to get the steam. This worked great for my roomate to

I would add N-AcetylCysteine to the list, both for treatment and prevention. For treatment is well known to ease the expulsion of mucus, to protect cells and for kidney problems besides its antioxidant properties, and also studies showed it decreased the incidence of flu when compared to placebo, moderating the symptoms when an infection occurred anyways. It's also quite cheap. I tried using it this winter and had no cold or flu problems, so I think it's worth considering too.

Maximum recommended daily dose of Ibuprofen, Acetylcysteine (if your bronchia are mucus-ridden), extended release Vitamin C, zinc-gluconate (~40mg zinc/d) and eating light and healthy (incl. expensive smoothies) works for me. And Ricola lozenges without sugar

Ilex, I'm very curious about this myrrh and frankincense treatment. Do you know a good source where I can find more information? I frequently burn frankincense but hadn't found a use for the myrrh I have as it smells very earthy when burnt. Thanks for your time .

I wouldnt do that, I dont see any advantages than just eating it.

saline nasal rinses, good hydration, and as much spicy food as I can get. Red pepper, ginger, garlic, wasabi. Also as much citrus as I can get. I think natural vitamin C works much better than other forms.

For sore throat- ginger, lemon, and honey. Whiskey is optional.

I'm with everybody else on the garlic, if you don't like garlic then check out black garlic, it is a fermented version that lacks the pungent taste and is actually sweet, it is supposedly more powerful as well.

Saline nasal spray made my life soooo much better this last week when I had some sort of bug. If you are congested definitely give that a try! Spicy foods are awesome for clearing up mucus as well.

Elderberry is amazing if you catch yourself getting sick early or you are around sick people and don't want to catch it.

Also cinnamon and honey are a great combo for immune boosting.

When it comes to the conventional treatments, I've soldiered through the heaviest of viral upper respiratory tract infections, and actually had a more than a passable time, with a combination of pseudoephedrine, etoricoxib (a COX2 inhibiting anti-inflammatory) and a strong mu receptor opioid agonist.A very very reliable combination for me, the logic being:

Pseudoephedrine- decongestant and subtle alerting effect;

Etoricoxib- very good for bodily aches, fever and lassitude;

Mu agonist- sense of well-being, cough suppressant, warming effect distinct from fever-suppression, mild reduction in nasal secretions, additional analgesic effect, reduced gastro-intestinal motility (as some viral URTIs can have more frequent bowel motions as part of the infection).

I drink a mixture of cats claw and cedar tea(from freshly harvested cedar greens), take a couple grams of vitamine C and go to sleep..drink the tea 2-3 times a day. Cats claw helps the immune system a lot and has lots of science behind it, and cedar is traditional around here for flu and colds among the native peoples..also a good source of vitamine C.

"also for sinus issues i remember jamie saying he would put a pot of water on the stove with eucalyptus oil in it, then lay a towel over his head and take some deep breathes right over the pot to get the steam. This worked great for my roomate to"

Yeah what he said..drip a drop of 2 of oil into the water and then throw the towel over and breath the vapor..you got to do it fast.

Ever since I have started taking Super B Complex 8 months ago, I have yet to be sick. Plus it provides decent mood stability. Before that I would get sick on average every 3-4 months. It has vit c, b's, and alot of other things. Very satisfied with its results and I will continue using these for awhile.

Nature Made: Super B-Complex

I've been reading that stress has direct negative effects on the immune system. So someone who is mentally ill (=doesn't feel right in the head) must be more suspectible to getting the flu. This explains why i'm ill for 3 months every years (6-10 infections, most of them influenza like).

I used to do the "scorched earth" treatment as soon as I was realizing that I was just about to get ill; I would down a whole bottle of whiskey and smoke as many fags as possible and I would be healthy and strong the following day. My reasoning was that you have to show to the germs that the body they are trying to take over is a worthless wasteland and that they're better off to another target. I stopped doing that though as this treatment was way too expensive...

Now raw garlic (5-6 cloves crushed in a coupe tablespoons of olive oil is my preferred route. It might be worth mentioning that the last 6 months I have been gulping half a teaspoon of powdered reishi every morning and I didn't need to take a single day off sick from work.

great advice in this thread. infund, of all people you would try that scorched earth treatment hahah

i've been taking garlic, vit C, cats claw (semi-daily) and lots of herbal teas daily and i haven't had so much as a cold in well over 6 months, probably close to a year. I did catch a nasty virus that my roomate had at one point, but my symptoms were 10x less intense than hers and it only lasted a day or so instead of around a week. Its been a few years since i've had the flu..ever since i stopped getting flu shots, actually, lol. when i was getting flu shots as a teen i would get the flu once a year like clockwork