posted January 24, 2009 12:15 PM         

Any input as to it's success in fighting off the flu, common cold, other respitory aliments?

How about a general immune system bolster?

posted January 24, 2009 01:19 PM         

I take echinacea/goldenseal caps when I feel a bug coming on. I've been on the brink of catching something for a week, but I've been taking my Vitamin C, and the echinacea, and so-far-so-good. I thank the echinacea for boosting my immune system and keeping me well

The only drawback that I seem to suffer is that I'm more tired -- in the echinacea stimulating my immune system, it's possible that my metabolism requires more sleep.....

In the reading I've done, it doesn't recommend taking echinacea daily for more than a few weeks as a general booster, but many people do it.

I believe that taking it after you've caught a bug is helpful too, to decrease the severity and get well quicker -- but how would I know how bad it would have been if I *hadn't* taken the echinacea??

Once I've caught a cold or the flu, I start my ginger, licorice and garlic regimen to help ease the symptoms.....

posted January 24, 2009 04:03 PM         

My daughter has the flu and I absolutely can not get sick! Was out of work, all week, just 2 weeks ago, with an awful respiratory virus of some sort, and my boss is still not happy with me!

I took the flu shot this season, but will not do so again, feels too artificial to me, my kid did not and she is the one that really needs it due to her heart defect.

I used to take eccinachea when I was doing daycare and felt something coming on and I rarely got sick, so I went and got us some this morning and started she and me on it, immediately!

blessings

posted January 24, 2009 05:27 PM         

What I dosed myself with when I had the flu last winter is:
fresh garlic -- I know, just chew a clove and bear it
fresh ginger grated into licorice tea (hot liquids help)
all the water I could drink
generic store-bought zinc lozenges
kombucha tea

It was an awful bug, and I got it twice!! I didn't get a flu shot last year, haven't for years. But I never want to be that sick again, so I got the shot last October, and when 50% of the people in my office were staggering around sicker'n a dog the past few months, I've somehow stayed well.....

Flu prevention and treatment:
http://www.fluhelp.org/
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/coldsandflu/a/fluremedy.htm
http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/9-tips-to-treat-colds-and-flu-the-natural-way
http://www.holisticonline.com/remedies/Flu/default.htm

I don't take any of the OTC flu remedies anymore.....

posted January 25, 2009 09:14 PM         

blessings &

posted January 26, 2009 08:25 PM         

i think once one has got a flu virus .. it has to follow it's course ..
i see Eccinachea as a helpful preventative .. but not a cure ..
i.e. i don't dump it down my throat once a virus has taken hold ..

and .. er .. the herb has a Slight effect on nasal mucus membranes ..
they produce more .. not the drippy stuff though ..
and that is immune system reaction as far as i know ..

and vitamin C .. as far as i know .. is immune system food so to speak ..
and if i've got a virus .. it can make the symptoms slightly worse ..
( i keep in mind the symptoms are a result of the immune system taking on the fight )

evidently the 1918 spanish flu killed folk with healthy immune systems ..
the virus had a knack of making the immune system turn against the body ..
it was the immune system that killed a lot of victims ..

btw there's something that occurs here regularly .. normally in winter ..
be called 'the winter vomiting flu' .. highly contagious ..
lasts a couple of days ..
has another name .. the norovirus ..
~ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7169347.stm ~

posted January 26, 2009 09:34 PM         

I am still taking the purdy purple flower, so as to ward off evil ( ) viruses.

My kid, however, went to the clinic today, diagnosed with influenza type B. I really wish I could have seen how the herb may have worked on a virus in progress, but no such luck!

Randall, that makes so much sense. She has vomitted always with respiratory afflictions, ever since she was a baby.

HD, something comes to mind...." I had a little bird her name was Enza, I opened up the window and in flew enza..." And it makes total sense that the herb may cause an increased immune system reaction to fight off the baddies.

I have become quite the germ-a-phobe working in the setting I do, on the side of town I do, where folks have little regard for personal hygiene not to mention their general health.

Still, next winter, I will remember the purdy little flower and probably will insist my daughter gets her flu shot, even tho I am not so sure about the artificial preservatives, etc. and the long-term outcome on the body, but relatively speaking, protecting her anamolous heart, I probably will!

Tho I am provided my financial living via mainstream, modern medicine, I choose to always look to more "holistic" ways of be-ing.

Thank you all again for your replies!!!

blessings &