Treating flu symptoms

This Week In The HSI Forum

Even people who take good care of their health may come down with the flu now and then. In fact, that’s the topic of the e-Alert “Kall the Kops” that I sent you earlier this week (1/4/05 – see below), in which HSI Panelist Allan Spreen, M.D., recommends four natural treatments that will help you kick out the bug.

Now it’s time for HSI members to weigh in on their tried-and-true flu treatments in an HSI Forum thread titled, “Flu – what would you do?” After an HSI member named DanP starts the thread off by posing that question, several very detailed suggestions follow.

“Echinachea, goldenseal, ester c, and garlic,” are four treatments posted by a member named Sheri. (Ester C is a form of vitamin C that is touted to be stronger than other forms, and easier on the stomach.) She adds, “Drink tea made from fresh lemon juice (whole lemon) some honey and some garlic that is my flu shot.”

A member named Lianna uses two of the treatments noted by Dr. Spreen: olive leaf extract and probiotics. And Lianna, also swears by the fluids: “If I do start coming down with the flu, I immediately start a juice fast, (water, herbal teas, vegetable juices, NO fruit juices, honey or other sources of concentrated sugar), up my probiotics, and take Vit C to bowel tolerance. Relieved of the demands of digestion, the liver and the immune system can work more efficiently.”

It’s not surprising to see vitamin C popping up on many postings in this thread. A member named Jim writes that he uses “lots of Vitamin C and especially the Graprfruit Seed Extract (GSE). I think that I would add Elderberry syrup and zinc supplement to the mix.” A member named Mary also suggests C, and adds: “I would drink plenty of water, and gargle with salt water, until I could get to the store. Then I would use colloidal silver (CS) and GSE, according to the folks here on the forum, the CS and the GSE are the best things to fight infection.”

Chicken soup makes an appearance in this note from “The Charlie”: “I have heard reference to a herbal/chicken soup recipe that helps fight off the flu. Has anyone tried any of these? Any success? Any good recipes?” As a matter of fact, we do have a good recipe. In the e-Alert “Chicken Soup for the Flu Shot Soul” (10/21/04), I told you about a chicken soup recipe that was actually given a clinical test with positive results. (You can search the e-Alert archives on our web site: hsionline.com.)

Beta Glucan is a baker’s yeast extract that a member named Sharon has had good luck with: “I have used a natural supplement called WGP Beta Glucan to successfully fight off and recover from colds and the flu for the last few years, and it has worked every time. It is a potent antioxidant, and seems to have some antiviral properties as well.”

When a member who goes by “Rich in MN” mentions tea tree oil, he starts off a discussion about how to best use this oil, a versatile natural agent that has been shown to fight bacteria, fungi and viruses. Rich writes: “The vapors of a quality tea tree oil are enough to do the job. Tea tree oil is powerful, COMPLEX stuff. It will even kill staph infection — which hospitals have a very difficult time with. There are more than 100 compounds in pure tea tree oil. That’s why staph infectionscan’t successfully mutate to become resistant to it. If a person has allergic tendencies, then it would be a good idea to tip toe into using tea tree oil, rather than ‘jumping into the deep end of the pool’.”

No matter what treatments you may use to fight a flu, a member who goes by the initials “dgh” offers this simple but excellent advice: “The key to those supplements working is to start them at the first sign of symptoms.”

Other topics on the HSI Forum this week include:

• Grape seed extract
• Strep throat
• Magnesium for constipation
• Fibromyalgia help
• Aleve
• Pain in esophagus

To reach the HSI Forum, just go to our web site at www.hsionline.com, click on “Forum,” and add your voice to the wide range of topics concerning health care and nutrition.