Natural Treatments for Allergies, Colds and Flu, and Bacterial Infections
In this piece I am going to discuss several specific brand-name products, something I have not done in the past in my newsletter to avoid appearing commercial. On the other hand there is no other way for me convey this information without sharing with readers the products I have used in some cases for years and that have worked for me and for my patients.
Rest assured that this is not commercially driven and that no one is paying me to promote their products, something I would definitely find objectionable and would never agree to do. Further proof of this is that the products I mention are from different manufacturers and reflect the brands I have found to be most valuable for each application. You can search for the products I am recommending under their respective names and I am sure you will find different sources for each one of them. At the same time, these products are all available from my office or online store, which is a supplement website I started for the convenience of people ordering supplements from out of town and those who prefer online ordering.
As I am sure you noticed when reading the email reprinted above, diet plays a big role in strengthening the immune system, breaking the cycle of illness and strange as it may seem even reversing allergies to airborne substances like pollen or dust.
To identify the correct diet for each person requires individual evaluation and I cannot give you a one-size-fits-all formula. However, one thing I can say – and this applies to everyone – is that junk food, sugar, and many chemical additives in food are the enemies of the immune system and work to perpetuate the cycle of illness. In my opinion, most people would notice a benefit from just eliminating or reducing drastically their consumption of these non-foods.
Supplements, too, can help to break the cycle of frequent illness or allergy. Interestingly, every year I receive endless calls and emails from people wanting to know if I recommend flu shots. I always answer that getting a flu shot is an individual decision for them to make based on information they can access online or in some other manner.
However, do I get a flu shot? Of course not! What’s the point? Flu shots are loaded with poisons that include mercury, aluminum and many others, they have a low record of effectiveness, and there are excellent natural non-toxic alternatives that work as well if not better.
My basic strategy to avoid getting the flu is nothing other than vitamin C. There has been a lot of press on vitamin C over the years, mostly negative, yet my many years of personal and professional experience tell me that it does work – and remarkably so.
It is important to have realistic expectations when it comes to a product like vitamin C. It is not a wonder drug, but it does reduce your chances of getting colds and the flu, and if you get one of these, it tends to be shorter in duration and less severe than if you had not been taking vitamin C.
One word of caution is that starting vitamin C after an illness begins doesn’t seem to do anything, so my advice is that you take it for entire winter season or, like me, all year long.
In terms of dosing I think that one gram a day for an adult already has a protective effect, although more is probably better. Through my own extensive though unscientific trial and error I settled on four grams a day (two in the morning and two at night) as the optimal dose for me. Some people may experience loose stools at that dose, and this just means they need to take less. For children, I usually take 4 grams divided by an average adult weight of say 150 lbs times the childs weight and use that number as the target intake if there are no side effects.
If your child catches everything around, or if you do so yourself, just taking vitamin C is not going to be enough. Something is needed to strengthen your child’s or your immune system.
For this purpose nothing has worked better for me than a combination of two products. One is called IgG2000 DF that contains an immune-stimulating protein derived from serum. If you are familiar with colostrum, you could think of it as something similar to it, but with the dual advantage of being much stronger and not containing dairy, which is often a problem.
To put it plainly, I am no longer surprised if parents tell me that their child no longer gets sick after starting this product. Just so you know IgG2000 DF is being replaced be IgG SD, which is exactly the same thing but with a different label because the manufacturer recently changed ownership. To dose it just follow label instructions and reduce it a bit for children, though this product is safe and there would be no risk in giving the adult dose to a child (and often this dose is needed for the best results).
The other product is a mix of Ayurvedic herbs called Flucomune. The term Ayruvedic refers to the traditional medicine of India, which has some of the oldest formulas for natural remedies still in use today. I have been consistently impressed with the effectiveness of these products for a variety of applications, from high blood pressure, to parasites, liver health and more.
Flucomune is effective for a variety of different uses. Taken every day at a low dose it reduces the chance of getting the flu or colds, somewhat like vitamin C does, and the two can be combined for extra protection.
Taken at a much higher dose for a few days at the first sign of illness it reduces the duration and severity of a viral illness.
In addition, it is also very helpful for allergies and it can be taken at a low dose to prevent them, or briefly at a high dose to break the cycle of allergy – particularly at times of high pollen counts or weather changes.
Interestingly a number of parents of children with autism or ADHD have reported to me that this product also helps improve symptoms like hyperactivity or focus, underscoring once again the link between allergies and these types of symptoms.
Because there are various dosing options for this product depending on whether it is for a child or an adult and the reason for taking it, I recommend that you send me an email and my office will send you the recommended dosing schedule.
Aside from this product, a combination of vitamin C and a related product called quercetin also has a natural antihistamine-like effect, in addition to the other benefits of vitamin C. The product I recommend that contains both is called Aller-C. It is best taken between meals and the recommended dose is up to 6-8 capsules a day for adults in periods of allergies and proportionately less for children.
Bacterial infections are another common problem that can often be dealt with naturally. The most frequent infections include ear, nose and throat infections, particularly in children, as well as sinus infections, upper respiratory infections and urinary tract or bladder infections.
Most infections follow a course and will generally resolve even if left untreated. A few, however, will worsen in rare cases to the point of becoming life-threatening. Antibiotics cannot be ruled out because of their potential for being life-saving. On the other hand they are not needed in every case and, as many sufferers know, they often do not lead to a long-term solution and are associated with many side effects.
The key to successfully addressing and possibly reversing infections with natural means is to act quickly and to realize that, if the condition does not resolve within a few days or continues to worsen, you should seek medical intervention.
Natural treatments can be very effective but work best when introduced at the first sign of trouble. For example, for parents whose children have a pattern of starting with sniffles and then going on to a full-blown infection, the time to act is when the sniffles begin. This is in contrast with the antibiotics, which would normally not be started until clear signs of infection are present. As a result there is a window for the use of natural treatments which, if successful, will lead to a rapid resolution and no need for prescription drugs.
Urinary tract infections are a case apart because there is a product called d-mannose that works wonders and can reverse them, often in a matter of two to three days. D-mannose is nothing other than a natural sugar that we cannot digest and that is rapidly excreted in urine. It looks and tastes like sugar – though it is much more expensive and this leads to cheating by unscrupulous manufacturers. The key, therefore, is to avoid discount products you might find on the internet. If it is half the price it is probably also half (or more) less effective!
D-mannose works by making the surface of the bladder slippery to bacteria, which then slide into urine and are eliminated from the body that way. This may sound too simple to be true, but the proof is in the pudding. I recommend taking one to two bottles as directed on the label and I usually never hear of this problem again. When the problem is chronic or recurrent, people can take a small amount of d-mannose, like a teaspoon, every day and this effectively prevents recurrence.
For all other infections I think first of two natural substances that have antibiotic properties: garlic and silver.
Although a great deal has been written about the antibiotic and immune-boosting properties of garlic, it is rarely considered these days yet it is very effective. It is also just about as safe and natural a product as you could imagine. There are countless forms of garlic, and I am sure that many are good but the one I have been recommending with very good success is called Liquid Kyolic.
The second is silver, often found in liquid preparations called colloidal silver. There are some valid concerns when it comes to silver because it is toxic at high doses and is not something normally found in the diet. Aside from the dose, the key to silver’s toxicity is the size of the particles. The larger the particles, the more they can get lodged in tissues and become toxic. Interestingly, the smaller particles are not only safer, they are also more effective at fighting infections.
Modern state-of-the-art technologies enable manufacturers to produce minute silver particles often referred to as nanoparticles. These are not only rapidly excreted from the body but they also produce a strong antibiotic effect at much lower doses than those used in the past, thus dramatically increasing their safety margin.
The product I recommend is called Argentyn23. As the name indicates, it only contains 23 parts per million of silver and yet it is far more effective that common products supplying 400 parts per million and sometimes more. This product has been researched extensively and found to be safe even for very small children as long as it is taken as directed. As a result I have no problem with recommending it and I have seen excellent results with it.
There is also a nasal wash called X-lear Nasal Spray that helps prevent ear, nose and throat infections if used often enough (three to five times a day in susceptible individuals). It is a saline wash that also contains the natural sugar xyltol that, a lot like mannose in the bladder, makes the nasal passages and throat area slippery so that bacteria cannot attach and start to grow. This can also reduce the occurrence of ear infections, because bacteria that grow in the middle ear often originate in the throat. Although this product is very effective sometimes children do not take well to having something sprayed in their nose, but when it can be used it is certainly worth the effort.
Finally, there is a product called Citricidal, containing grapefruit seed extract, one of the most effective topical antibacterials available. It comes in nasal spray, eardrops, and regular drops, which can be used topically on infected skin or can be taken internally. I find this product most effective for topical use and it should be considered as one more option though the others may be sufficient in most cases.
A Summary:
• for immune system enhancement and prevention consider: IgG2000 DF, Flucomune, Vitamin C
• for allergies consider: Flucomune, Aller-C
• for colds or flu consider: Flucomune, Vitamin C
• for bacterial infections consider: d-Mannose, Argentyn23, Liquid Kyolic, X-lear nasal spray, Citricidal
