December 2004 | Whole Health
Shooing the Flu
Regardless of whether you believe in getting flu shots, here’s some conventional wisdom from alternative practitioners. Foremost, they all agree you should wash your hands frequently with soap and water during flu season.
The Herbal Way
Mark Blumenthal, renowned expert on herbal medicine and executive director of the American Botanical Council (www.herbalgram.org).
The first priority is to maintain a highly functional immune system — this includes getting plenty of sleep, eating a balanced diet and taking appropriate dietary supplements. These include using herbs like elderberry extract and/or syrup to help prevent flu.
If you get the flu, treat the symptoms immediately (don’t wait ‘til tomorrow morning!) with herbs like astragalus root, andrographis, echinacea and elderberry (follow label/ package directions). Many of these herbs have shown efficacy in lowering the severity and duration of upper respiratory tract infections often associated with colds and flu. Shake hands with others less... and hug less, too (that’s unfortunate, I know).
The “Integrative M.D.” Way
Patrick B. Massey, MD, PhD, is medical director of Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Chicago’s Alexian Brothers Hospital Network (alt-med.org).
A healthy body is the best defense for disease — get 7-8 hours of sleep and regular exercise. Consider immune-boosting supplements: astragalus (500-1,000 mg/day), eleuthero (Siberian ginseng; 1,000 mg/day), fish oil (3,000 mg/day) and a good daily multivitamin.
If you get the flu: Stay home, rest, drink lots of warm and hot liquids and “brothy” soups (not cream-based). Drink tea-temperature cola (8-16 oz/day), which helps to calm the stomach and intestines, allowing a person to eat (the small amount of sugar in a 16 oz. cola will be rapidly utilized as a fuel source). Consider: ginger (500-1,000 mg/day), fresh garlic (1 clove/day), good multivitamin.
The Homeopathic Way
Dana Ullman, MPH, author of eight books, including ‘Everybody’s Guide to Homeopathic Medicines.’ See his articles at www.homeopathic.com.
The best preventive remedy is a “homeopathic constitutional medicine,”which is an individualized remedy chosen by a professional homeopath that will improve over-all immune function. Another good prevention remedy is Dolivaxil, a homeopathic dose of three recent flu viruses, as determined by The Pasteur Institute (www.pasteur.fr/english.html).
For treatment of the flu, take Oscillococcinum — as long as you take it within the first 48 hours of the illness. If it is beyond this time-frame, consult a homeopathic guidebook, such as Everybody’s Guide to Homeopathic Medicines, for a remedy that is individualized to your syndrome of symptoms.
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