Colds

The most widespread infection in the United States is the common cold. When a virus attacks the lining of your nasal passages or throat, cold symptoms are triggered. If your immune system is functioning properly, it will react by attacking the germ with white blood cells called neutrophils.

When your immune system cannot identify the virus, it will have a “nonspecific” response. This means that your body will produce more neutrophils, than are needed. This circulates them to infected areas. The attack will not affect the 200 or more viruses that cause colds. All the extra neutrophils clump together in infected areas, which is the cause of inflammation and the achiness you feel during a cold. It is also accompanied by large amounts mucus in the nose and throat.

It takes between one to four days for cold symptoms to settle in. Even though at this stage, the worst is over, you still may be congested for a week or so. You are in the contagious stage, during the first three days of symptoms, so you should take precautions, to avoid infecting others.

Children catch colds more often than adults. During cold season is when cold infections are most common. In the Unites States, cold season begins in late fall through the spring. Closer contact with others, especially during this time, puts you at greater risk of contracting contagious viruses. Hot and dry air also contributes to viral infection. Colds are not considered to be a dangerous health threat, unless it is in a newborn. You should be fine in a week or so, even if you use no special medicine.

Taking an herbal approach to cold symptoms just may be your answer to preventing it from becoming a full-fledged infection. At the first sign of cold symptoms, taking enchinacea reduces the colds intensity and strengthens the immune system. You may take it in capsules or a tea.

To prepare the tea, add two teaspoons, of enchinacea root to one cup of water. Simmer for approximately 15 minutes and drink it three times a day.

To help clear the mucus from the throat, goldenseal is a great herbal remedy. It contains a natural antibiotic, called berberine, which helps to prevent bacterial infections, associated with colds.

To prepare in a tea, steep a half-teaspoon to one teaspoon of goldenseal in one cup of boiling water, for 10 to 15 minutes. Drink this three times a day. If you prefer cold tea, mix equal parts elder (Sambacus nigra), peppermint (mentha piperita) and yarrow (Achillea millefolium). Steep one or two teaspoons of this mixture in one cup of hot water, chill and drink three times a days.

To shorten the duration or severity of a cold, garlic is an excellent choice. Any form of garlic should work fine. You may take the tablets, capsules, oil rubbed on the skin or whole garlic roasted or cooked in food. If you prefer capsules, take three, three times a day, until the symptoms disappear.

Flu’s

Unlike the common cold, the flu is much more severe. It is a highly contagious, viral disease and it usually attacks in the early spring and winter. Influenza, better known as the “flu” for short, can be potentially dangerous to your health. It spreads through the upper respiratory tract and can go into your lungs. This disease can spread through huge groups of people, who share indoor space. Although the flu usually occurs in school-age children, it is most severe in the elderly, people with chronic ailments and infants.

Even though there has been advancement in treatment for this disease, the flu and its complications is still fatal to around 20,000 people in the United States annually. Injecting an antibody contained in flu vaccine can prevent strains of the illness, but if this viral infection has already started, it cannot be cured and it will have to run its course.

When droplets in the air are inhaled, that contain the flu virus or if items are handled, contaminated by an infected person, the flu symptoms will begin developing in one to four days afterward.

The influenza virus is divided up into three categories, type A, B and C. All three types can mutate, but type A mutates constantly, which can yield new strains of the virus every few years. In this case, you can never build a total immunity to the flu. This means, even if you develop antibodies against the flu one year, that does not guarantee protection against the virus in the next.

Types B and C result in local outbreaks. These two types are milder and less common. Type B of the virus has been linked to developing Reye’s Syndrome, which is a potentially fatal complication. Influenza in humans seems to originate from Asia.

The symptoms of the flu are basically the same as in the common cold, headache and cough. Your doctor will usually do a blood test or take a throat culture, to identify the illness.

No matter how you treat the flu, it will still run its course. If you are in good health, the virus will most likely pass without complications. A week or so of bed rest and self-care should do the trick.

An herbal approach to this would be to stimulate your immune system. To do this try taking a half-teaspoon of tincture of goldenseal (Hydrates canadensis) and echinacea (Echinacea spp.) two times a day. If flu symptoms appear, chew a clove of raw garlic (Allium sativum), because it contains anti-viral properties, but do not eat it on an empty stomach.

Taking an infusion of boneset (Eupatoruim peroliatum) may relieve fever, aches and clear up congestion. To prepare this mixture at home, simmer one cup of boiling water with two teaspoons of the herb, for 10 to 15 minutes. Drink a cup full every hour as hot as you can take it. Do this up to four to six hours.

Remember, you can only have one body, why not do it good!