What I take when I feel a cold coming on
This is not doctor's advice and you follow it at your own risk. Herbs can have side effects just like prescription medicines, and some people may have a health condition that makes it unadvisable to take some particular herb.If you are interested in these remedies for colds and flu, do some internet research at reputable sites (university medical centers or the National Institute of Health, for example) and ASK YOUR DOCTOR. I am just sharing what has worked for me over the last year or so.
That said . . .
The anti-viral stuff I've been taking is sambucol (elderberry syrup) and mullein extract. I take it as soon as I suspect a cold coming on, and the cold never seems to be able to really latch on. I'll drink the tea and take 2 tsp of the elderberry syrup at least twice a day.ELDERBERRY (sambucus nigra)
wikipedia.org - Sambucus_nigra
- PubMed article on sambucol: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11399518
- It comes in lozenges, syrup and sugar-free syrup. I've always used the syrup, but not because I had a medical reason to prefer it. That's just what I found last year. If it works directly in the throat, maybe the lozenges would be good.
- The best price I could find was $14 for a 7.8 oz bottle when I last bought it. My old supplier (allstarhealth.com) no longer seems to carry the exact size I bought, but you can get it through Amazon. I don't think you should pay more than that, so shop around online. It's a LOT more expensive at CVS.
- The syrup is the color of dark red wine, quite sweet and tastes good.
MULLEIN (Verbascum thapsus)
wikipedia.org - Verbascum_thapsus
- http://www.wm-translations.com/Text_Samples/Scientific_Article.pdf: See conclusions at bottom of page 6, where it says that mullein was the strongest anti-viral of the bunch of herbs tested
- What I bought last year was a tincture (ground leaf dissolved in alcohol, eyedropper in glass bottle): http://www.allstarhealth.com/f/natures_answer-mullein.htm
- I now find it available as an oil (no alcohol, but similarly bottled, same company): http://www.amazon.com/Mullein-Flower-Oil-Extract-Oz/dp/B000I4AMWE/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1226414837&sr=8-1
- It is also available in tea bags (but I wonder how expensive this may turn out to be) - do a google search on "mullein tea"
- If you decide to buy some, shop around on the internet to find the best price
- Mullein tastes a little like vanilla and is the color of vanilla extract, but with ground-up bits in it. It makes tea that looks like "black" tea, and tastes pretty good actually, at least sweetened.
- I make tea by putting a couple of dropper-fulls of extract (shake it first) with a little honey and 1/4 tsp ginger in my mug and filling it up with boiling water. Instead of the honey and powdered ginger, you can put in a tablespoon of ginger jelly from the Trappist monks in Spencer, MA. The powdery ginger doesn't dissolve well, but the jelly is clear, adds a great flavor to the tea and you get to eat the candied ginger lumps in the bottom of the cup at the end. Yum! You can get Trappist jellies at Market Basket.
- I add the ginger because I like it, but it apparently does have health benefits. For an overview of these see http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/ginger-000246.htm
