Flu Prevention and Treatment

A pressing need at this time of the year is an effective strategy for influenza. How can we prevent flu and other respiratory illnesses? If we come down with an illness, what can we to do to shorten the duration and recover as quickly as possible? A good place to start discussing this subject is the whole question of why there is such thing as a “flu season”. We all know that people tend to get sicker in the winter, but surprisingly there is no reasonable explanation in conventional medicine as to why this should be so. Through the years, I have heard that people are inside more in the winter therefore they spread viruses more readily in the winter. Somehow, having been on crowded trains in the summer has led me to doubt the accuracy of this conclusion.Something, though, is unquestionably different in the winter that exposes us to more sickness. There is one overwhelming factor that provides evidence for this winter sickness effect, and that is vitamin D, the chemical/hormone we produce in response to sun exposure. Clearly, vitamin D levels drop in the winter which, as we’ve discussed before, produce a number of consequences. Perhaps the most serious of these consequences is a drop in mineral/calcium absorption which then lowers the pH of the tissues. As a result, the tissues become more inflamed and susceptible to infection. Vitamin D, being a steroid hormone, may also have independent affects on immunity and resistance, a fact that is being borne out by the explosion of new research on the effects of vitamin D. Many of these studies can be accessed through the vitamin D council website, www.vitamindcouncil.com, which provides a more thorough documentation of the science of vitamin D.

My current strategy for preventing winter sickness and flu is to have all my patients take the cod liver oil/butter oil mixture from Green Pastures (available from Radiant Life or drrons.com) and, on top of this, add 2,000 IU/day of plain Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). Then at the first sign of a cold or flu I have my patients take an additional 20,000 IU of vitamin D3, as a one-time dose, then continue with the cod liver oil/butter oil mixture, stopping the extra D3, and then repeat the one-time 20,000 IU dose after one week if they are not totally better.

In addition, I have found that taking preventative doses of Echinacea premium tablets from Mediherb (a division of Standard Process), 2 tablets per day, along with the Standard Process Immuplex 2 capsules twice per day has helped many of my patients decrease the frequency and/or severity of their colds and flus. Again, if in spite of this one does get sick, in addition to the above vitamin D3 protocol I give a three-day course of Echinacea (or Andrographis comp — also from Mediherb), 3 tablets, 4 times per day and switch the Immuplex to the acute version called Congaplex, given at a dose of 3 capsules, 4-6 times per day for three days. Many times, we can break the flu cycle with this protocol and convert a 2-3 week ordeal with an subsequent bronchitis to a less harmful, less onerous course of the illness. This protocol is especially helpful for children who tend to get sick, and for the elderly for whom sickness is often more of a burden.

These medicines can be obtained through any health care practitioner who works with Standard Process medicines.