Monday, December 29, 2008

A Word or Two About Curing Colds, Flu and Bronchitis

UPDATE: The method below may or may not cure this, but my experience indicates it would likely help if a similar outbreak occurs again.

BEFORE I TAKE A SHORT WRITING VACATION AND SEVERAL LONG HIKES

There are many, many subjects I know little or nothing about. Other things I've learned second or third hand. Then there are one or two things I can honestly speak of from direct life-long learning and experience. Respiratory distress is one of them.

Colds that start in your head, move to your throat and chest causing congestion, asthma, laryngitis, coughing, sometimes pneumonia and even hernias (as in coughing so hard that I bust parts of my intestines and have to have surgery to repair it), are things I can honestly say I know something about. Over a half-century about to be precise. And I want to share with you some things I've learned that have greatly helped me.

How to prevent colds in the first place, and if not prevent them entirely, to cut them off at the pass and greatly shorten their duration and harsh effects is what I know something about. I've spent more time in hospitals, oxygen tents (when I was a kid so sick I was not expected to live to the age of six), on drugs and recovering from bronchitis, asthma, sinus infections and sinus surgeries than I'd ever like to admit. For me this learning has at times been a life-or-death matter.

Yet today, by the Grace of God, I am amazingly healthy, fit, energized and drug free. (And if ever there was a potential drug-addict from all this stuff, it was me.) Over the years, I've learned so much about respiratory disease---both upper and lower.

I have some simple solutions I've come up with over the years that really work to short-circuit a cold that wants to spread all over your body.

It's up to you whether you find them credible or useful and are willing to try them. I never use antibiotics anymore because I've found this regime is better, safer, faster and renders them unneccessary. Really.

In many ways the remedies I've come up with are far too easy for many people to take seriously. But if you've lived through decades of respiratory distress, colds and sinus problems, and taken drugs until you thought you'd die from the cure as much as the disease, then you're open to anything that might make you better with a minimum of side effects.

(This has been a life-long journey for me. Starting first with getting away from living with people who smoke cigarettes as my mother did, and died a very early death as a result. Over the years too, I've learned to eliminate things from my diet that caused mucous which led to congestion and infections, like excessive dairy, milk, wheat, refined grains, corn syrup and sugars. Diet was a trial and error thing for me. Yet it absolutely had been a life-saver. Also washing your hands often helps.)

Still after all is said and done, we all get colds and sometimes we get complications from them. Is there a way to minimize that and shorten its duration? Yes. Abolsutely!

Here's my two pronged whammy for curing the common cold sooner rather than later. You'll need to buy and use the following products:

First, buy a canister or two of Simply Saline, preferably in the dark blue cannister, (see pic above) since it's a stronger saline mix. But either white or dark blue cannisters will do fine. This product has nothing but pure water and saline in it. It has no, not one, preservative. It sprays a fine mist which I've found to be much more effective than Netti pots which often made me sicker and irritated my sinuses.

Start spraying this into you nose and sinuses every hour. It delivers a fine mist of saline evenly in your air passages and immediately goes to work to sooth membranes and kill cold germs dead. But here's the trick: ALSO spray it into the back of your throat through your mouth and into your mouth also in such a way that you begin to deeply inhale the saline mist into your lungs. This will start to kill germs in all parts of your respiratory tract. Since I started doing breathing this pure saline into my lungs, I've never had a head cold migrate to my chest and never have gotten that awful cough. It's absolutely magic!

Do it as much as every hour and don't stop until you're feeling better. If you blow your nose, then spray it again. Use lavishly. When you use saline, there's simply no place for cold germs to migrate. Instead they die!

Second, buy one or two pump containers of ZICAM gel. (Not the Zicam nose spray but the gel.) I prefer the pump rather than the gel swabs. It's messy at times, but contains zinc gel which is a great boost for your immune system. This product delivers zinc to your system directly (as opposed to through your digestive system) and gets it there fast and powerfully. Start using it every hour. Pump it into you nose and then hold your nose and let it begin to be absorbed. THEN pump some of it under your tongue hourly---I know they don't tell you to do this, but it's amazing. The beauty of this is the zinc is absorbed and goes to work in your system instantly. If you really want to be aggressive, then pump some on the skin of your neck and chest, if you feel your cold is about to go into your chest. This is also amazing, if used in concert with the saline solution.

Start this at the first sign of a cold. But if you already have one, then begin it anyway and give it several days to turn around.


BTW, I've read complaints that ZICAM has caused people to lose their taste and sense of smell, but I've never known it to happen to anyone I know. Rather the benefits of using both saline and zinc together at the first sign of a cold are more than worth their weight in gold to me. And are very cost effective.

Finally, to these two remedies I would add the discipline of drinking lots of good water every hour. This flushes your body of toxins. Eating light, uncomplicated foods and no sugars/sweets/simple carbs (which feed infections and bacteria), staying away from second-hand smoke, and giving your body good rest are great ways to recover fast, faster and fastest. If my experience helps even one person, then it will more than be worth it.

If I had ten things I could run out of a burning buiding with, after my little Bible, Simply Saline and ZICAM Gel would be two at the top of my list. And when or if there's a worldwide bird flu or other pandemic, I will use it religiously and encourage all those I love to also.

10 comments:

  1. Using a saline solution when healthy in dry weather such as Tennessee in the winter is also a good preventative. The same when you fly on extended trips. Obviously it depends greatly on the individual, but it usually clears up what appears to be mild congestion.

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  2. Great poinsts and thank you. BTW, I also use this saline solution---believe it or not----in my eyes when they're irritated and running.... also miraculous

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  3. Oh my goodness. Found you through American Digest. I have your exact background (colds leading to asthma, coughing causing hernias, not expected to survive childhood). I can't go outside if the temp is lower than 40 or the cold triggers a bad attack. I now use 4 inhalers, take 3 pills daily and use a nebulizer several times a month. And several times a year I end up taking large doses of prednisone and antibiotics to control bronchial asthma.
    I'm headed over to drugstore.com to purchase the saline and zicam. I'll try anything - and you make a great case.
    Thank you for taking the time to write up your experiences and cures.

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  4. Dear Anon,

    In many ways the drugs that are given for asthma and bronchitis perpetuate respiratory problems through what's called the "rebound effect." It takes more and more yet has less and less effect.

    What I didn't say in the post above, is that for several decades I was addicted to strong inhalers and other medications. It's another long story, but at some point in my life, I decided I'd rather be dead than continue on inhalers and all those wicked drugs (which doctors told me I had to stay on forever.) I signed up for an outpatient drug treatment program in January 1988, went through it and got off all, ALL, drugs and have been off everything since that time. It was not easy and it meant dealing with many of my underlying psychological issues. Very painful and hard, but for me, it was the best thing I every did. Please feel free to e-mail me at webutante07@gmail.com if I can ever be of any encouragment to you. And best wishes to you.

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  5. Sounds like great advice. I've also had excellent results from hot/cold contrast showers at the first signs of a cold. I can barely stand it, but it is effective. A recommended method is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvYSQQ0rVNM&feature=channel
    although I can't bear to complete all three cycles.

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  6. I KNOW you know what you are talking about, because I visited you in the hospital in the oxygen tent and was so afraid you were going to die and leave me without a best friend. You know, I have similar lung problems. I am so glad you are writing about what works for you and I will buy some saline and zicam tomorrow. Thanks for sharing that. Your oldest best friend.

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  7. Dear oldest best friend. Miss you and wish I could be out there for your New Year's Day open house. Hope it's wonderful. Are you serving Slopmadoodle? I always preferred it with petite crackers myself.

    Guess I'll keep writing about this from time to time as I would like to encourage anyone has colds and infections and other chronic respiratory diseases. While I'm at it, I think soy milk products are the worse for respiratory distress, even worse than milk.

    Give my love to D and K and much to you. Your oldest best friend.....

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  8. Very helpful. I've used both products but not in the manner you described here. I hope I remember to use your suggestions next time it's needed at our house!

    How fulfilling it must have been for you to read how your post inspired Anonymous to try something new!! Blessings in this new year my bloggy friend!

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  9. Appreciated the AD link and that Anon may find this info useful. Blessings to you and family, Pam, in 2009 and beyond.

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  10. Thanks for your info. I am becoming prone to lung issues like bronchitis, etc(UGH!) and am certainly hoping this works! I do need a little coaching in the "inhale the mist into your lungs" department...exactly how much? I never know what i am doing - is it enough? I am just concerned about inhaling liquids & don't want to under/over do it ! Any little details may help...thank you for your input, i really appreciate it :-)

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