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Coughs and Sneezes Cause Diseases
by author Siegfried Gursche, MH

The cold and flu epidemic hits every year without fail. Lucky you if your immune system is strong enough to ward off a viral attack, which can put many people out of action for days.

Colds and flus are caused by viruses that infect the upper respiratory system and are easily transmitted from one person to another. These viruses seem to have their heydays in the fall and spring, when the weather changes from warm to cool and vice versa. The danger of infection is especially high in air-conditioned and closed environments such as offices, restaurants, stadiums, buses and airplanes. Cold symptoms include sneezing, a stuffed-up, runny nose, sore throat and dry cough, which can worsen or even develop into a nasty bronchial catarrh. Flus exhibit similar symptoms but are more severe than colds, causing high fevers and chills, achy muscles, total exhaustion and sometimes, nausea.

While the majority of people are able to withstand viral attacks, some believe the yearly flu shot offers reliable protection. Experience and statistics tell us differently. A new species of the flu virus seems to dominate each year; this alone renders flu shots, which were developed for the previous year’s epidemic, ineffective. The simple fact is that people catch colds and flus when the immune system is weak. Susceptibility is directly related to lifestyle factors such as lack of sleep, sedentary work habits and circulation problems. Improper nutrition, too much junk food, not enough fresh fruits and vegetables rich in enzymes, vitamins and minerals, and poor stress management also play a role in weakening the immune system.

Now let’s do a reality check. In spite of all precautions, there may come a day when you return home from work feeling lousy and achy: the flu bug is at work. The body will try to shake off the virus by increasing its temperature, which results in a fever. Rather than take medication to suppress the fever, supporting the body’s efforts to produce sweat is a more natural way to combat the virus.

As a herbalist, one naturopathic procedure has continued to work for me without fail. At the first sign of a cold or flu, take 15 to 30 drops of echinacea tincture every hour. Echinacea does not prevent the cold or flu, but it is a proven immune strengthener. Take 500 milligrams of vitamin C every few hours. Prepare an herbal tea with elderberry blossoms, either pure or in a mixture with other herbs, to induce fever. Drink one cup immediately.

Before bed, rub your chest and shoulders with Olbas oil, a compound of seven essential herbal oils that are known to kill bacteria. Immediately take a hot shower for five to 10 minutes, as hot as you can stand it, followed by a short 10- to 15-second cold shower to close the pores again. Rub yourself once more with Olbas oil. Drink a cup of elderberry blossom tea and take a dose of echinacea. Take another 500 mg of vitamin C and go straight to bed.

If, after a couple of hours, you wake to find yourself completely soaked in sweat, this is normal. Just dry yourself, change your clothes, drink a big glass of juice or water with echinacea and go back to sleep. The next morning, you should feel like a new person! However, if you don’t go through this procedure right at onset of the symptoms, it may take days to shake off the virus.

The healing process with coughs and sniffles usually takes a little longer because most of us seem to ignore symptoms for as long as we have to. We are chronic procrastinators when it comes to our health. We don’t do anything about sickness until it’s too late. But if you take echinacea and vitamin C as soon as possible, and carefully rub Olbas oil into the nostrils, a full outbreak of symptoms can often be prevented.

Siegfried Gursche, MH, is the founder and publisher of alive Magazine. He’s a master herbalist who has written several books including Good Fats and Oils, a Natural Health Guide (alive Books, 2000).

Source: alive #239, September 2002