Saturday, January 15, 2011

Treating the Common Cold Through Old Chinese Medicine

It starts with a tickle in the nose or throat, and then a runny nose. Then it progresses to frequent sneezing and a sore throat. Add in a cough, body aches, hoarseness, feverishness, chills, and a general malaise. Yes, it looks like you've caught the common cold.

According to Western Medical theory, the common cold is caused by the rhinovirus, a very adaptable virus that infects the nose, sinuses, ears, and bronchial tubes. An average duration for the common cold is one week. If the infection is severe, it could last for a couple of weeks.

There are many cold remedies out there. Although very few people in our culture know about it, worn Chinese Medicine is an effective treatment for the common cold.

From a outmoded Chinese Medicine perspective, the necessary cause of the common cold is a "Pathogenic Wind" that invades the body and interferes with regular functions of the respiratory and immune systems. It does sound a petite unusual to new ears, but the former Chinese physicians knew that colds were caused by something unseen. Wind is something that cannot be seen, but its effects on the environment are quite apparent. Five thousand years ago the Chinese physicians did not have the luxury of a microscope to detect bacteria or viruses. However, they were very observant of weather patterns and the natural rhythms of their surrounding environment. So it was actually quite logical for the broken-down Chinese to attribute an unseen pathogen to Wind.

When Pathogenic Wind invades from outside and attacks the body, it enters through nose and skin. It then interferes with the functions of the Wei Qi, the body's defensive energy that fights off foreign invaders. When the Wei Qi has been impeded, this gives rise to the symptoms associated with the common cold.

In dilapidated China the best doctors were not the ones who cured the sick. Instead, the greatest doctors were the ones who educated their patients and showed them how to prevent illness in the first situation.

What does passe Chinese Medicine drawl about how to prevent a Pathogenic Wind Invasion? The majority of the teachings tumble under the category of common sense. Eat well. Have a healthy diet. get plenty of sleep. Get yourself in regular health exercises, such as yoga, qi gong, or meditation, to cut your level of stress. Each of these things helps promote the strength of the Wei Qi and ensures your immune function will be working at an optimal level.

It is also a good idea to minimize your exposure to wind. This includes not only outdoor breezes but also indoor winds, such as the cold blast of air coming from an air-conditioner. Wear clothing that is appropriate to protect you from a breezy environment. The befriend of the neck is an region that is quite vulnerable to Wind Invasion, so wearing a scarf is a fabulous procedure to ward yourself from a Pathogenic Wind.

However, if you do succumb to a Pathogenic Wind Invasion, both acupuncture and Chinese herbal formulas can attend lessen the severity and shorten the duration of the invasion. This is because appropriate acupuncture treatments and positive herbal formulas are tailored to specifically drive the Pathogenic Wind out of the body, regulate the functions of the Wei Qi and alleviate the prevalent symptoms that arisen. When the Pathogenic Wind is driven out, the Wei Qi function is no longer impeded and will allow the body to recover in a powerful quicker fashion. A cold that could have lasted eight days might now only last three.

As a Licensed Acupuncturist, it always pleases me to peep the reaction that my patients have after a treatment. "Hey! I can actually breath through my nose again." "Wow! I don't feel the strong race to cough anymore." "My chest objective doesn't feel as tight as it did when I came in." These are some of the typical responses that I have heard after I've treated someone for a Pathogenic Wind Invasion. Many of these patients were a itsy-bitsy skeptical when they came in, but they were all seeking a treatment that would support rid them of their common cold symptoms. They were surprised at their realization - weak Chinese Medicine is effective for treating the common cold.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Common Cold Cures in Your Kitchen


Many people do not realize that in their kitchen are natural remedies to the common cold. We consume for granted the things that are available good in our enjoy encourage yard. Over the centuries people have venerable minerals and plants for medicinal cures. When the Europeans came over to the United States, they brought with them seeds and plants. They also learned from the Native Americans which plants were extinct for different cures. A typical wife and mother were knowledgeable about herbs and how to employ them for medicinal purposes. Some of recent day medicine originated from plants and herbs. As people moved toward a more industrial society and into the cities, they became more dependent on pharmaceutical companies to supply their medicine.






People have become unlearned about these used time remedies. These natural remedies composed work and are available in your kitchen to this day. Salt, Apple Cider Vinegar, Onion, garlic, anise, ginger, honey are a few of the items in your cabinets that can cure the common cold.

At the first imprint of a sore throat, gargle with warm salt water. Salt has been primitive for centuries to acquire bacteria from meat. Farmers soak their meat in salt water to occupy bacteria. I have dilapidated this remedy with my family for years.  Spread a teaspoon of salt in an 8 oz glass of warm water. Gargle the entire glass; this will seize mucus and dilate the capillaries increasing the blood stagger. Do this several times a day and you will feel so powerful better.

Apple cider Vinegar is pleasant for so many things. Colds, flu, headaches, digestion problems, insect bites and so noteworthy more.  When you are coming down with a cold, your bodies alkaline level is unstable.  Drinking apple cider vinegar will rebalance the acid level.  Add apple cider vinegar to a glass of water, making it as strong as you can tolerate. Gargle and swallow this mixture twice a day.  Apple cider vinegar kills the streptococcus virus as well as adds extra potassium to your body as well. When using apple cider vinegar always rinse your mouth out after drinking to rinse extra acid off the enamel of your teeth.

Ginger contains nearly a dozen antiviral compounds and is a common cold remedy. First you must peel the skin from a ginger root. Grate new ginger into a cup of hot water. Sit for 10 minutes and add honey to taste. The ginger will give your throat a tingly sensation.

Onion and garlic are from the same family and both fill antiviral compounds. Keep a sliced onion over night in honey. purchase this mixture at intervals, like cough medicine. By eating onions and garlic you are ingesting these antiviral foods to your diet. Helping to fight the cold.

Anise is an expectorant to net rid of phlegm and also has antiviral compounds. catch one or two teaspoons of crushed aniseed and spread them in hot water to sit for 10 -15 minutes. Anise is outmoded to get Indian Chai tea as well. Drink this tea several times a day.

Honey is an antibacterial. Using honey with different herbs helps to fight bacterial infections that are sometimes second infections caused by the common cold. As you have read already, when making teas you can add honey to befriend the efficiency of the tea. Also adding it to other herbs to obtain syrup is profitable. Either diagram, honey is definitely a yummy device to wait on cure the cold.

Lemon like apple cider vinegar is high in acid and will balance your alkaline levels in your body. It will also gash through mucus acting as an expectorant. You can mix lemon to any herbal tea or add it to water to drink.
Thyme is also conventional as an antibacterial. My mixing thyme leaves in hot water and sitting for 10 – 15 minutes. Even most herbalist forget the benefits of thyme as it is not commonly mentioned as a antibacterial herb.

Oregano is favorite known as marjoram has high thymol remark. The inviting thing about oregano is that fights bacterium, viruses, fungi and yeast. Using 1 – 2 teaspoons of oregano leaves in hot water and sitting for 15 minutes several times a day will back you fight the common cold.

Memoir was one of the four sacred plants of the Native American. This anecdote helps with inflammation of the throat and with irritations of the throat. If you mix account with apple cider vinegar you have a distinguished cold cure.

Making rosemary tea will encourage with bronchial issues. Rosemary helps demolish up phylum. Giving you relief from congestion. Add 1 -2 teaspoons in hot water and let sit for 10 – 15 minutes.

Cinnamon is a natural germicide. Adding cinnamon to any herbal cold tea can enhance its medicinal purpose. By adding a ¼ teaspoon to honey and taking as a cough syrup will also support alleviate cold symptoms.
These are objective a few natural remedies for the accepted cold and cold like symptoms. I know there are times when you honest don’t feel like getting out to rob up an over the counter cold medication. You may already have these items in your cupboard and they work unbiased as efficiently. The best cure for the common cold prevention. Remember to always wash your hands. Eat a healthy diet and originate clear you are including foods with lots of vitamins and minerals. No virus or bacteria can live in a healthy environment. Remember to always eat healthy and live healthy.

CommonColdSymptoms.net 

Common Colds In Children

It is commonly known that people who smoke are more prone to colds than those who do not smoke - also smokers usually experience a more serious construct of flu symptoms and the illness lasts longer, with the risk of degenerating into bronchitis and even pneumonia.





What are the first symptoms of colds? The first symptoms of a cold are a sore throat, nasal discharge and frequent sneezing.

Children may have sore throat, cough, headache, rude fever, fatigue, muscle injure and loss of appetite. Nasal leakage of children can turn from a transparent one to yellow-green shades.

When is a cold contagious? Colds are most contagious during the first 2-4 days until symptoms proceed. Your child may get into contact with colds if:

* Breathing virus particles in the air after someone has sneezed or coughed terminate to him;

* Touches nose or mouth after he touch the skin or another surface atrocious.

How to prevent colds? Due to the mammoth number of viruses that cause colds, there is no vaccine that could be made against this viral infection. To prevent, children should:

* Get away from any person who smokes or is sick. Viral particles can proceed about 3.7 meters in the air when a person sneezes or coughs.

* To wash their hands very well, as often as possible.

* To shroud nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing.

* Do not use the same towels or eating utensils that have been outmoded by an infected person. They also should learn to not drink from the same cup.

It is very critical to talk with your doctor before deciding what vitamins, supplements or herbal treatments to give to your child to net over the cold faster. cold symptoms occur 2-3 days after the child has been exposed to sources of infection. Most often a cold lasts about a week.

How to treat colds? "Time heals all wounds." This proverb is not always fair, but the reality is finish enough. Pills do not cure the common cold, but can be used to alleviate the symptoms - for muscle damage, fever or headache.

When to call the doctor? Your child's doctor can not identify the type of virus, but will look ino the throat and ears of the child, eventually taking a sample of throat infection, to ensure that infection does not signal another disease. If cold symptoms worsen instead of improving over three days, the plight may expose sinusitis, pneumonia, bronchitis, especially if the child lives in a smoking environment.

CommonColdSymptoms.net

Time-Proven Remedies For Conquering Colds And Flus


Occasionally the stresses of life nick our immune system defenses and the door opens unprejudiced wide enough to let a icy or flu sneak in and buy beget. Here are some of the best tested immunity boosters in existence. employ them well to get your strength help and display that cold or flu the draw to the exit stamp!
Special Virus-Killing Foods:

Garlic is a commonly obsolete cool medicine. It is widely veteran in Russia and is known there as “Russian Penicillin”. Garlic supports immune function and it can end bacteria, parasites, fungus and the flu virus. One test-tube survey showed that original garlic kills various viruses, including one which can cause flu like symptoms (1) . ancient garlic extract can also protect against the flu (2) . One excellent contrivance to back from garlic is to slash up a couple raw cloves into miniature pieces and swallow the pieces whole at the first brand of a cold, then eat one clove per day until fully well.

Horseradish is another plant that can ease throat and upper respiratory tract infections. It has reliable antibiotic properties. Horseradish has been shown specifically to kill the flu virus and cleave the severity of flu infections in animals (3) . This plant is a member of the mustard family. You may have found that eating horseradish can fabricate your eyes water and nose rush. Indeed, it can acquire a similar release of watery fluids inside the bronchial passages of the lungs which helps to flush them out and wash away congestion. For this reason, hot foods and spices in general are also very advantageous for colds and flus.

Echinacea: The Immunity Herb of Choice

Studies of echinacea point to that it plays a essential role in fortifying the immune system to fight illness. Although scientists have had exiguous success developing drugs or vaccines to eradicate the common cold or flu, echinacea improves immune function in humans, and especially improves the virus-fighting white blood cells, even when given in very crude doses (Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 1995, vol. 1) . Echinacea can slit the duration of a cold in half (4) .
Hearty Vitamins for Colds: Vitamin C and Zinc
A Scandinavian researcher recently conducted a review of 21 studies that tested between 1 and 8 grams (1,000 to 8,000 milligrams) of Vitamin C for the common cold. He concluded that “in each of the twenty-one studies, Vitamin C reduced the duration of the cool and the severity of the symptoms by an average of 23% (5) . Even remarkable lower amounts of vitamin C such as 100 milligrams have been found to be reliable (6) . In addition to enhancing the activity of immune cells, Vitamin C acts as a principal component in the production of collagen, the important protein found in all connective tissues. By helping occupy the strength and integrity of connective tissue structures, vitamin C keeps infections from spreading throughout the body (from the Handbook of Vitamins) .

Zinc accelerates the growth of immune cells while inhibiting the replication of the cold-causing viruses. Zinc also helps contain the health of the thymus gland which is one of the organs of immunity. Located at the unfavorable of the neck, the thymus produces white blood cells for fighting off foreign cells and toxins. In one sight, zinc gluconate lozenges of 13.3 milligrams each were tested against a placebo in a group of 100 patients with icy symptoms. The people took one lozenge every two hours while awake. Coughing disappeared within 2.2 days in the treated group versus 4 days in the placebo group. Sore throat disappeared after 1 day versus 3 days in the placebo group, nasal drainage in 4 days (versus 7 days), and headache in 2 days (versus 3 days) . (Annals of Internal Medicine, 1996, vol. 125) .

Acidophilus:

Supplements of Lactobacillus acidophilus and other respectable bacteria, and the growth factors that attend their development in the stomach, may succor to protect the body from wrong organisms that cause infection (7,8) . Acidophilus and other apt bacteria are known as probiotics, which means “promoting the growth of microorganisms”. Lactobacillus has been shown to increase the numbers of circulating immune cells and elevate the body’s antibody responses. Its best to expend probiotics that also occupy a prebiotic such as fructooligosaccharides (FOS) . FOS are carbohydrates that helps the growth of probiotic organisms in the gastrointestinal tract. A modern see showed that FOS molecules can bind to disease-causing bacteria and prevent their attachment to the body’s cells (Lancet, 1996, vol. 347) .

Get that cold or flu out of the door and keep it away by eating healthy, whole foods, drinking pure water, and taking the accurate cold-fighting foods and supplements.

CommonColdSymptoms.net

Thursday, January 13, 2011

What Causes a Cold?

Everyone hates getting a cold. It really disrupts our busy American lifestyle and causes a lot of unnecessary discomfort, but do you know exactly what causes a cold? Hopefully this information may aid you in being prepared to battle the common cold.

The biggest factor that causes colds is viruses. There are more than 200 different viruses known to cause symptoms of a cold. Rhinoviruses (viruses of the nose) cause an estimated 30 to 35 percent of all adult colds, and are most active in the early fall, spring and summer. Many scientists also mediate that coronaviruses cause a astronomical percentage of adult colds. Coronaviruses generally bring on colds in the winter and early spring. The cause of 30 to 50 percent of adult viral colds remains unidentified, but we do know that the same viruses that cause colds in adults also cause colds in children. Because the viruses change so often and so like a flash, the body never builds up a resistance against all of them. This is why colds are a frequent and recurring plight. The approved cold is the leading cause of doctors’ visits and missed days from school and work.

Because there is no procedure to cure a cool or get rid of all of these viruses forever, healthy lifestyle choices are the best things you can do to prevent yourself from catching a cold. The very best thing you can do is to frequently wash your hands with soap and water for 2 minutes or exhaust an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Germs spread the fastest via hand contact, so keeping your hands clean will abet germs and viruses away from the rest of your body. It’s also best to eat a healthy diet and get plenty of rest to strengthen your immune system and fight foreign invaders to your body.

CommonColdSymptoms.net

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Chart -Understanding the Common Cold

Chart -Understanding the Common Cold


Chart -Understanding the Common ColdLFA #99875 Chart -Understanding the Common Cold.
Defines the common cold and shows the affected anatomy. Lists causes and risk factors and describes the role of the rhinovirus. Discusses the role of inflammation in causing symptoms and lists signs of a cold. Illustrates common symptoms: headache, sinus pain, runny/stuff nose, coughing and sore throat. Lists treatment techniques and illustrates ways to prevent getting or spreading a cold. Each chart’s size is 20″ W by 26″ H. All LFA Charts and Posters are designed to a) Provide just the right level of detail, b) At-a-glance format, c) Striking colorful images, d) Enlarged view of key organs or structures, e) Comprehensive and anatomically/medically accurate. Plastic laminate, 20″ x 26″ offers flexibility, durability and attractive appearance for medical professionals, patients, students and other specialists. Complete with metal eyelets at top corners for hanging or portable stand display. “Write-on, wipe-off” surface is perfect for classrooms and professional offices. Shipped in mailing tube. Note: Many charts and posters also available in Spanish (-SP) to meet the needs of an expanding Spanish-language population and for improved communication.
Price:
Click here to buy from Amazon

CommonColdSymptoms.net

Common Cold Cures

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Despite religiously taking vitamin D, taking brisk walks in the winter cold and eating healthy, I still managed to get sick this winter.

Nobody likes to have a persistent cold, but taking a sick day isn't quite so relaxing when your toddler is also bogged down with boogers, fatigue and general discomfort.

This was actually Aden's first cold, and now that he seems to be feeling a bit better, I'm glad that we made it through it with long naps, plenty of fluids and lots of hugs in lieu of giving him any cold medication.

Dr. Sears, a noted pediatrician whose website I often turn to for advice, says that the FDA actually pulled approval for over-the-counter cold medications for children under the age of four.

He explains that the FDA's reasoning was twofold: Parents were often giving children more medication than the recommended dosage and "there has been very little research done on young kids to prove that cold and cough meds are safe and/or effective."

It seems that in our overly-medicated society people turn to the drugstore every time they have a problem. The only medicine that I'll touch myself is ibuprofin, so why would I want to load my kid up with antihistamines, decongestants and expectorants every time he catches a cold?

That's not to say that sometimes taking medicine isn't warranted. When people have diseases like chronic high blood pressure or diabetes, medication can save their lives, but when it comes to your commmon, non-threatening cold, I think it's best to just wait it out.

If your little one's cold is so bad, though, that you want to provide some relief, there are a few herb-based and homeopathic products out there—namely Sinupret Kids Syrup, NatraBio Children's Cold and Flu, and Hyland's C-Plus Cold Tabs—that aren't quite as potent as the ingredients in the typical cold medication. They're also safe to give to younger children in their correct dosage.

I think the best medicine Aden and I had during our bout with a lingering cold was getting some fresh air each day, eating lots of organic oranges and drinking hot tea and juice, respectively, while watching "Frosty the Snowman."

CommonColdSymptoms.net

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