Many are Coughing: Beat It with 3 Steps

Loads of people are coming down with whatever current bug is out there.

This current bug seems to begin in the sinuses and then travel down into the throat and then the lungs.

Taking over-the-counter meds for mild fevers is not an effective treatment. Taking NyQuil or other sleep cough aids may be somewhat helpful but it is not treating the problem. Tylenol, Aspirin, Advil - again - worthless in my book when it comes to the flu or the common cold.

Three Problems:
Your immune system may be tired for one so that needs help.
The other is you may need assistance in breaking up the mucous and getting it up and out.
Another is you may be dehydrated. Drink pure filtered water - NOT bottled.

Resolution Step 1:
Low vitamin D is the likely culprit why many are ill. Given that the sun is no where to be seen for months during this time of year, vitamin D status in people is very subnormal. Low vitamin D is a common cause of immune weakness leading to 'catching colds.'

So boost your Vitamin D3 levels by taking a liquid vitamin D3 product. Many docs recommend taking anywhere from 2000 IU to 10,000 IU a day in order to get low D3 levels back to normal again.

You may want to test your D3 levels if you are currently taking a Vitamin D product. Ask your doctor to measure your serum 25 hydroxy vitamin D3 levels.

Vitamin D2 in your milk and yogurt is not doing you much, if any, benefit. Vitamin D2 is not the form used by the human body therefore vitamin D2 is not utilized well at all.

Resolution Step 2:
To get rid of the unsuccessful unproductive cough:
N-acetyl cysteine, otherwise known as NAC, is a potent nutrient for breaking up mucous in sinuses and lungs.

Taking 900 mg of N-Acetyl Cysteine three times a day between meals may significantly loosen up the mucous thereby getting rid of the dry cough. You may want to take 1800 mg or more three times a day if you are noticing a very unsuccessful dry hacking cough.

Caution: You will begin hacking more but you will also notice that the mucous will be coming up - so have a handkerchief with you. Getting rid of the sticky dry mucous is essential to recovery. The tickling cough will also go away as the mucous comes up. The tickling cough is caused mainly by sticky dry mucous.

Resolution Step 3:
Drink plenty of pure filtered water. Being dehydrated when you are ill is a big problem and commonly not addressed.

Dehydration causes mucous to become more sticky and harder to get out thereby causing you to hold on to your bug longer.

Don't buy bottled water. Bottled water is simply making bottling companies wealthy while giving you tap water in a plastic bottle.

Get a stainless steel water bottle, a good water filter and go on your way without plastics and damaging our planet even more.

There is a limit to how much water to drink - so don't go nuts. If you drink too much water, you simply are washing out your mineral stores. Drink a couple liters a day and it is best to toss in some electrolytes in it as well. Electrolytes are crucial to maintain cellular function.

Other Quick Cough Fighting Tips:
Nothing beats a humidifier with eucalyptus oil and sea salt in your room at night while you are sleeping. The humidifier helps soften the mucous and soothe the lungs.

Hanging a crushed clove of garlic or two also helps out. The garlic oils are antimicrobial.

Stop eating any and all dairy products for a couple weeks. Dairy causes mucous in many individuals. This means no milk, ice cream, sour cream, cream cheese, lactose free milk, cottage cheese, etc

Post a comment on what you do to successfully get rid of the common cold or treat hacking coughs.

Best,
Dr Ben

Emergency Rooms, Kids & Cold Medicines

One of the top causes for ER visits this winter:
Kids, toddlers and infants getting dosed with over the counter drugs in an attempt to relieve cold symptoms.My gosh people. This is not accidental opening the bottle and kid drinking the medicine. These poisonings are done by parents.

Notice I said that the parents 'dosed with drugs in an attempt to relieve cold symptoms'.

That means they are not treating the cold or preventing it from happening - they are only attempting to relieve the symptoms. And at the same time, making their kid worse and sending them to the ER for a simple cold.

• Treat the cause of the cold - not the symptoms of it.
• Don't use medications on your kid if you can help it.
• There are loads of alternative treatments for kids and colds.
• FOLLOW the instructions on the bottle if you're gonna dose the kid with the medicine.
• Do not use aspirin for your kids - ever ever ever. Period.
  

A few things you can do for your kids when they are down with a cold:

• Multivitamin for kids
• see what is out there in terms of a good multivitamin for kids. There are many out there with food coloring, additives, preservatives, low nutrient value.
• My kids like the DaVinci Omni Jr Children's Chewable. It tastes good, has loads of good nutrients and none of the other garbage you see in many commercial brands.
• Vitamin D Levels
• Vitamin D levels are very low during the winter months. Low vitamin D = immune weakness. Have your doctor measure your kid's 'serum 25 hydroxy vitamin D3 level' and see what the value is. If low, then you should supplement your kid, and yourself, with vitamin D3. NOT Vitamin D2 - vitamin D2 is garbage. D2 is found in milk products and is not a viable form of vitamin D.
• Many physicians will dose vitamin D3 around 2000 IU/day for a kid and about 6000 IU to 8000 IU for an adult per day. Make sure to dose it with food as it is a fat soluble vitamin.
  
• Liquid vitamin D3 is preferred and make sure it is free of preservatives, additives and other garbage. There is no need for that. It doesn't taste good so give it on a spoon of almond butter or something fatty and tasty.
• Avoid Dairy Products
• Limit dairy products during your kid's cold. Dairy products are a huge problem for many kids and parents and doctors are not aware of this. Dairy causes an immense amount of mucous build up in kids - and adults.
  
• More mucous is definitely not what you want during sickness.
• I personally do not offer my kids dairy at all in our home. We use almond milk which we make.
• Almond milk: soak almonds overnight in a glass of water. Rinse well three times in the morning. Throw in blender with a cup of water. Blend. Add maple syrup to taste. (the real stuff people - not fake maple syrup). Done. Cheap. Tasty. Nutritious.
• Get a humidifier with some essential oils
  
• Your kid is coughing and hacking with thick mucous not coming out, they cannot breathe and they are worse at night. Sound familiar?
• Get a cheap humidifier from your local pharmacy
• Fill it with FILTERED water (so you don't make your kid breathe chlorine gas)
• Add about 1 tablespoon of salt
• Add a few drops of Eucalyptus essential oil, Cedar essential oil and Thymus essential oil. Don't over do it - 2 drops of each is plenty in the humidifier.
• Stuffed Nose
• The kids cannot breathe, no mucous comes out and they sound completely plugged up.
• A couple things you can do:
  
• Use the humidifier at night with the essential oils
  
• Stop the milk products for a few weeks - remember? Good.
• Euphorbium Sinus spray is very effective at helping loosen mucous. I began using it on my kids - with some difficulty at first. They didn't like it. But I found that if I brought a book that they liked, I could have them breathe in deeply and squirt one spray into their nostril. That worked fine. It also was easier to give the next time as they found that it actually was allowing them to begin breathing through their nose again.
• Berries
• Get some blueberries - frozen. Put them in their breakfast cereal. Thaw them out and let them eat them like candy. Very good immune support. Get organic if you can.
• Avoid sugar
• A bit of sugar turns off the immune function for about 6 hours. You don't want this when sick. Turn to the blueberries and other brightly covered fruit.
• Avoid the most toxic dirty dozen fruits and vegetables - highly sprayed - especially strawberries.
• Crush Garlic
• Crush a clove or two of garlic
• Put in a small breathable bag - like cheese cloth or a thin sock.
• Hang it by their bed.
• Garlic oils are a very very potent antibacterial and antiviral.
  

That is a great start. You do most of those things and your kids will be on the road to recovery.

I have never used any over-the-counter cold medications on our kids and they do very well in recovering as we follow the above suggestions.

Any questions or comments, please post them. I will respond.

Be well.

Dr Ben

Flu Shot: Hype, Bunk, Toxic, Worthless. I miss anything?

I found this article via my daily forum posts which I receive from Dr Garry Gordon, MD He has an excellent forum for health professionals. I found it highly relevant and a necessary post as I know many of you are wanting to get a flu shot.

Think about it. Do you really need it? Do you really want the toxic mercury laden flu vaccine which is basically worthless?

#1 NewsTarget.com printable article

Originally published October 27 2006
Flu shots are virtually worthless, says new British Medical Journal analysis

(NewsTarget) Flu vaccines are largely ineffective in the populations for which they are most highly recommended, according to a new study published in the Oct. 28 issue of the British Medical Journal.

Dr. Tom Jefferson, coordinator of the Cochrane Vaccines Field in Rome, Italy, conducted an extensive review of previous studies on the effectiveness of inactivated [dead virus] flu vaccines on hospital admissions, death rates and time off work.

"We've got an exaggerated expectation of what vaccines can actually do," Jefferson said. "I'm hoping American and European taxpayers will be alerted and start asking questions."

Most developed and developing countries have influenza vaccination programs that are believed to help reduce the number of flu deaths and hospitalizations. United States health authorities currently recommend flu vaccine shots for most Americans -- children 6 to 23 months; kids 23 months to 5 years old; those 50 and older; people with chronic health conditions such as diabetes, asthma, HIV or heart disease; health-care professionals and caregivers; and anyone with household contact of high-risk individuals, such as stay-home mothers with young children.

Jefferson notes that recommendations for flu vaccines have significantly increased in recent years -- a move he says may not be justified.

"I looked at the evidence described by systematic reviews and confronted it with policy and I found that there is a massive gap," he said. "Almost none of the benefits that these policy documents list are actually given by inactivated vaccines or, if they are, they are given in slighter measure."

Consumer health advocate Mike Adams, author of "Conquering the Common Cold," called flu vaccine shots "one of the greatest medical cons perpetrated on the populations of the world," and questioned new U.S. policies pushing the vaccines on young children and expectant mothers.

"Flu shots only prevent colds in about 1 percent of people who get them, making them 99 percent useless," Adams said. "They also inject unhealthy substances such as mercury preservatives directly into tissues, poisoning the patient with a chemical burden that accumulates with each flu shot."

Visit www.newstarget.com - an excellent resource.