Tips for Preventing Swine Flu Naturally
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Ollie Crafoord / Flickr Editor's Note: This article was published in 2009. The information here is not current and should not be taken as advice for the current Covid19 pandemic. These tips are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical treatment, advice or diagnosis.
It is impossible to avoid coming into contact with the Swine Flu (H1N1), or any other strain of flu for that matter. Because it can take three days before germs entering your body proliferate and become the actual illness, often times people are out in public without any known symptoms, yet they are still carrying and spreading the infection.
While you are healthy and not showing flu symptoms, you can help decrease your chances of getting the swine flu with the following natural tips.
Gargle
The only portals of entry for the flu into the body are the mouth, throat and nostrils. By gargling twice each day with warm salt water or Listerine, the proliferation of H1N1 may be prevented. It is believed that gargling with warm salt water as a healthy person is similar to the effect that an infected person receives from taking Tamiflu.
(See also: NY Times article citing The American Journal of Preventive Medicine “the group that regularly gargled had a nearly 40 percent decrease in upper respiratory tract infections compared with the control group….”; see also CDC 2009 H1N1 Guidelines.)
Clean Nose
Blowing your nose hard at least once per day will help clear germs from your nasal cavities. Follow up the nose blowing with a swabbing of both nostrils using a cotton bud dipped in warm salt water.
Drink Warm Liquids
To help wash viruses from your throat and prevent proliferation, drinking warm liquids works in a similar manner as gargling with warm salt water — except it moves the viruses in the other direction. Once the germs are in your stomach, they can't survive or proliferate.
Boost Natural Immunity
It has been shown that vitamin C plays a role in boosting your body's natural immunity. Increase your intake of foods with Vitamin C (citrus fruits) or take Vitamin C supplements. If using supplements, you'll also want to take zinc to improve your body's absorption of vitamin C.
Decrease Sugar Intake
During flu season especially, it's a good idea to reduce the amount of sugar in your diet. Sugar is absorbed fast by the body but if it is not burned off quickly, it remains in the bloodstream. The problem with excess sugar is that it prevents the ability of white blood cells to do their job and fight foreign organisms.
Unless you never leave your home and never allow others to come into your home, it is impossible to completely avoid contact with H1N1, other flu strains, and illnesses in general. Using these tips, along with frequent hand washing, keeping your hands away from your face, and disinfecting surfaces in your home with a germ-killing cleanser, you can help decrease your risks of getting the flu naturally.
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19237723?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSys...
"Recent URTI was reported by:
·17 percent of participants with vitamin D levels of 30ng/ml or higher
·20 percent of participants with vitamin D levels between 10-30 ng/ml.
·24 percent of participants with vitamin D levels below 10ng/ml
The positive correlation between lower vitamin D levels and increased risk of URTI was even stronger in individuals with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease."
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/03/21/Can-Vitami...
'Nuff said
at first i was worried about this flu becoming a worldwide epidemic but its nice that it has been contained. i really did not know that one could prevent this swine flu using this relatively simple techniques. The only thing that i was doing as a preventive measure is avoid anybody that i even suspected had it like the bubonic plague and keeping away from hospitals and airports
I'm not saying that these steps are not effective, but several of them are controversial and/or outside the recommendations of the CDC and WHO. Also, I don't think the doctor you credit actually wrote these.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/medical/a/dr_vinay_goyal_swine_flu.htm
After hearing a similar comment about gargling and nose swabbing from a coworker, I asked my friend, who is a nurse. He stated that the swabbing the nose will not really do anything, and the gargling with salt water may help, but probably not really do much.
I rinse my sinuses out in the morning and evening with warm salt water (sea salt not iodized). Haven't had anything like a cold since I started doing that.
I used to work in a health food store and was exposed to an awful lot of theories such as this one. I have found absolutely no studies that back up the use of neti pots or any kind of nasal douching on such a regular basis, we do have mucus for a good reason.
It's a false dichotomy to say that you haven't had a cold since you started using it as there there are a multitude more factors going on there. I haven't gotten the flu in six years and I've been on the pill for six years, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the pill is somehow preventing me becoming ill.
Main thing is, if you are in regular contact with 'at risk' groups you should get vaccinated. Everyone should be washing their hands regularly and thoroughly with hot soapy water, cover their mouth when coughing and dispose of tissues as soon as possible.
Enough said!
I got a Neti pot recently and I must say that I just LOVE it. I do not use it every day like you do...but when I did get the cold and was stuffed up it helped me to breathe and I did not even have to take medicine.
To the writer of the article.....blowing your nose HARD is actually frowned upon because you can damage the tissue or push mucus higher into the sinuses. You can also cause an ear infection by vigorous blowing so please be careful when making this statement.
You should only blow your nose GENTLY if you have to blow at all.
You can go to 4 different doctors for advice on preventing and treating various illnesses and you'll probably get 4 different explanations and opinions as far as what works and what doesn't work. I don't think it means that if 1 doctor or nurse says it doesn't work that it's a waste of time to try when thousands of others have said it may be effective. If you go to alternative medicine for advice, you'll get an entirely different set of treatments to try...
My theory is - if it's inexpensive, safe, and easy to try out and it has the potential of keeping my family from getting sick - it's worth a try. I also like anything that's natural and avoids popping pills or getting shots for everything.
Thanks everyone for the comments.
You can only do so much to protect yourself before becoming one of those crazy whack jobs living in a bunker in Utah. I personally wash my hands and use sanitizers when I can. Beyond that my Centrum is gonna have to handle this bug. If you get it, you get it. I know of three people who have had it, confirmed. They said it wasn't all that bad. A mild flu was their description.
BTW, "Dragon", what a cool last name. Mine sucks. Is that your real name? If we got married I would take your name. Call me Joe, Joe Dragon (that would rock). Anyway, keep up the great work.
You cracked me up! I got the name Dragon when I got married. It's real. You can imagine my difficulty when I call to order chinese take out from a Chinese restaurant named "Dragon garden" or something...
Hi Debbie,
Nice post. HOpe the tips work. I believe Sugar is the BIGGEST killer in America today. Definitely hurts the immune system.
Cut sugar out of your diet, and we'll all be healthier beings.
I agree with Joe.. sweet last name!
Keigu,
Financial Samurai
"Slicing Through Money's Mysteries"
This is on Snopes as a hoax, hon.
I've read this is a hoax too. My issue isn't that you're suggesting these methods (I think they could work) but that you're misleading people by writing an article based on a false report. It's one thing to say "I read these ideas and think they could work", it's another to say "a doctor said to do this" when the doctor did no such thing.
I like your writing, and I'd hate to see a mistake like this damage your credibility.
And I am so envious of your last name ;)
I've now seen this information on snopes and around as a hoax. So maybe this doctor didn't start these tips circulating, but I still don't think just because it's listed on snopes that it automatically means none of it could help.
My child's school sent home a letter that included these tips and more, and credited them to this particular doctor. I saw no harm in passing on some of the tips that seemed helpful to me when I read them, and guess I was mistaken for thinking the school would be sending home accurate information.
So, if the doctor mentioned in this article doesn't believe in these tips for preventing illness, and never said them - my sincere apologies.
My family got our H1N1 vaccines for free at a public health vaccination site. None of us had side-effects, except the 2-year-old, who ran a low-grade fever for a few hours and then was fine.
It was easy, free, and great insurance for the coming months. Rarely is protecting your health so cheap or easy!
This is all well and good, but really you just need to vaccinate (95-100% efficacy is the number I've heard for the H1N1 vaccine as they've been able to directly target the right strain).
The idea that Vitamin C helps with viral infections dates to Linus Pauling, the Nobel Prize winning chemist. Note he was not a medical doctor nor biologist. Please review this link for information on the Vitamin C myth.
http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/pauling.html
I haven't heard that taking vitamin C in preventing flu is a "myth". I take strong doses every year during winter.
I find that taking a few simple, supplements does a lot to help my immune system get through. The main ones I take are - zinc, vitamin C, vitamin B and velvet antler supplements from New Zealand. I am a little wary of the 'swine flue' anyway. When you look at statistics on the number of people that have died from it worldwide compared to the number of people that die from just ordinary flu it is quite interesting.
Sorry, that link was velvet antler supplements from New Zealand.