Rushing in with quick question: how to build immune system?

[OneGrassRoot]

I'll be back in a few hours to see what all I've been missing -- :) -- but wanted to jump in to ask for suggestions in building my 16-year-old's immune system.

The flu really knocked her out this week. I want to start building her system back up ASAP so she doesn't regress when back into the hectic school schedule and around other kids.

Suggestions are greatly appreciated! :)

Until later......:grouphug:

[Why Syzygy]

1. GSE

http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=4215&at=0
* The Original
* Grapefruit Seed Extract
* From Organically Grown Grapefruit
* Unfiltered Formula
* A Dietary Supplement
* Where Science Works Naturally

NutriBiotic GSE Liquid Concentrate contains Citricidal, a natural quaternary compound synthesized from the seed and pulp of certified organically grown grapefruit. The grapefruit bioflavonoids (polyphenolics) are converted into an extremely potent compound that has been proven highly effective in numerous applications.

I even took this with my recent chigger invasion, and only suffered the worst effects for 5-7 days instead of the projected 10-14.

[OneGrassRoot]

3. Thank you :)

I think grapefruit seed (or maybe it's grape seed) extract is what my aunt is taking for tremors and possible Parkinson's. Interesting....I shall check out that link! Much appreciated. :)

Chiggers?!!!! Wow, I haven't heard anything about chiggers since I moved away from Texas. Yikes!


:hug:

[Why Syzygy]

18. It is very powerful. Wouldn't surprise me if she is.

Nagging (as you mention down thread) is no fun, but I was guilty. But, once my son became an adult, he reaches for extra Vitamin C when he gets a cold, and Lysine for cold sores. That is satisfying reward. He was and is rarely sick. The last time he had a cold was coming out of an intensive military training scenario. Also, he is fair skinned, and extra exposure to sun often brings on cold sores.

Eating whole foods is also important. He never had Mac's or Koolaid, for example. I'm sure you've got that covered, especially with her interest in vegetarianism. Unfortunately, when he was serving in the ME, he picked up a habit of diet soda :( .

Chiggers. Quite an ordeal.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=246x10651

[Why Syzygy]

22. $5.00 discount

I just received email from iherb that if you have never ordered from them before, you can get $5.00 off a first order by using this code: CIN546
Anyone is eligible to use it :D

[Shallah Kali]

26. grape seed extract is antioxidant

may help prevent macular degeneration. got rid of my Mother's restless legs soon after she started taking it hoping to prevent eye troubles like her sibling got.

[OneGrassRoot]

28. Oh my gosh, this will tell you where my brain is at this morning....

I read "....eye troubles like her sibling got."

And I wondered, what on earth is a condition called "sibling got"?

:rofl:

;)

Makes sense about grape seed extract. It has helped her tremors. And, since my mom has macular degeneration, I should probably take it for that reason, too.

Thanks (and continued hugs of support for today) :hug:

[Shallah Kali]

35. Link to section of book that turned me onto Grape Seed Extract for my Mom

http://www.pkdiet.com/grapeseedextract.htm

My Mom sticks with the Nature's Way Dr. Masquelier Tru OPCs after trying a few less expensive ones and getting swollen ankles in the summer and restless legs at night that went right away went back on Tru-OPCs.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

10. Yep

if you have a sinus infection, you can mix GSE with Xlear nasal spray. A bit strong, but those who use it say it really works.

[Why Syzygy]

19. Didn't know that.

I really must get into a neti habit, and bet it would be beneficial there also. I love Xlear.

[OneGrassRoot]

29. You know what would REALLY be nice?

There are so many supplements and vitamins and this, that and the other that would be so helpful to take, but -- like so many things in life right now (in my experience, at least) -- it's so fragmented!

Bottles everywhere, not to mention expense.

It would be soooooooo nice if there was a way for people to get a customized supplement that incorporated the various things.

I realize that, like pharmaceuticals, things interact and may cause other vitamins and supplements to not work as well, but in an almost perfect world, a customized supplement would be sooooo wonderful.

Of course, a perfect world requires no supplementation at all...we are all pure health embodied.

:)

[Shallah Kali]

2. if it was me this is what I would do

good hand washing before handling food, break any habits of rubbing eyes, lips, nose to keep from infecting self w/germs from people who *don't* wash properly.

a good multi w/minerals or separate multimineral w/selenium (which reduces flu mutations) & other micronutrient minerals. teen years are prime bone building years and calcium needs more than D to work it's best.

vitamin c w/bioflavonoids 500mg or so per day unless you feel something coming on. if tummy is sensitive try a buffered vitamin C instead of straight ascorbic acid.

make sure to eat breakfast even if it is just a hard boiled egg. omega 3 eggs are a great way to get omegas without mercury from lots of fish or dealing with fishoil capsule burp :x

tonic herbs like a low dose of adaptogens like ginseng (real or siberian) whether tablet, ticture or in teas like a nightly cup of Celestial Seasonings Tension Tamer or one of the ginseng containing yogis. Gingeng perks up everything including the immune system :) OR something like susun weeds recomendations like oat straw, nettle, raspberry leaf teas to gently build up the system. youth baring health issues need perking up of immune systems much more often than a kick in the behind.

foot soaks w/epsoms salt and when strength recovered from flu a bath or two a week w/epsoms. after a bad flu the body needs time to detox gently IMO.

muscle test as well as read up for what immune herb if any to keep on hand in case of new cold or flu. different herbs work best for different people. my Mom and grandmother does great with plain ole echanecia while I feel I respond best to olive leaf extract. before I discovered that my go to immune herb was oregon grape root which has same active constiuents as goldenseal, isn't endangered like goldenseal & cost a fraction to boot. I have read great things about elderberry extract (sambucol) for flu & virus but have yet to try it myself being content with my olive leaf extract which usually nips things in the bud if I take it when I get feeling something is trying to catch hold.

as an info junky here are a few links that I find useful:

MotherNature.com Online Bookshelf - I esp. love james duke's green pharmacy: http://www.mothernature.com/Library/bookshelf/index.cfm

American Boitanical Council http://www.herbalgram.org/

Herbs 2000 http://www.herbs2000.com/

University Of Maryland AltMed http://www.umm.edu/altmed/

Henriette's Herbal http://www.henriettesherbal.com/

Google books - let's you search inside many good books: http://books.google.com/

[OneGrassRoot]

4. Wow!!! You're awesome....

:)

I saw you guys discussing olive leaf extract in another thread a few days ago. I definitely need to check that out.

A tonic tea...that's a perfect idea. Lots of great information here. Thank you so much! :hug:

I'm going to do an epsom salt bath myself tonight; maybe I can talk Taylor into a foot bath. :)

Thanks again!

[Why Syzygy]

20. Oat straw and/or Nettles

would be good to help you with your current upset, imo. I always appreciate reading your nutri info.
You seem to share my preference for teas over herbal caps. Even though, there are a few things I will use as capsule, and a few I prefer in tincture.

[Shallah Kali]

25. I admit to not always practicing what I preach

I do more caps than teas or tinctures simply because they are easier a medicinal dose into me quickly esp. if the herbs are nasty tasting. ever tried a tea with valerian in it??? tastes rather like old athletic shoes smell to me :x Yogi makes a wonderful tea that clears my sinus wonderfully - when I can stand to gag it down. My Mother actually kinda likes the taste :shrug: Times like that rather than dealing with the urge to hurl I break down and take caps. While they may not yield the full spectrum of helpful constituents like a good tea or tincture would they still tend to be easier for my body to cope with than most medications.

right now I am using kava kava (eclectic institute whole root, no other parts of the plant, no extracts or concentrates) to help with the nerves. it usually zonks me out too much which I dislike so I save it for bit time stress and when I won't be handling heavy equipment or sharp objects. I *HATE* feeling fog brained which is why I gave up on pharma which either did nothing, made me fog brained and did nothing or gave me a horrible reaction. after the worst is over I will go back to a gentler tonic for rebuilding.

[Celebration]

5. I like EmergenC

But I think getting plenty of sleep and rest after the flu is just essential.

[OneGrassRoot]

6. Hi Celebration :)

I was making her take that and Airborne periodically. I take them both regularly myself. :)

I think allergy season has weakened her immune system (a lot of people, actually) so much so that it's harder to fight off the cold/flu this year. The allergy season seems to have hit especially strong.

For a long time taking a little bit of local honey daily helped with the allergy symptoms but that doesn't seem to work any longer. :(

Nice to see you. :)

[SheilaT]

7. Yet another thing that builds

a strong immune system is to be exposed to plenty of germs while growing up. Our immune systems are designed to face those challenges early on, and overprotecting the young in the long run isn't good. Of course, that's not useful advice for your 16 year old at this point. But what the others have suggested are probably excellent.

Also, keep in mind that since she's had this bout of flu, she is going to be very flu resistant for any number of years to come, particularly to whichever major strain (A, B, or C if I have my information right) she had. I read some years back that a reason the elderly did not get the flu in the epidemic of 1918 (Spanish Flu) was that they'd been exposed to a similar strain some fifty years earlier, and so for the most part were resistant to that one.

[OneGrassRoot]

8. So true.....

I always kept this in mind when she was young, and tried not to be overprotective. I've always been amazed that parents whose children are raised in pristine, almost neurotically clean environments tend to have the sickliest children. Of course, when children already have compromised immune systems or other issues, I realize extraordinary measures are required.

I'm also grateful that she has had antibiotics only three or four times in her life and rarely takes medicine of any sort. Therefore, when she does, it's usually very effective, very quickly.

If I could just get the child to take a multivitamin on a regular basis, without nagging her every single day -- same with the extra vitamin C -- it would help sooooo much. Especially now that she is menstruating on a regular basis, she really needs this (she's been a vegetarian her entire life; oh, btw, I was a vegetarian for several years prior to pregnancy and during pregnancy, and the child was 11 lbs! lol).

Thanks for your insight, SheilaT. :) She hasn't been this sick since she was probably three or four. Hopefully this will be it for quite a while for her.

:hi:

[Shallah Kali]

23. Is she interested in nautral health at all???

If so pick out a few good articles that state the benefits of a few good basics like multi vitamin & minerals and see if she won't read them. Maybe if she saw for herself the benefits she might make selfcare more of a habit.

Me, I grew up reading my Mother's Prevention magazine & Adele Davis book (Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit) more than she did so I have always been the one in my family urging people to at least take a decent multi but then I was always the odd ball.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. Here's some of the things we recommend

at the Foundation:

Monolauren (laric acid), vitamin C, Black Elderberry Extract are three items we recommend. Since your daughter had flu, I would also suggest Influenzium, a homeopathic remedy that can help one overcome the flu.

[OneGrassRoot]

12. Hi, Ayesha :)

Do you think I can get most of these things from Whole Foods? Especially the elderberry extract, as I see you mention that quite frequently?

Thanks. :hug:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

15. I'd think so

Ecological Formulas is the brand name we use for the Monolauren and Elderberry Extract. I use the Monolauren all the time for maintenance--1 a day. When I feel myself getting sick, I take an extra one and I feel better.

[BlueIris]

11. As much garlic and white yogurt as possible.

Got to keep the intestinal tract healthy (70%+ of immune system is in there).

[OneGrassRoot]

13. Good point. DanActiv is the one thing I can get her to take...

fairly reliably. It's probably not the best, but it's better than nothing. Thanks for the reminder; it's time for her to start taking that again.

I wish I could get her to do garlic. I swear that's the main reason I rarely get sick. I eat a lot of garlic. It's probably why I have few friends.

:rofl:

[BlueIris]

14. Well, there are those pesky "odorless garlic" supplements, if eating garlic is truly

too difficult for her. I think they're (a lot) less effective than the 3-5 cloves of raw, organic garlic I take every day, but they can help.

[OneGrassRoot]

16. You and I would get along smashingly.....

garlic lovers unite!!!!

:pals:

:)

[BlueIris]

17. It's the miracle herb! nt

[Shallah Kali]

24. psst {{{looks around furtively}}}

did you know you can get probiotic powders that can be added to yogurt, smoothies, unheated foods etc??? Different strains do different jobs so the more varities you can get into yourself and others the better imo.

Oh this reminds me some people swear Kefir the yogurt like drink is the best thing for cutting down on colds and flu. They sell it now even in my regular grocery store and it has more varities of probiotics than most yogurts. I would love to try it myself but for my current dairy allergy (holding on to hope that someday the allergies will go into 'remission'). Even soy yogurts & kefir that I have found have their probiotics cultured in dairy so I stick to dairy free probiotic beads or capsules like natrol's biobeads or one of the kyolic caps.

[OneGrassRoot]

27. pssst.......

:hi:

Kefir -- yes! I've heard great things about that as well.

I pray your allergies subside and become an experience very much in your past, Shallah. I pray you feel light and unburdened from all health and other challenges.....:hug:

[kentauros]

21. I would also like to suggest kombucha.

Here are some informational and product links:

http://www.fungi.com/info/articles/blob.html
http://gtskombucha.com
http://www.sulis-health.co.uk/kombucha/facts.shtml

[davsand]

30. Vitamin D.

I've not looked at the other responses, so please forgive me if I'm echoing something that was already suggested.

I've been doing a lot of research about Vitamin D and how it impacts on several different aspects of health. I gotta say, this has been pretty illuminating for me. One thing that has become abundantly clear to me in this, is that Vitamin D plays a pretty big role in every aspect of our physical health. (I've pretty much decided to just about quadruple my own daily intake, in fact.)

Current RDA's of Vitamin D are seriously deficient to meet our actual needs and many Docs have a minimal understanding of the issue. If you want to learn more, these guys seem to be fairly well researched and pretty well grounded in actual science:


http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/research.shtml


I'm currently dealing with hypertension and have had serious issues finding a drug to control my blood pressure. I'm now on something like my 6th or 7th different pill, and I am still not at blood pressure levels that my doc thinks are "safe" for me for long term.

EVERY ONE of the pills, thus far, has had side effects that are unacceptable. I'm talking about stuff like debilitating joint pain or a cough that is uncontrollable, fatigue to the point that I can't function, reduced heart rate. This is NOT just me whining and bitching, I have pretty much felt like crap for the last six months. As I explained to my doc, I am paying to take pills that make me feel WORSE than the illness they are supposed to treat.

Right now I am already using some food supplements to support the pills, and THAT is how I ended up looking so hard at Vitamin D.

My doc is now talking about some "heart drug" as the next option (he says it is commonly used to treat cardiac arrhythmias but it works on blood pressure too?) and I'm just about ready to either find a new Doc or else just give up and treat myself with herbs and food supplements.


Laura

[MorningGlow]

31. Serendipity rules

Hey Laura, I was just tested for vitamin D deficiency and found out a couple of hours ago--seriously!--that my D is pretty low at 17 (normal range is 30 to 100)--and my OB/GYN (the one who ordered the test) is putting me on a prescription supplement for a few months to see if it makes a difference in my levels.

The reason my OB/GYN ordered the test for me is she found out SHE'S deficient (severely--with a D level of FOUR) and ever since she found out about her own deficiency, she's been testing all her patients. She said she's found quite a few who are deficient.

Would your doctor be open to ordering a blood test for D deficiency? It could be pretty enlightening. And that way your doc could get you a high-IU prescription supplement.

[davsand]

32. I think we'll be having that conversation, yes.

You just can't make up coincidences like this, can you... I do want to urge you to look at that link I put in the other post because there is information on that website about therapeutic Vitamin D, along with some very specific warnings about what type to use for safest results. Your doc probably knows all this--but IMO, I don't trust any Doc's prescribing practices 100%.

I am so very glad to hear your Doc tested you! From what I can tell Vitamin D is a HUGE player in just about every cellular function, and it has some serious potential as a treatment any number of ailments, chronic diseases, and for a lot of cancers.

There is very serious evidence that says it acts at a cellular level to kill off tumor cells and inhibit growth--which would be huge for people like my MIL who is currently starting radiation treatments for bile duct cancer. Not to sound too much like a complete conspiracy theory person, but this sort of thing is not a big revenue producer and it makes me wonder just WHY nobody has been talking about this outside certain circles. Meanwhile, patients suffer and die without ever being advised of the potential.

:banghead:

Anyhow, I am not due to go see the doc again for a while. We had mutually agreed that I am taking a bit of a timeout by taking a low dose of diuretic and no other drugs. I am fed up with feeling bad and I think maybe I made my point with the doc that the drugs WERE the problem.

Last time I was in his office I was telling him about the joint pain and the fatigue and his comment was that neither of those things was reported as a side effect for that particular drug. My response was probably not the most diplomatic one, but I told him that I didn't give a s**t what the FDA says, I didn't have the problems until AFTER I started taking the drug--it made sense to me that there just might be a link there.

Sigh. My mom did not raise a shrinking violet.

Based on what I have learned in my own research into Vitamin D, I am planning to go ahead an increase my daily dose right now. I've seen more than a few articles by either Docs or Nutritionists who admit freely that 3-4000 mg of Vitamin D per day are not gonna be anyplace near a toxic dose.

Let me know how you get along with this new script for Vitamin D--I may well be heading into it myself!


Laura

[MorningGlow]

33. I did come across that site earlier today when I started to read up on D deficiency

Doctors might hate it when patients head to the Web to learn more, but I don't care! It's saved my hide more than once, I can tell you that. No shrinking violet here either!
:rofl:

Not a conspiracy theory at all--if I learned anything from battling the medical community over my thyroid problems, it's that if the remedy isn't a handy-dandy pill developed by some mega-millions pharmaceutical company, it gets short shrift and sometimes even gets mocked and derided to belittle it and make it less of an option than that pharmaceutical company's pill. It's all about profits.

I'll keep you posted on the D supplement (mine's a prescription). I hope to get to the pharmacy to pick it up tomorrow. Note: Celebration just PMed me about the differences between D2 and D3--looks like D2 is nearly ineffectual, and D3 is the type that works. Something else to keep an eye out for.

[Shallah Kali]

34. cvs is having a small 100 tabs bottle of 400 iu d3 free after extra bucks this week

labled no wheat, no gluten, no dairy for those who need to know.

[MorningGlow]

36. Schweet

Thanks for the heads up! My prescription is at CVS--depending on what it is, I might have to pick up some of the D3. Thanks! :hi:

[Shallah Kali]

37. I love cvs - nearly free goodies every month

just the cost of sales tax to get latex free bandaids, vitamins, and other stuff. AND cvs labels their supplements so I know which have additives I need to avoid. When $ is tight better a cheap store brand than nothing and considering few vitamin cos make their own stuff w/just about everything coming from China there is probably not much difference...