And notes from a doc’s real-life practice… I was chatting to a patient today about an entirely unrelated matter when his family member randomly asked me what ingredients are good in a “flu bomb.” It is fairly random, given that flu season is mostly over and we had been talking about someone else’s toes. However, he could hardly have picked a better doc in the whole HSE to ask 😉
What are “flu bombs”? These are internet recipes, usually composed mostly of essential oils, that go viral on YouTube. There is almost a culture of making disgusting cocktails and sharing on social media, the worst the better.🤢 Some sort of “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” type of thinking, maybe. Iron stomachs, aside, t’s not always safe. Deaths of children in the US from essential oil poisoning has STILL not been enough to convince people that the practice of giving your child unregulated and untested plant extracts is dangerous. At the bottom, I’ve linked our original discussion on essential oil safety, if you missed it.
Best protection against the flu? You annual flu vaccine. Full stop. Everyone over 6 months, with rare exception, can have it.
You’ve already vaccinated and have a common cold? What alternative and complementary MIGHT help you? What probably won’t?
No complementary health approach has been shown to be helpful for the flu. [For completion sake, I’m adding a list at the end of this post of all substances that have been tried and failed laboratory/clinical trials]
So, what MIGHT work for the common cold and some important safety notes:
●Doctor’s number one recommendation: Prevention. Hygiene practices: Sick people should stay home, good hand washing, sneeze/cough into elbow, careful disposal of tissues.
●Doctor’s number 2 recommendation: Rest and fluids, preferably warm to help loosen mucus. Seriously. It works.
●Commercial cold/flu preparation that includes pseudoephedrine/
●Oral zinc products – short term only. Long-term use of high doses of zinc can cause cause problems and are not recommended. Zinc may also interact with drugs, including antibiotics and drugs used to treat arthritis. Zinc products used IN the nose, such as nasal gels and swabs, are not recommend and can cause long term damage to your sense of smell.
●Nose and sinus rinsing is quite effective. (with a neti pot or other designated device/preparation from your chemist. You can get serious infections if you use neti pots or other nasal rinsing devices improperly. Tap water isn’t safe for use as a nasal rinse unless it has been filtered, boiled, treated, or processed.)
●Honey as a cough remedy for anyone over age 12 months
●Warm Steam or Cool Mist vapouriser for cough/congestion
●Inhalation of essential oil preparation, usually containing eucalyptus. I’d recommend using commercially prepared preparations such as Calpol Plug-In or Vicks to prevent possible irritation of airways, especially in children. This is why Vicks goes on the chest, not feet, for best effect. Never for use in infants under 3 months.
●Probiotics – Using a dietary supplement to prevent colds often involves taking it for long periods of time. However, little is known about the long-term safety of some dietary supplements studied for prevention of colds, such as American ginseng and probiotics.
●Meditation
But, doctor, what about that Vitamin C????
29 studies involving more than 11,000 people found taking vitamin C found that it doesn’t prevent colds and shortens colds only slightly in average people. Taking vitamin C only after you start to feel cold symptoms doesn’t affect the cold at all. Vitamin C does seem to reduce the number of colds in people exposed to short periods of extreme physical stress such as marathon runners. Taking too much vitamin C can cause diarrhea, nausea, and stomach cramps. Don’t take Vitamin C supplements without talking to your doctor first if you have haemochromatosis, or are on chemotherapy or cholesterol medications.
So what else failed to treat or prevent cold/flu in trials?
●Let’s start at top: antibiotics. Colds and flus are viral. Antibiotics won’t help, and taking them when you don’t need them leads to problems like antibiotic resistance (Did you see our recent Superbug Saturday Series on 6 April?).
●Ginger. Works for nausea/vomiting, not much else.
●American ginseng (doesn’t work for cold or flu and can interact with warfarin)
●Chinese herbal medicines
●Echinacea (doesn’t work for cold or flu but can cause rashes in children or allergic reactions in people with certain pollen allergies/hayfever)
●Elderberry (hasn’t been shown to be effective)
●Green tea
●Garlic (doesn’t work and can interact with warfarin and HIV drugs)
●Oscillococcinum
●Vitamin C (see above)
●Frankincense, oregano, thyme oils – been trialed against bacteria in petri dishes, with some interesting/promising results, but not as good as one would expect. No trial yet to show it works in living creatures or on viruses. Ingested frankincense oil can cause side effects of nausea, stomach pain, and diarrhoea.
●Vitamin D excess. Good Vitamin D intake is essential for overall health, and often overlooked. Has a small but important role in supporting overall immune system but especially bone health. See link at bottom for more information on Vitamin D supplements.
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