Using vitamin C during cold and flu season to recover faster
Lots of people are getting sick right now. We see that the hospitals are full and we’ve heard countless stories from our friends, family, and coworkers who are sick. It’s important to remember that it may be tempting to treat your flu symptoms with NSAIDs or other OTC methods, but suppressing symptoms is not always the best strategy. Suppression doesn’t allow for your body to fully make antibodies needed to establish proper immune regualtion, allowing the virus to smolder making things linger longer. This is when we see people with a recurrent flu within even 2 weeks!
Instead of falling victim to the dreaded flu virus, there are 2 great ways to prevent the flu and other viruses from lasting too long and returning too early. One you’ve more than likely heard of and the other probably not. Regardless, I’m confident that these will become standard procedures for you and your family each year as the flu cases start to rise. You may even refer this blog to your friends and family to keep them safe during the winter. The gift of health is truly a priceless gift!
You’ve probably heard of vitamin C before. You’ve probably even heard that it’s good to take it when you get sick. But, you probably don’t really know why. Vitamin C (also called ascorbic acid) is a powerful antioxidant that protects your body from free radicals. Whoa, there’s a lot in that sentence so let’s break it down a bit. Let’s start with free radicals. Free radicals are atoms or molecules that go through your body and are looking to pair with another atom or molecule. They are so strong that they will actually tear other atoms or molecules away from healthy cells leading to cell damage.
How can one little atom or molecule be a big problem? One free radical isn’t all that concerning, but the more free radicals that build up in our body, the more damage they do. One of the ways that viruses create a more hospitable environment for themselves is to create free radicals, making the virus that much more damaging. Antioxidants take those free radicals and get rid of them. This is how antioxidants protect the body. This brings us back to the beginning; vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that can help fight the flu quickly by removing free radicals.
My protocol for using vitamin C is simple and effective, especially for acute conditions, those conditions that develop rapidly and really knock us down. To start, make sure that your vitamin C is buffered. This means it is formulated to ensure it will not be changed by the pH of your body and allow for better absorption of the vitamin C. On the first day, you’ll take 1000 mg Buffered Vitamin C every 2-3 hours until you experience loose stools. Once you experience loose stools, then you drop 1000mg from that number. This becomes the daily dose to take until symptoms resolve. For example, if on day 1, you started to experience loose stools after the 6th dose (6000 mg), on day 2 take 5000 mg and each day thereafter until symptoms improve. Make sure to contact your physician before attempting this to make sure that it is right for you.
There are lots of different options for approaching the flu season, and most people believe that the only prevention is the seasonal flu vaccine. That is not at the top of my list for 1st line therapy for prevention. A great way to prevent the flu from wrecking your holiday season is the flu drops: Flu Nosode and Flu Immune Drops; both formulated by Professional Formulas. Even if you’ve received the flu shot, these drops are excellent at priming your body to be on the lookout and respond quickly when the virus drops in.
With so many options out there to treat and prevent the flu, how can I be so confident in these 2 approaches? Because I’ve seen it work. Over and over, year in and year out with my patients. We successfully navigate these illnesses each year and each year my patients thank me for helping them be recover from acute illnesses. It may sound like a bold claim, but it is true. This is why I wanted to share it with you.
