How to not get sick

[Alaina]

Yo Peeps,

It's almost competition season, and the last thing we all want to do is catch a cold! So here are some of my personal remedies for when you're feeling a cold coming on...

*Take Echinacea. Pills, lozenges, tea, extract...whatever you can tolerate! And take a lot of it!

*Emergen-C. It's about $15 for a box but it lasts a while and it definitely cures you. It's a vitamin and mineral complex powder. They come in a bunch of flavors. My 'recipe' goes as follows:
Take a water bottle or good sized drinking glass. Pour in 2 packets of Emergen-C. Squirt in 3 dropper-fuls of Echinacea extract. Add water. Stir well and enjoy. =P Take 3 times a day.

*Vitamin complexes. Especially ones that are made for immunity. Deep Defense and Wellness Formula are ones I use. I don't know their brand names, I'll look when I get home.

If you use all of these liberally as soon as you notice cold symptoms, you should be fine in a day or two.

Hope this is useful to anyone!

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

As a FIRSTer who has been home from school since Monday morning, quite sick, I wish this thread had been made earlier

So here are my suggestions for recovery!

• Rest! Rest rest rest rest rest! You need sleep. Your buddy list will send you ecards *HINT* thanks guys
• Don't be a hero. If you have school/class, and you can afford to miss it when you've got a 102 fever, then do it. Don't get everyone else sick!
• Drink lots of hot stuff, like tea, hot chocolate, anything to keep your throat happy
• Stay hydrated. This season's flu bout is causing a lot of tiredness, and dehydration contributese to that greatly.
• Bundle up. The ladies/gentleman will not think you're a dork for putting on slippers and an extra sweatshirt. Keeping warm is a great way to avoid silly things like ear infections and colds.
• Keep warm at night, not just around. If you shower before you go to bed, this is really important.
• Don't cough on people. At least warn them that you're sick for niceness sake.
• Know when to seek medical attention. Any fever at or above 104 is definitly a warning sign of Pneumonia or other underlying infectious conditions. I had a 104.5 this week, and it wasn't pleasant. You're not invincible, especially after all this build season stress.
• Send e-cards to your sick friends. This is the key to staying well. If you don't do anything else on this list, send me an ecard, and I promise you'll stay healthy!
• Don't pay attention to false medical claims.

Good luck, and stay healthy!

- Genia

Edit: So, CNN announced that there's a virus that destroys your hard drive that comes thru email and goes by the subject line "A Virtual Card for You". So when you send your ill friends ecards *hint* don't put that in the subject line. I'd delete it...

[Corey Balint]

Originally Posted by Alaina

Yo Peeps,

It's almost competition season, and the last thing we all want to do is catch a cold! So here are some of my personal remedies for when you're feeling a cold coming on...

*Take Echinacea. Pills, lozenges, tea, extract...whatever you can tolerate! And take a lot of it!

*Emergen-C. It's about $15 for a box but it lasts a while and it definitely cures you. It's a vitamin and mineral complex powder. They come in a bunch of flavors. My 'recipe' goes as follows:
Take a water bottle or good sized drinking glass. Pour in 2 packets of Emergen-C. Squirt in 3 dropper-fuls of Echinacea extract. Add water. Stir well and enjoy. =P Take 3 times a day.

*Vitamin complexes. Especially ones that are made for immunity. Deep Defense and Wellness Formula are ones I use. I don't know their brand names, I'll look when I get home.

If you use all of these liberally as soon as you notice cold symptoms, you should be fine in a day or two.

Hope this is useful to anyone!

Ill have to buy all of these. 25 have always had a problem with the driver getting sick at competitions. Not just normal colds though, all really weird things, that you dont even think you can get.

[Jeff Rodriguez]

There's also this stuff called 'Airborne'. My mom saw it on Oprah and had me take it when I started to get sick. I woke up the next morning feeling great.

http://www.airbornehealth.com/
It's a tablet that you dissolve in a glass of water and drink.

Unfortunately, I think I'm building up a tolerance to it.

[phrontist]

Originally Posted by Alaina

My 'recipe' goes as follows:
Take a water bottle or good sized drinking glass. Pour in 2 packets of Emergen-C. Squirt in 3 dropper-fuls of Echinacea extract. Add water. Stir well and enjoy. =P Take 3 times a day.

I have a new ingredient for your mixture! I like to take mine with a grain of salt. Don't feel bad though, Linus Pauling (yes THAT Linus Pauling, Mr. Electronegativity himself) went a bit nuts over Vitamin C.

['lil Gach]

Is it to late to say that I am already sick! I think what all of us need before competitions is sleep.. That is what has worked for me so far... I am getting better it has just been long weeks of working on a robot... So I hope everyone keeps healthy and if you are sick get better! Good luck at your competitions!

[Katie Reynolds]

Originally Posted by Alaina

*Take Echinacea. Pills, lozenges, tea, extract...whatever you can tolerate! And take a lot of it!

If you do take echinacea, remember it's not good to take it continuously for more than 2 weeks!! Go 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off at the most!

[Bharat Nain]

Originally Posted by Katie Reynolds

If you do take echinacea, remember it's not good to take it continuously for more than 2 weeks!! Go 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off at the most!

Absolutely right. And when you buy things like Echninacea, make sure it's not some cheap brand. Pay the right price for your health. Echninacea really helps... saved me many many times.

[Alaina]

Vitamin C is also really good (I probably didn't have to tell you that though). But I'm pretty sure an "overdose" of Vitamin C is considered to be 10,000 mg (in one day).

Ogre: Yeah, Airborne works but it has artificial sweetener in it. The bad kind, too, I think...

Bharat: I totally agree! A bottle of good quality vitamins may cost close to $30, but they just work so much better!

[Ryan Albright]

Just make sure you wash your hands regulary, because we cant fight airborn pathogens but alot of germs do come from what you touch.

[Allison K]

How about just be determined to not get sick. In psychology we learned about the placebo effect and other powers of the thought in what seems to be physical and it appears to work for me. I haven't even had a cold in about five years.

[nehalita]

wow i never knew about all of this. I'm big on vitamin C though. i tell everyone to drink OJ. and sleep (but I'm not one to talk on that)...if you don't sleep then you make yourself vulnerable because your body doesn't recover and *blah blah* I'm lecturing again, aren't I?

[Tristan Lall]

As a public service announcement, I think there's some information that desperately needs to be passed on here.

Let's start with some simple examples. Ogre refers to a product called "Airborne". From its own website, the following:

Originally Posted by airborne.com

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

That little statement should raise an immediate red flag. It isn't FDA-approved as medicine, and is therefore illegal to dispense or prescribe it as such (in the United States). That, right there, is a good reason to be wary of any claims that are made by its manufacturer (that is, if you're not one of those people who believes that the FDA is just a communist tool, intended to stifle acceptance of natural remedies). In all seriousness, it has not been demonstrated to the FDA's satisfaction that this product, in fact, does anything.

Further to Ogre's post, he said:

Originally Posted by Ogre

My mom saw it on Oprah and had me take it when I started to get sick. I woke up the next morning feeling great.

1. Oprah Winfrey is not a reliable source of medical information. Sorry, but that's just the way it is. It is a strange cultural phenomenon, where a person with no medical or scientific qualifications can be relied upon to pronounce approval of a product with alleged medical benefits--but Ogre's mother's actions imply that something similar may well have occurred.
2. The fact that you woke up the next morning "feeling great" is a classic example of an anecdote. The fact that you felt great in the morning could be attributed to all sorts of things--do I really need to give a list of possibilities--and is in no substantial way indicative of the effect (if any) of the treatment. A "study" with one subject, over one night isn't worth anything. In a medical context, you are effectively proposing that we accept this--which is preposterous.

Now, I realize fully well that people tend to feel that their own experience with a treatment is a major factor in determining its efficacy--but that's just demonstrative of their ignorance of the variability that is inherent to their anecdotal account. The proper course of action, is to wait for the clinical trial (which will investigate both efficacy and side-effects), and then make an informed judgement. It is not productive, safe or logical to take a product on the advice of anyone unfamiliar with the medical information that underlies the condition.

Originally Posted by Ogre

Unfortunately, I think I'm building up a tolerance to it.

Ogre, I hate to be a pest, but have you read the list of ingredients?

Originally Posted by airborne.com

AIRBORNE Original: ingredients.
Supplement Facts: Serv size 1 tablet. Servings, 10. Amount per serving: Calories 4, Total Fat 0g, Sodium 230mg (10% DV*), Total Carb 0g, Sugars 0g, Protein 0g. Vitamin A (100% Acetate) 5,000 I.U. (100% DV*), Vitamin C 1,000mg (1,633% DV*), Vitamin E 30 I.U. (100% DV*), Magnesium (Sulfate) 40mg (10% DV*), Zinc (Sulfate) 8mg (55% DV*), Selenium (Sodium Selinite) 15mcg (21% DV*), Manganese (Gluconate) 3mg (86% DV*), Potassium (Bicarbonate) 75mg (2.5% DV*), Organic Herbal Extracts (Lonicera, Forsythia, Schizonepeta, Ginger, Chinese Vitex, Isatis Root, Echinacea) 350mg (DV**), Amino Acids (Glutamine, Lysine) 50mg (DV**).
*Daily Value.

Other Ingredients: Citric Acid, Sodium Bicarbonate, Sorbitol, Potassium Bicarbonate, Orange Flavor, Mineral Oil, Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium.

The simple fact of the matter is that there isn't any ingredient in it for which any antiviral benefit has been proven. No, not even the much-vaunted echinacea. You cannot even build tolerance to vitamins, or metal salts, or amino acids, so I doubt that your assertion to that effect has any merit whatsoever (think about this, or consider studying taking biology and chemistry--12^th grade, or so should provide some much-needed context).

Now, I have no intention to single out Ogre. Let's examine some other insubstantial claims.

Originally Posted by Alaina

*Take Echinacea. Pills, lozenges, tea, extract...whatever you can tolerate! And take a lot of it!

This is an invitation to medicate yourself compulsively. She practically tells us "take all sorts of things, and hope that one of them works". This is not sound advice. If we were dealing with real medicines, it would be idiotic, irresponsible and dangerous; here, it is merely bad advice. (Do you take 5 different painkillers at once, hoping that one might work? If you do, see a real doctor to get yourself set straight.)

Originally Posted by Alaina

*Emergen-C. It's about $15 for a box but it lasts a while and it definitely cures you. It's a vitamin and mineral complex powder. They come in a bunch of flavors. My 'recipe' goes as follows:
Take a water bottle or good sized drinking glass. Pour in 2 packets of Emergen-C. Squirt in 3 dropper-fuls of Echinacea extract. Add water. Stir well and enjoy. =P Take 3 times a day.

Your recipe? Are you a doctor? Or are you just playing doctor? Sorry, but you're out of line, giving out recipes for your own personal home remedy. Hypothetically, if you were "prescribing" ephedra (which you aren't, thankfully), would you feel any measure of responsibility if someone were to die or suffer injury because of your misguided ministrations? (Ephedra causes very severe adverse reactions in some people. Hopefully no adverse effects are discovered in anything you happily recommend. See this FDA advisory.)

Originally Posted by Alaina

*Vitamin complexes. Especially ones that are made for immunity. Deep Defense and Wellness Formula are ones I use. I don't know their brand names, I'll look when I get home.

Just because the manufacturer says it's made for immunity, doesn't mean that it is. Wait for the clinical trial results, or end up embarassing yourself like Linus Pauling did with vitamin C. (See phrontist's post, above.)

Originally Posted by Alaina

If you use all of these liberally as soon as you notice cold symptoms, you should be fine in a day or two.

Here's the crux of the problem. Some of us don't understand what a cold is. A cold is one of many different varieties of similar, but not identical viral infections. You can treat the symptoms (runny nose, coughing, etc.), but you cannot affect the infection itself with herbs, vitamins or drugs (short of antivirals, which are fantastically expensive, and never prescribed for purposes such as these, except in case of extreme autoimmune dysfunction). Symptomatic relief may well be pleasing, but it will not shorten the duration of the viral infection, nor will it somehow grant immunity to infection. Fortunately for humanity, the various cold viruses are typically dispatched quickly by our immune systems, within a few days, with or without symptomatic relief. Your best bet, therefore, is to take simple precautions against the transmission of viruses (wash your hands, don't eat off of the bottom of the sink, don't sit too close to the person who is coughing up a lung, etc.), and save the money you would have spent on drugs and quack remedies, and put it toward an education in the sciences, even if it is only a first-year biology textbook.

Originally Posted by Bharat Nain

Absolutely right. And when you buy things like Echninacea, make sure it's not some cheap brand. Pay the right price for your health. Echninacea really helps... saved me many many times.

Anecdotes don't matter, from a statistical perspective. Don't pay any attention, unless he's got some methodology to ascertain why it "really helps", or how often it has "saved" him. Symptomatic relief does not improve your health, only your comfort. The infection will still progress naturally. That's why it is truly asinine to "pay the right price for your health"; your health is not the issue--if you wish to pay the right price for your comfort, that's reasonable, but either way, your health will be temporarily diminished, and there isn't any medicine (excepting the antivirals) that you can take to restore it faster, once you're been infected. And if you do pay the price for comfort, take comfort in the fact that your herb du jour may not even have any benefit in that regard. In many cases, you might as well be eating grass.

Let me be clear. There exists no cure for the common cold. When you find one--a real one--you'll be damned rich; but until then, avoid taking heed of fantastic yet insubstantial claims.

That may have come off as harsh, but sadly, it is sorely deserved. On the other hand, people like Eugenia seem to have fair advice. For instance, dehydration is real; to alleviate it, drink liquids. It doesn't matter whether the liquid has Jesus's own home remedy in it; it's probably the water that will help. And this, most of all: "Don't pay attention to false medical claims." Those are words to live by, in a country (and indeed world) where any fool or conniving charlatan can market a miracle cure on Oprah's show, and have legions of uninformed people flock to the pharmacy to guzzle his quack potion at the slightest sign of illness.

[looneylin]

Well, I'm really sick right now. But, I think the reason was stress!
So,
Don't wake up at 2am thinking about your robot
Don't think complicated thoughts 5 mins after you wake up
Do try to have fun with your friends as much as possible
Eat real meals (like it or not )
Every once in a while, dont multi-task (i know it's hard)
--From your sick pal

[greencactus3]

Originally Posted by looneylin

Don't wake up at 2am thinking about your robot
Don't think complicated thoughts 5 mins after you wake up

have a notepad right next to your bed with a pen with its cap off next to your bed. solves those two problems