You know it’s that time of year again when any public space sounds like a blow horn symphony and desperate google searches for “ancient Eastern cold remedies” sky rocket.
I thought it appropriate to insert two newsletters about immune support supplements I wrote last winter in this blog. For those of y’all that have read this before, hopefully it makes you giggle and for those of y’all that missed these newsletters, I hope you become believers in N-acetyl cysteine, berberine sulphate and siberian ginseng!
Thursday, February 7, 2013
I’m embarrassed to admit this as a healthcare professional, but I have had a cold/upper respiratory infection that has lingered like an awkward guest that didn’t get the memo the party is over and he is supposed to go home. I mean, I’ve been dealing with this snotty nose and crackly cough for almost three weeks now. It got significantly better around day 10 (i.e.: my nose slowed down to a water fountain instead of a water hose) but I’m still a little clogged up and coughing up junk a couple times a day. (gross, I know)
It seems that everyone around me has been sick this winter or been sick several times! I’m the type of person that doesn’t want to take medicine or supplements unless really necessary or clinically proven. Y’all know I’m very conservative regarding supplements but I’m learning the correct times and places for certain pharmaceutical grade supplements with research-proven ingredients.
So, I’m embarking on my first whirl with a supplement for a specific illness and I want to be transparent with y’all about how it goes.
I have my core foundation of three supplements that I believe promote long-term health (vitamin D3, probiotics and omega 3s) but I just started taking something called Sinatrol for sinus and respiratory support to kick this cold thing.
I’m going to let y’all know it goes but so far so good. Seriously. Within 1 hour of taking it, my breathing is easier and I have less snot…
Monday, February 18, 2013
I wanted to give you an update on my ridiculous cold that was like the never ending nose monsoon. Well, thank the Lord, I’m better. Here are the results to my experiment with the so called “snot stopper.”
I took three capsules of sinatrol mid morning two Thursdays ago. I took them between meals because sinatrol contains bromelain, an anti-inflammatory pineapple extract, that breaks down proteins. Taking the pills away from meals made the bromelain enzymes work on breaking up the mucous proteins instead of food proteins.
I promise I’m shooting straight when I say I actually felt relief in my symptoms by mid afternoon. My nose was still running but I wasn’t sneezing every 15 minutes anymore and I could feel the pressure in my nose dissipating. By that evening, I didn’t sound like a pinch-nosed telephone operator from the 1950s anymore.
I’m about to fess up to why I took on this experiment in the first place (besides being miserable). Thursday night I took a plane to Colorado to go skiing for a long weekend with friends and family. I was desperate to not have my snot freezing to my face while I bombed down the Rockies.
I would say, skiing in 10 degree weather for 2 days was the ultimate test for this stuff. I continued to take the three capsules in the mornings until Sunday, but by Friday morning I felt better than I had in weeks. Of course I was a little sniffly while we were on the mountain, but there is a big difference between blowing my nose once between powder runs on a cold day and plugging my nose with tissue paper in my little office at the OHW clinic (Yes, I do this in dire situations; I learned it from my father and it works. Don’t judge.).
So, suffice to say, I now have a bottle of sinatrol waiting for if/when I come down with another cold or flu that I can’t beat off quickly. But that brings me to my next experiment that I hope I won’t have to do. Viracid. This is another supplement that contains natural ingredients, botanicals and nutrients that are supposed to skyrocket your immune system fighting off a cold, upper respiratory infection or flu before it hits you hard. It is something you take when you start to feel the symptoms coming on.
Present Day December 2013 (Time Warp)
Fortunately I have not needed to try out viracid yet but Nicole, our operations manager has. Y’all have to understand too, that Nicole is even more hesitant regarding meds and supplements than I am. Here is her honest feedback.
“Ok, so yesterday afternoon my throat was really hurting, had a headache, and nose started running. Last night as soon as I got home I took Viracid, and took it again this morning when I got up and again a couple hours later (like the bottle instructs) and now I feel totally fine. It seemed like the start of one of those nasty ear nose throat viruses and now it’s gone. This is the second time this has happened when I’ve felt that way and took Viracid. The first time I was skeptical (not to mention I”m anti-medication for no apparent reason), but after it worked again I’m wondering if this stuff really does help? Maggie do you know the magical ingredients that are in it?”
Why yes, Nicole, I do.
Viracid contains research proven micronutrients to stimulate white blood cell function, natural killer cell function and immune barrier protection including: vitamins A and C and pantothenic acid, and zinc. Viracid also has a synergistic blend of the botanical extracts black elderberry, astragalus, echinacea and andographis.