Alexa Fleckenstein M.D.

Introduction: [These are my notes – they are a refresher for the workshop attendants. But might also be useful to look something up when one needs it] What happens through the winter: A depletion of reserves leads to increased susceptibility to infections. Decreased movement. Holiday foods – not healthy. It takes two to get sick: A virus and a run-down immune system. “Huge outbreak” of Swine flu in Great Britain: 24 deaths as of 1/29/11 – compared to the more than 35,000 deaths annually from “normal” flu in the US (which is nothing). Cold and flu: • Prepare: Get your immune system into perfect shape • Protect: Shield yourself during an actual outbreak People are less prone to respiratory infections if they have more contact with people, and hug more. Exception: Little kids – they schlep everything home. But in the long run, it might be beneficial. But in a flu outbreak: Stay away from people as much as you can. Wash hands often. Don’t be sneezed at. Avoid public transportation. Don’t hug and kiss. Avoid touching public doorknobs, telephones and similar surfaces with unprotected hands. • Pull through: Survive even if you come down with it. • Water • Cold stimulus – compare to anti-oxidant stimulus – good stress and bad stress • Warm rooms: More obesity, more colds • Cold Shower/cold wash/cold dunk for babies older than four months • Cold sitzbath • Sauna • Sleeping with windows open • Drink enough warm or hot fluids – hot herbal teas are perfect. Juices are not. • Don’t do cold applications with an acute cold/flu, uncontrolled hypertension, arterial disease (Raynaud’s) • Movement The only thing for increasing qi and against cold is movement. But excess is as detrimental as laziness. • Yoga, of course • Daily outside walk – importance to get sun light and vitamin D • Hiking, bicycling, games on weekends • Snow shoveling: Break down the task Take small loads No abrupt movements Cherish twisting movements – but they also can be the source of strained muscles. • Yoga ball (back) • Small heavy ball (arms) • Getting to the ground once a day (strength) • Knee bends (strength) • Hanging out (back) • Standing on one leg (pelvic health) • Food • Fresh foods – home cooking: Vegetables, legumes, small portions of fish and meat (lamb!), fresh (or dried) herbs. No microwaving. • Vegetarian/vegan against omnivore • No dairy, sugars, white starches, sweeteners, artificial molecules: colorings, flavorings, enhancers, preservatives, etc • Predominantly cooked – more so in the winter • Fats: More is better – but they have to be vegetal: Olive oil, coconut oil, ??butter • Organic: Good but fresh is more important • If you have a cold/flu: You should always force hot liquids on a sick person but never food: Respect if there is no appetite, and respect if there is. Just nothing sugary. Fruit – fresh or as compotes – is probably the best. Or hot elderberry/blueberry soup (also good for acute stomach flu and urinary tract infections). Blueberries are much cheaper. • Herbs Herbs have been with us throughout evolution. Their mechanism fit into our ancient physiology like a key into a lock. We always ate herbs from the wild, and now that we have for the most part stopped, a little bitter green, cabbages or strong root might just be what your body needs to find back to balance. Bacteria and viruses do not easily develop resistance against herbs. That is because a single herb contains hundreds or more of compounds, and many of these compounds work on killing off the germs - not only one. Since point mutations in bacteria can only develop one by one, it is less likely that an herb becomes ineffective against a pathogen because there will be other compounds to destroy the microbes first. Synergy is the reason why I recommend whole herbs (tinctures or so-called phyto-caps with extracts of the whole plant) instead of “taking the best” from several pants, and making a patented medicine. Patent medicines exist because natural plants can’t be patented, and so firms try to make money by taking single compounds from a plant, combining it with other single compound, thus producing a “new” medicine that allegedly is better. The truth is, mostly it is not better because you cannot improve on nature • Prepare: During cold and flu season, take tonic herbs like stinging nettle, astragalus, ashwaganda, or eleuthero (formerly named Siberian ginseng) to strengthen your immune system. Rotate them every three weeks. • Spice up your food with herbs and spices because they kill microbes (the plants developed the strong-tasting compounds to protect themselves against the invasion of bacteria, viruses and fungi). Pregnant and breast-feeding women as well as little children should go easy on herbs and spices. • When you go out, use an Echinacea spray every hour or two to protect your throat, the entry port of viruses. Again, GAIA makes a good one • Mushrooms boost your the immune system – eat them often, or take a mushroom preparation; Whole Body Defense by Gaia is one. • Protect: (if you had exposure, or suspect you had): If there is a bad flu epidemic: Chew a raw garlic clove, several times a day • Take a lick of unheated honey (Manuka is the best) every hour or so – kills germs (not for children under three years – danger of botulism!) • Rinse your nose prophylacticly with saltwater to kill germs (carefully rinse mouth afterward with clear water if you have blood pressure issues) • Prophylactic and curing: Hot elderberry tea, hot blueberry soup • Importance to wash hands and cover sneezes and coughs, preferably with a sleeve cough – not your hands • Take as supplements: A probiotic (I like PrimalDefense), fish oil and cod liver oil • Pull through: In cold and flu: Immediately when you come down with the flu: REST! • Fever over 104 F in children, and a cold lingering more than a week should be seen by a physician. Also if you have unusual symptoms like stiff neck, enormous headaches, breathing difficulties, and so on. • Against cold: Easiest, most expensive: GAIA Quick Defense. It contains Anagraphis paniculata – best cold medication I know (hard to find as a single extract) • Against cold and flu: Echinacea, olive leaf, osha, pau d’arco, licorice – all as extracts in a bottle. Mix together in hot water like a tea. • Other herbs that have been found beneficial in colds and flu: bayberry, boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), calendula, goldenseal, Oregon grape, juniper berry (chew a dried berry every few hours, not more than five a day, and not for longer than a week), umckaloaba (Pelargonium sidoides) • A ready-made anti-viral concoction is the Chinese Yin Qiao Jie Du Pian, also called Honeysuckle-Forsythia Detoxifier. It might be a good idea to have some of those pills at hand when you get sick (get them from a reputable source). • Lingering (more than a week) colds and bacterial infections: GSE extract (but consult your physician to make sure it is not pneumonia) • Sore throat: Swish a few drops of oregano extract (nips whatever is coming in the bud, if you take it early enough) in your mouth and swallow, or zinc lozenges (science is a bit wobbly on zinc) • Sore throat: Gargle with saltwater or warm water with one drop of sage, myrrh, oreganol, neem or tea tree oil. Not for children under six. • Stuffed nose/Sinusitis: Rinsing nose with saltwater – frequently, if necessary • Stuffed nose/Sinusitis: Eat mustard, horseradish. • Stuffed nose/Sinusitis: Steam inhalation helps with a running or stuffed nose. You can add chamomile, thyme, eucalyptus or a pea-sized piece of Vick’s. You can also use Vick’s on older children (check the label). • Cough: Gan Mao Dan Chinese pills (20 per day in divided doses), or make a tea of peppermint, honeysuckle, ginger, cloves and/or horehound, slippery elm, violets, fennel, anis, marshmallow root (the real one!), Iceland moss (Cetraria islandica), ribwort plantain • Fever is mostly good – it kills the germs. Therefore, no aspirin or Tylenol. In children, do cold wraps or dunk babies in tepid water • If you get the flu, start Ginkgo biloba will start repair damaged cells • Also: No decongestants as they tend to dry out mucosa and increase stuffiness in the long run • Increase hot fluids: hot water, hot broth (chicken soup has been researched – and it really works!), hot herbal teas (linden flowers, elderberry flowers, honeysuckle, fennel or thyme, sage, green or black tea, thyme, ginger, rose hips, mullein, lemon balm, peppermint - in all combinations) are good – but so are many other. Hot lemonade is also beneficial if made with fresh lemons and preferably with unheated honey • If you use vitamin C, use a low-dose kind – and only in the first few days of a cold • Don’t use all the herbs at once – get familiar with a few, one after the other. • There is no such thing as” That herb does not work in me!” There is only “That herb does not work against this or that germ” • Order • Cherish the season – don’t fight it • Preventing: GET ENOUGH SLEEP! In a flu outbreak, be in bed by nine pm every night – no TV, no computer. The body repairs itself during about two hours the time around midnight — if you are asleep then, that is. • During a bad flu season, consider wearing a mask over nose and mouth The causes of death in influenza are of two different origins: Older people die of the virus and its consequences like pneumonia; their weakened immune system cannot fight the virus anymore. Young people succumb to an overreaction of their still exuberant immune system – they produce what we call a cytokine storm, and usually die within the first two days. Consequently, both groups should be treated differently. In young people (older teenagers and young adults) I therefore would add an herbal anti-inflammatory, namely Zyflamend as soon as the young person gets sick. Read More