When Chase-Manhattan lender David Givens began to feel some of the early symptoms of the flu - fatigue, muscle aches and pains (not from exercise), and a slight fever - he had no reason to expect he'd be, as he put it, "amazingly better within 2 days" because of a flu home remedy.
Fortunately for him, one of his basketball-playing friends, the author of this article, is a Chinese medicine acupuncturist and herbalist. When he called me about his symptoms, I recommended he take a modern Chinese herbal flu home remedy called Honeysuckle & Bupleurum (pronounced Boo-plur-um).
It was also fortunate for David that I edit the work of a well-known Chinese Medicine translator, Philippe Sionneau. Sionneau's book (published in France, but not yet in English), Modern Chinese Herbal Formulas, contains a bevy of home remedy solutions that marry ancient wisdom with modern-day pharmacology (drug actions). According to the research, all 12 of the traditional Chinese herbs in the Honeysuckle & Bupleurum flu home remedy have either antiviral or antibacterial actions.
For most people, the flu is a miserable two-week inconvenience. When you get sick, you miss work, you're less able to fulfill your responsibilities, you feel horrible - fun is out of the question - when you do begin to feel better, there's a backlog of things to catch up on. You may start the catch-up process before you have your energy back, thus ensuring more fatigue, and prolonging your recovery time.
Givens summarizes his experience: "I was leaving for my brother's wedding back East. Within 2 days of starting the flu home remedy, I felt amazingly better. I didn't feel it right away but by the end of the 2nd day, my symptoms were gone - it was a total turnaround. I started taking the herbs on Wednesday, and left Friday. I didn't feel any symptoms at all during the weekend."
The influenza virus can be life threatening - it kills about 36,000 people (mostly over age 65) each year. For employers, it's a major loss of revenue and productivity. The New England Journal of Medicine reported in 1995 that it costs employers $3 to $5 million annually. We don't yet have a study to verify it, but my and other herbalists' observation is that a flu home remedy like Honeysuckle & Bupleurum cuts cold and flu time down to 2 or 3 days. If every American employee used them, we'd save millions!
How do you personally stand to gain from this flu home remedy? David Givens felt better in 2 days, despite having to pack, fly across the country, and socialize away from home. Travel and overdoing it can stress the immune system, plane travel can irritate the sinuses, and David's immune system had already been compromised by the flu. So, the herbs not only turned the tide, but also kept him healthy despite greater than normal stressors.
Givens adds, "There are so many side effects with over the counter remedies - your nose gets dried out and you get sleepy. There's always a drawback you feel right away, whereas, with this flu home remedy, there wasn't one. It's a much cleaner change within body."
If you're not a licensed medical professional, as with many diseases, please don't make your medical decisions solely on the basis of your reading and research - consult your medical doctor, and a licensed and trained herbalist/acupuncturist.
It's also important, when considering various treatments, to differentiate between colds, flu's, and sinus infections. You can find the specific symptoms of each on the National Institute of Health's MEDLINEplus internet health information website (www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/).
About the author:
Since 1999, Brian Carter has been helping people improve their lives with alternative medicine therapies. He is the author of Powerful Body, Peaceful Mind: How to Heal Yourself with Foods, Herbs, and Acupressure has written hundreds of alternative medicine articles, and edits his own Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture website (http://www.pulsemed.org/pulse-of-oriental-medicine.htm)
Every year, there are always families that are embarrassed since all
their family members come down with a serious flu bug that seems to be on
“unlimited repeat” throughout the whole flu season. They really don’t know
what’s wrong with them, but they complain about it all the time.
This is very true of many people, and it’s sad that they do not have
the basic knowledge to prevent the flu. We often read reports that say,
“Wash your hands before eating.” However, how many really obey this
fundamental rule? It’s so simple and basic, yet people forget this healthy
policy for themselves and their family. Once one family member gets the
flu, there is a very high possibility of spreading it to the whole family.
If you don’t want to complain about the flu, you should first ask
yourself, “Have I become too lazy?”.
In a public place, parents often put food into their child’s mouth to
make sure the child is eating well. It’s love from the parents, but it’s
also the source of flu. If that parent has not cleaned his or her hands
with hot water and soap before eating, bacteria stays on the hands, and
that person—or their child—eats all that bacteria. Ingesting such germs is
the best way to catch the flu, just as surely as if you had opened the
door for the virus and said “welcome” to the flu bug. People often enjoy
delicious food in a buffet restaurant. Many lick their fingers after
eating on their way to making a second trip to the buffet line. If that
person has the flu, then touches those public ladles, the next person in
line uses that ladle and then licks their fingers—“delicious!” But what
happens? They get the flu! Isn’t that right?
No one wants to be in bed with the flu or make their family unhappy.
Ask yourself: “Who decides whether I get the flu or not?” The answer is
simple: You do!We must remember that we always have to protect ourselves
as much as possible by any method. Moreover, we are not even for ourselves
but also the whole members of our family if we keep that simple goal in
mind. We have to prepare everything enough to face the flu seriously. At
least, we have to ask ourselves "what's flu exactly?" to make sure that we
know it well! Moreover, Is there the other option of protecting ourselves?
Think about it.