What Most Doctors Won't Tell You About Colds and Flus
Posted By Dr. Ben Kim on Sep 07, 2008
The next time that you experience a cold or the flu, remember this: giving your body plenty of rest while allowing the cold or flu to run its course is good for your health.
Conventional medicine and the pharmaceutical industry would have you believe that there is no "cure" for the common cold, that you should protect yourself against the flu with a vaccine that is laden with toxic chemicals, and that during the midst of a cold or flu, it is favorable to ease your discomfort with a variety of medications that can suppress your symptoms.
Unfortunately, all three of these positions represent a lack of understanding of what colds and flus really are, and what they mean to your body.
Colds and flus are caused by viruses. So to understand what colds and flus do at a cellular level, you have to understand what viruses do at a cellular level.
Do you remember learning about cellular division in grade seven science class? Each of your cells are called parent cells, and through processes of genetic duplication (mitosis) and cellular division (cytokinesis), each of your parent cells divides into two daughter cells. Each daughter cell is then considered a parent cell that will divide into two more daughter cells, and so on, and so on, and so on.
Viruses are different from your cells in that they cannot duplicate themselves through mitosis and cytokinesis. Viruses are nothing but microscopic particles of genetic material, each coated by a thin layer of protein.
Due to their design, viruses are not able to reproduce on their own. The only way that viruses can flourish in your body is by using the machinery and metabolism of your cells to produce multiple copies of themselves.
Once a virus has gained access into one of your cells, depending on the type of virus involved, one of two things can happen:
- The virus uses your cell's resources to replicate itself many times over and then breaks open (lyses) the cell so that the newly replicated viruses can leave in search of new cells to infect. Lysis effectively kills your cell.
- The virus incorporates itself into the DNA of your cell, which allows the virus to be passed on to each daughter cell that stems from this cell. Later on, the virus in each daughter cell can begin replicating itself as described above. Once multiple copies of the virus have been produced, the cell is lysed.
Both possibilities lead to the same result: eventually, the infected cell can die due to lysis.
Here is the key to understanding why colds and flus, when allowed to run their course while you rest, can be good for you:
By and large, the viruses that cause the common cold and the flu infect mainly your weakest cells; cells that are already burdened with excessive waste products and toxins are most likely to allow viruses to infect them. These are cells that you want to get rid of anyway, to be replaced by new, healthy cells.
So in the big scheme of things, a cold or flu is a truly natural tool that can allow your body to purge itself of old and damaged cells that, in the absence of viral infection, would normally take much longer to identify, destroy, and eliminate.
Have you ever been amazed by how much "stuff" you could blow out of your nose while you had a cold or the flu? Embedded within all of that mucous are countless dead cells that your body is saying good bye to, largely due to the lytic effect of viruses.
So you see, there never needs to be a cure for the common cold, since the common cold is nature's way of keeping you healthy over the long term. And so long as you get plenty of rest and strive to stay hydrated and properly nourished during a cold or flu, there is no need to get vaccinated or to take medications that suppress congested sinuses, a fever, or coughing. All of these uncomfortable symptoms are actually ways in which your body works to eliminate waste products and/or help your body get through a cold or flu. It's fine to use over-the-counter pain medication like acetaminophen if your discomfort becomes intolerable or if such meds can help you get a good night's rest. But it's best to avoid medications that aim to suppress helpful processes such as fever, coughing, and a runny nose.
It's important to note that just because colds and flus can be helpful to your body doesn't mean that you need to experience them to be at your best. If you take good care of your health and immune system by getting plenty of rest and consistently making health-promoting dietary and lifestyle choices, your cells may stay strong enough to avoid getting infected by viruses that come knocking on their membranes. In this scenario, you won't have enough weak and extraneous cells to require a cold or the flu to work its way through your body to identify and lyse them.
Curious about how to differentiate the common cold and the flu? Here is an excellent summary of the differences from cbc.ca:
A cold usually comes on gradually — over the course of a day or two. Generally, it leaves you feeling tired, sneezing, coughing and plagued by a running nose. You often don't have a fever, but when you do, it's only slightly higher than normal. Colds usually last three to four days, but can hang around for 10 days to two weeks.
Flu, on the other hand, comes on suddenly and hits hard. You will feel weak and tired and you could run a fever as high as 40 C. Your muscles and joints will probably ache, you will feel chilled and could have a severe headache and sore throat. Getting off the couch or out of bed will be a chore. The fever may last three to five days, but you could feel weak and tired for two to three weeks.
One final note on this topic: because the common cold and the flu are both caused by viruses, antibiotics are not necessary. People who take antibiotics while suffering with a cold or flu often feel slightly better because antibiotics have a mild anti-inflammatory effect. But this benefit is far outweighed by the negative impact that antibiotics have on friendly bacteria that live throughout your digestive tract. In this light, if you really need help with pain management during a cold or flu, it is usually better to take a small dose of acetaminophen than it is to take antibiotics.
Please share this basic health information on colds and flus with family and friends; although it isn't readily available from the annals of conventional medicine, this information can save you and your loved ones significant time, money, and angst.
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Dr. Ben Kim's Newsletter
Dr. Ben Kim Says:
colds and flu
Did anyone notice that colds and flues are most of the time in a fall, winter and spring time?
Why?
I will use simple logic instead “professional” explanation. It is colder then compare to summer…right? Well the friendly bacteria on fruits and vegetables that can survived in temperature around 20 degree Celsius is in a very limited supply and without steady supply of the friendly bacteria the immune system gets weak and that’s why old people die and younger get cold and flu.
Drinking HOMEMADE kefir and yogurt is the simplest thing to make doctors unemployed and pharmaceutical industry bankrupt…Will you let this information get out? I doubt.
What Most Doctors Won't Tell You About Colds and Flu
This is so very interesting! I had a very bad infection in January,(either bronchitis or walking pneumonia--which I was told that it was). I would not go to a doctor, as I knew I would be given antibiotics, which I feel do more harm than good. I did receive three treatments with Rife lights. What amazed me most was the amount of mucus that came out of my head and chest (which is explained in this article). When my husband was alive he always took the flu shot (which I refused to do) and he had the flu seven years in a row and I only got it once, while taking care of him each time. I will be 70 this year and I seem to be in comparatively good health. I do not take prescriptions, as I think that they do more harm than good. It is my opinion that chemicals are a detriment to our health. I really enjoy your articles and always get information that is helpful.
pharmaceuticals
It was good to read Patty Smith's note. I like to hear from 'kindred spirits' who won't take pharmaceuticals because they know they are poison to our bodies. The most far-reaching problem is that they are "poison" to the health care in this country. Their existance and the politics involved make maintaining health an uphill battle, because the truth of what is truly "health care" and finding it is so obscured. What can we do about their effect on our health care, our insurance and our bodies? If only health care would go back to the Natural Hygiene of before the 20th century.
What Doctors Don't tell you about Colds and Flu
The missing piece in this article is that most if not all colds and especially the Flu occur mainly in the Winter Months and NOT during the Summer months. Reason: lack of sunlight on the skin and therefore lack of production of Vitamin D3 within the body. You will find that supplemental use of Vitamin D3 during the winter months ( at an adequate dosage) will prevent or curtail these diseases completely.
Supplements
Thx Chris B. for Vit. D comment. Living in the NW, winters can be short on sun. We supplement with Vit. D, probiotics/L. acidophilus, Omega-3's + multi vits, healthy diet. We stay healthy. Prior to our supplements routines, the last flu shot I had, within days I came down with a winter cold which took 3 mos. to shake. With Vit. D,et al., health is good!
reply to Chris Beckett's post of 19/3/07
In reply to the comment that lack of sunlight and vitamin D3, is the cause for colds and flu may not be quite correct. I live in South Africa, we have 360 days of glorious sunlight a year, even in winter days...and we still get colds and flu 'epidemics' during our cold (0 to 15 degrees) winter months...so causes must be something else !
Perhpas a high dosage of vitamin D3 helps, but this high dosage can never be derived from sunlight anyway.
The body cannot make high doses of VitD from Sunlight . . .
I'd like to add to the VitD information: Researchers have found that the body is very capable of making WHAT RESEARCHERS consider to be "high doses" of VitD from sunlight. In 20 minutes the body is capable of making 40,000IU from sunlight and much more in a longer period of time. Researchers are all in a tizzy about whether upping the RDA of VitD to 1,000IU is safe or not. Obviously, if our body will make its own 40K amount, recommending 1K is not worrisome. VitD toxicity doesn't begin to occur in the body until the level is around 100,000IU. There is a lot we do not know yet about VitD except that it does seem to be correlated with numerous illnesses when insufficient amounts are present and has a hormonal protective effect. (A hormone is made in one part of the body and acts on another part of the body.)
Colder weather means the sun
Colder weather means the sun is further away, which means it would take longer for your body to make vit D from the sun, hence lowered levels in the body. Also, if it's cold people are going to be spending time indoors.
Another reason flus and colds
Another reason flus and colds happen more in the winter is that viruses multiply faster in temperatures slightly cooler than body temperature - which often occurs in your nose/neck etc during winter. This is also another reason your body creates a fever.... to slow down the replication of viruses - they replicate more slowly at higher body temperatures - and give your immune system a better chance of fighting it. So a fever is a good thing to help your body fight viruses, so long as it doesn't get too too high. Old Grandma's advice about keeping wrapped up warmly when you go outside is not so silly after all ... if you have a virus lurking in you it will have a better chance if you get chilled.
This is what I was taught in cell biology 101 years ago.
Cold and flu article
Excellent article, Dr. Kim. I'd never known how that works before. Recently after most of our town came down with the flu, I succumbed to it much to my surprise, as I never seem to catch it when it's going around. After a few days of heavy nose blowing, I recovered without taking any drugs, except for my favorite raw vinegar and garlic. My daughter, on the other hand was sick for about 3 weeks. She ached in every bone. She did not take antibiotics which everyone else seemed to be on but instead took the vinegar and garlic also.We used a couple of drops of 3% peroxide in her ears a couple of times a day and that really helped. She had not been well for some time so I think as you explained, she had weak cells that were able to be overcome and that's why she got so much sicker.I shall pass this article on as I think the info contained in it is great.God bless,Carol
colds and flu
Hello Carol, like you I was most impressed with Dr Kim's article on colds and flu, particularly as I am struggling at the moment with the first ever attack of flu, I really have been feeling so ill and have refrained from all medication apart from a paracetamol when the headache or limb ache gets to be unbearable. I was most interested to read your comment about " raw vinegar and garlic" and would be most grateful if you could tell me more about this remedy. eg. quantities, is it cider vinegar or pure white etc. The combination sounds very healthy and I would also like to know if it is for a particular symptom of flu or just an all over remedy to help combat his debilitating infection.
Thanks in anticipaton and look forward to hearing from you really soon.
Kind regards
Mandy
Vinegar and Honey
Mandy and everyone else.
I want to share our families cold and flu fighter. Apple Cider Vinegar and raw honey. Although this is not a silver bullet, it seems to have drastically reduced the number of colds in our family.
We mix a teaspoon of raw (uncooked/heated- so as not to destroy enzymes) honey with a very small amount of water, to get it to dissolve. When it is all liquid, we add about two teaspoons of organic apple cider vinegar. We use Braggs, but any will do fine. Make sure that the vinegar has the cloudy substance in it. That is called the "mother."
I don't know exactly how it works, but I have read that it produces H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide). I'm sure Doc Kim could go into great detail about this, if he hasn't allready.
Good luck
topic response
Dr. Kim,
Thank you for your educated information on colds and viruses. It is a good analogical reminder of how forest fires - set by nature (lightning, dry brush, etc.) - cleanse the forest floor and "flush out" and expose any inbalances that may exist.
Aside from an extra dose of deliberate rest, I'll think twice now about medicating myself when I feel a cold or virus coming on.
Am obliged -
Leslie O.
colds & flu
Boy, that is a great article, which nicely and perfectly sums up what the flu is really all about, ie, keeping us strong in the long run! (And the same can be said of all "infectious" [actually self-starting] conditions). I will refer people I know to this article.
cold and flu - easing symptoms
Great article. We too do not like taking medications, especially antibiotics. One trick we learned when I had my baby in Switzerland is that a chopped raw onion in your bedroom at night can really ease the blocked nose which is often the cause of an uncomfortabe nights sleep.
Just take an onion and chop it (the more it makes you cry when you chop it the better). When my son was a baby we used to tie it in a cloth and hang it from his crib. Now I put it on a plate under or beside his bed. Works great for adults too. The whole house smells like onions the next day, but you feel much better.
wishing you good health
common cold and flu
I disagree with taking acetaminophen. It is a chemical compound foreign to the body and the body thus handles it like a poison which it really is. You can get white willow bark powder in capsule form (or combination white willow/fever few) which is natural source (much like taking natural source vitamin C sold on this website) and is much more complimentary to your natural chemistry, it does not excite the immune system or lymphnodes or destroy healthy bacteria in the digestive tract like acetaminphen does. Acetaminophen is a hormone disruptor. The only reason I keep it around my home is because it is combined with oxycontin (an even more dangerous drug) for extreme emergency such as the kind of pain one might experience breaking a bone or other trauma. There are many good herbal remedies such as comfrey, nettle, chamomile, devils claw, valerion root that are excellent pain relievers and sleep enhancers and even then as always, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". If you stop poisoning your body, you cut off the main source of most diseases. The virus theory is not proven either. Virus's are genomes, genomes are dead matter from dead cells, when your body does not eliminate them fast enough it becomes overwhelmed with them and you get ill, basically, you have too much death in you so you feel and experience near death symptoms. Solution? Eat more life than death (more raw than cooked) and live.
Live Food
I eat mostly raw, the only cooked food or starch foods I eat are at dinner time 3 days a week. I don't eat fully raw because I was told my a nutritionist that it could be dangerous to jump in head first, because you can bring up all that dead waste matter too fast, then it doesn't have enough time to exit the body and will back up. So I have been taking it step by step.
Recently I have been catching colds and flu's a lot, I don't seem to go an entire week without having one, this has been going on for 2 months. and even when I'm sick i stay focused on making sure I eat properly and at the right times of the day. I will not change the way that I eat, I get the right nutrients for my body from the raw fruits and veggies that I eat everyday, I also eat fish 3 times a week, I drink fresh fruit and veggie juices and I still eat some starches. A large part of my diet is raw but I still manage to get colds and flu's a lot, maybe it's because I'm suppose to, maybe my body is detoxing, I'm not exactly sure why.
Colds
If only I had known. I suppressed a bad cough with aspirin and codeine, and ended up with fluid in the lung, and then spent a week in hospital on oxygen. Thank you for the article.
What Most Doctors Won't Tell You About Colds and Flus
Thank you, again your words are plain and clear. It could be retitled "Cold & Flu for Dummies." I'm kidding about the name. I love your articles because I can understand what you're talking about. Thank you.
As a child I rarely had a
As a child I rarely had a cold or flu when I ate kimchi (spicy fermented cabbage). When I didn't eat kimchi, I would catch a cold or the flu.
Kimchi & Yook-gae-jahng
Whenever we come down with colds in our household, we are usually too worn down to cook, so we find it great to call in an order to our local Korean restaurant, for an order of yook-gae-jahng. It is spicy and clears the head and chest. I alway feel warmed and better after eating it. I've come up with a quick recipe for making at home, but it's not nearly as good as our local Korean Mama.
Scott
Kimchi & Yook-gae-jahng
Hi Scott
Could yo sed me a recipe for both?
Barb
Red and Green Chili
Makes sense. I grew up in New Mexico and whenever we were starting to feel a cold developing, we would eat a bunch of red or green chili with similar effect. Something about natural spicy food seems to be good for clearing out the sinuses.
My mother in law has an old
My mother in law has an old rememdy.
1/4 c. raw apple cider vinegar
1 Tbl honey
3 tbl orang juice
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper (70,000 BTU+)
Mix well. Take a hot shower and then drink by the tablespoon the above and go to bed.
Should you "sweat a fever
Should you "sweat a fever out" by piling on layers of clothing and blankets to make your body really hot?
It has always worked for me!
It has always worked for me!
Flu Shots
Dear Dr. Kim:
I am so happy that you posted this article today. I am scheduled to get a flu shot on Monday morning. I have been uncertain about receiving it,and now I am assured that my first fears where correct.
I enjoy your articles so much, and find them easy to understand and very imformative.
Thanks again.....
Phyllis G
Colds & Flu stay away supplement
Dr. Kim,
Thanks for informing all of us! I've been particularly vulnerable to colds and flu all my life except in the past 1 1/2 years - during which I (and many friends) have not had a Cold or Flu. Why? We've been taking a nutritional supplement called XPC Green that is the best immune balancer by far that I've ever used. The medical folks call the human form EpiCor but the XPC Green is an organic livestock supplement and the human storiy about its serendipity is quite intriguing. When I feel something "coming on" I just double and triple my 2 tbs per day dosage and within a couple days, whatever it may have been is no longer there. Why is XPC Green (organic) so good? 12 minerals, 12 vitamins, 12 amino acids + an good fats, good carbs, and good energy components (see www.diamondv.com) that eminate from a fermentation process. We ask our feed store here in Asheville to order the 50 lb. bag for us. For the 2 of us using an average of 3 tbs per day each, one bag lasts about a year.....Bon Chance
great article
I really appreciate your approach to taking care of ourselves by natural means. I have said for countless years that our bodies know what to do better than most physicians. Of course there are certain situations needing medical intervention. Everyone is freaked out by this new H1N1 virus. The gov't has got everyone running scared to the nearest health dept for this vaccine, and now schools too. If the gov't is SO CONCERNED about protecting us, why don't they start with our food supply & skin care products. Ban unhealthy additives ( or whatever they are calling them today). If I could work for the FDA, I bet I wouldn't last very long. I don't always buy the "healthy" foods on a consistant basis, but do feel that my choices are way better than most people. I could really go on and on.... The more you mess with mother nature, the more trouble you will find. Your body knows EXACTLY what to do when you get sick, so let the illness run it's course. Myself and my family use high quality nutritional supplements and herbs and cell salts for ailments. I won't say that we never get sick, but we don't usually get it as bad as everyone else. Unfortunately my husband smokes, so I really give hims lots of extra antioxidents and such. Keep up the great work, people are actually starting to realize that they need to be accountable for their choices. Numerous years of an unhealthy lifestyle WILL come back to haunt you. An ounce of prevention IS worth a pound of cure!
HINI
DEAR DR. KIM,
I AM NOT GETTING THE SHOT. I HAVE DIABETES TO, WILL TAKE MY CHANCES. I FEEL GOD MADE ME WITH COMMON SENCE , IF I DON'T USE IT THEN I DESERVE WHAT I GET, GOOD OR BAD, THANK YOU, FOR THE INFORMATION YOU GENEROUSLY PROVIDED. THE PEOPLE WHO CALLED YOU A NAME, POINTING A FINGER THEY HAVE 3 POINTING AT THEMSELVES :) PAT,
flu
I am sorry, but I do not agree that one should just let a cold or flu run its course.
Personally, I have great success by the immediate use of elderberry and zinc at the first signs of a cold or flu. With 35,000 deaths a year from flu, it seems foolhardy to do nothing to help the body. Furthermore, being weakened by the flu will allow pneumonia an opportunity to attack.
Vitamin C aids in the production of mucous and is itself a detoxifying agent.
When my nose is stuffed, I can not sleep, which damages both my body and my mood. A decongestant is preferable to lack of sleep, at least for me.
It seems to me that the reason colds and flu hit during the transition from summer to winter is partly due to lack of sunlight. This affects our hormonal balance and reduces the amount of Vitamin D in our body.
If it were simply a case of viruses attacking weaker cells, the flu would not be seasonal. This season effect shows up all over the world as the season changes. If it were not affected by seasonality, the flu would hit everywhere at one (more or less) instead of waiting for the season to change south of the equator. As such, taking extra vitamin D3 will have preventative effects (5,000 IU a day), possibly even healing effects.
Simply put, weakened cells did not get that way for no reason. Furthermore, the body is a "system", with considerable repair ability. If you take measures to give your body the material it needs there is no reason for cells to die before their time.
Finally, fever is one way the body fights back. Properly used, hot baths and saunas aid in virus destruction. Heat therapy is even used to help kill cancer cells. In any case, why not aid the body in it's fight, rather than letting things "run it's course"?
Ted