with winter approaching: cold and flu season

[Guest guest]

I AM NOT A DOCTOR. DO NOT CHANGE YOUR REGIMEN WITHOUT CONSULTING YOUR DOCTOR.

WHAT WORKS FOR ONE PERSON WITH MS MAY NOT WORK FOR ANOTHER. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE

FOR ANY RISKS THAT YOU TAKE WITH VITAMINS OR HERBS.

This is just one humble opinion. Don't flame me on any points please?

For me, catching a flu bug is one of the worst things because it puts me in a

teeter-tauter postion: fight the flu, but hurt my MS . . . OR . . . fight my MS,

but help the flu.

In other words, I can't take things that increase T-Cell activity (like

Astragalus or Ginseng) to fight the flu as that will most certainly cause damage

as the T-Cells attack my myelin.

And I wanna make sure to go off of things that suppress my immune system (like

Alpha Lipoic Acid) but help my MS or else that will give the flu an upper hand.

Recently, I had a stomach bug (bacterial infection), I believe, and I had to go

off my SAM-e (which I take orally) because I believe it was helping to boost the

bacteria in my stomach possibly. It normally may give me energy and may be

neuroprotective or help remyelinate for all I know? Good stuff.

Anyway, so here are the few things that I think are relatively safe to take to

help protect you from colds and flus. Seems like there is no one-size fits all

and you've gotta monitor your own body to see what works for a given cold or

flu? And what is safe for you to take.

For viral infections I take Chrysin (mildly anti-inflammatory and appears to be

safe with MS) and sometimes Juniper Berries (Native

American Indians used this to fight colds/coughs I think). Juniper Berries can

be toxic so don't take too much (more than a pill or two a day) or for too long

(more than a week or two) . . . also drink lots

of water because it makes you urinate more . . . may dry you up. (Gin has

Juniper Berries in it which gives it its name.)

For bacterial infections I just got into using Catuaba (it does seem to

exacerbate my MS a little bit SO USE WITH CAUTION, but for me it was not so bad

that I couldn't offset it with the sublingual B Complex vitamins) . . . but it

apparently can fight staph infections and E. Coli? SOURCE:

http://www.raysahelian.com/catuaba.html

(I used Catuaba combined with another herbal cocktail [that I won't mention

since it is too risky for MS] to fight a

recent stomach bacterial infection or flu bug.)

Also, I have found that eating raw Pecans seems to settle my

stomach/help with upset stomach so that may be useful with certain stomach flus?

Ginger, of course, helps as well I believe but

that can also thin the blood (so be careful if taking other herbs that thin the

blood.)

What vitamins/herbs have you all found to fight the flu but that are apparently

safe for MS? I do still play the teeter-tauter at these times unfortunately . .

.. but it makes me feel better having these few things in my corner.

Cheers,