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Colds etc, feeling better, anyone ever get to the bottom of this?

drob31

Senior Member
Messages
1,487
Inosine, astragalus, reishi or some mix of mushrooms, beta glucans, probiotics and probably a bunch of other things, but mostly herbs. The problem I have with all is that they increase inflammatory symptoms and the most bothersome effect is they produce depression and fatigue that is worse than normal. I tolerate each for about a week, after that it's no point to continue. I think the herbal stuff is too "unselective" for many of us and globally stimulates the immune system, if that makes any sense. Or in other words, it sort of amplifies everything, but the immune system is still dysfunctioning, so the gain is questionable.


How about equillrant?
 

ebethc

Senior Member
Messages
1,901
do immune modulators increase inflammatory symptoms at first, then the inflammation subsides over time?

maybe I just need to tough it out a little more..
 

drob31

Senior Member
Messages
1,487
do immune modulators increase inflammatory symptoms at first, then the inflammation subsides over time?

maybe I just need to tough it out a little more..


I'm way out of my league here, but hypothetically if it ramped up your immune system and it started fighting the infection, then you would think it would increase inflammation until it had the infection under control, however long that takes, in which case, hypothetically, inflammation would be decreased.
 
Messages
1,478
I went through a phase of having no colds. I also had one incident where I had a cold and then a day or so after getting symptoms I felt amazing (better than normal..euphoric). This only lasted a day max.

I'm now in a different phase where I seem to get any infection going with constant skin infections that won't heal etc. The 4-8 week recovery period after an infection is definitely not worth it for me.

I think a lot us have differing levels of immune dysfunction in the broadest sense and I suspect this varies thought the disease progression.
 

caledonia

Senior Member
so you have to take it 8x per day? (every 3 hrs) ... OR, can taking slow release ALA fix this?

Do you know if PM2.5 and PM 10 contain heavy metals?

thanks

Technically, you would only want to take ALA a) if you know for sure you don't have any metals or b) for chelation purposes.

The half life info comes from the Cutler chelation protocol, and I've also personally experienced redistribution effects from not taking doses often enough.

For the protocol you do "rounds" of a couple days in length. You take small amounts of ALA every 3 hours, including at night. Then take a couple days off in between rounds to recuperate.

Slow release is not supposed to work well enough to get around the issue of having to wake up at night (I wish!).

There are also some support supplements needed to go with the ALA to offset the effects of mercury and/or other metals as they come out.

=-=-==-=-

I'm not sure what PM 2.5 and PM 10 are? Can you explain?
 

caledonia

Senior Member

ebethc

Senior Member
Messages
1,901
@caledonia

that scorecard site has old data (1999) for San Francisco... Wish it were updated! It's good info otherwise..

--
This was interesting (LINK) ... El Nino brings big storms, but not many ppl know that the "prequel" to the storms is dry hot weather and, therefore, an increase in winter pollution (PM is worse in the winter here anyway; you can see the El Nino prequel was way more polluted than usual...)... It correlates to my downward slide, that's for sure... NOT the only factor at all, but still is helpful...

This site doesn't show which chemicals or source of the debris ... presumably from car/jet exhaust, but I don't know what car/jet exhaust contains, either.. I'm going to dig around on ca.gov for info...

I'd love to get a PCO air cleaner for my apt, but for now I have a good HEPA ... Here's a review (LINK)

Thanks.
 

JES

Senior Member
Messages
1,320
How about equillrant?

Only tried oxymatrine, which is the prime ingredient in equilibrant (equilibrant also contains astragalus, which I already responded badly to). Oxymatrine was a little better than typical immune stimulating herbs that I tried, it didn't increase my inflammatory symptoms as much and seemed to improve some even (sleep etc.). Sadly not a huge overall effect, but I intend to trial it again sometimes soon.
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
Now, I know a bunch of folks have reported feeling better with colds/flu etc (I'm just reading through some threads... but... did anyone ever get to the bottom of this?

I speculated that it may be due to the fever effect, which is known to improve autism and ADHD symptoms.

When your body mounts the orchestrated response to infection that we know as fever, it is the locus coeruleus part of the brain which does the orchestrating of the fever. So in this way, catching a cold will activate the locus coeruleus.

Thus if you want to create the same benefits without having cold, perhaps if you can find a way to stimulate the locus coeruleus, then that might work.

The supplement vinpocetine acts on the locus coeruleus. I've tried this, but the effects were very mild.


I used to experience the fever effect many years ago, before I had ME/CFS. I've always suffered from ADHD, and alway found it very difficult to take in information in any educational or professional circumstances. But sometimes I found when I was just coming down with a cold, the fever effect would kick in, and I suddenly be amazingly alert and receptive to information.
 

caledonia

Senior Member
@caledonia

that scorecard site has old data (1999) for San Francisco... Wish it were updated! It's good info otherwise..

--
This was interesting (LINK) ... El Nino brings big storms, but not many ppl know that the "prequel" to the storms is dry hot weather and, therefore, an increase in winter pollution (PM is worse in the winter here anyway; you can see the El Nino prequel was way more polluted than usual...)... It correlates to my downward slide, that's for sure... NOT the only factor at all, but still is helpful...

This site doesn't show which chemicals or source of the debris ... presumably from car/jet exhaust, but I don't know what car/jet exhaust contains, either.. I'm going to dig around on ca.gov for info...

I'd love to get a PCO air cleaner for my apt, but for now I have a good HEPA ... Here's a review (LINK)

Thanks.

I've also heard about mercury in San Francisco fog recently:
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/The-toxic-chemical-in-San-Francisco-s-fog-6734283.php
 
Messages
34
Damn i noticed the same thing keep telling my family i feel amazingly clear headed and anxiety free when i have a cold...it happened three times already. When i'm not sick am wired and brain foggy everyday.

I supposed the body released endorphines when sick but it seems to be more complex than that.

Am a xanax addict, and i don't need to take it when i'm sick.

What the hell.