Dr. Doni shares her tried and true approaches for preventing and recovering from cold and flu viruses (updated Sept 2015).

Catching a cold, flu, sinusitis or bronchitis, can require days or weeks of recovery, even with antibiotics. I prepared this survival guide to help you recover faster, prevent viral infections to begin with, and boost your immune function so as to not need antibiotics if you do get sick.

There are a couple things to keep in mind before we get into the details of prevention and recovery:

• Gluten: If you have gluten sensitivity, and especially if you recently started avoiding gluten (within the past year), then you are likely to be more susceptible to viruses and other infections. It also means that it could take extra time and support for you to recover. Avoiding gluten and taking daily immune support is going to be your best bet to avoid getting sick.
• Individualize: It is always important to have awareness for your body and to individualize your approach based on your unique needs and dosage requirements. What works well for another person may not work well for you. It is a matter of trying products and learning from your experience to fine tune and find your best cold/flu prevention strategy.
• Professional support: I encourage you to contact to your health care provider as soon as you realize that you have caught a cold, flu, or other respiratory infection. This way they can provide you with specific dosages and support based on your individual situation. It is especially important to contact your health care provider if you (or your child) have a fever over 102 degrees, yellow phlegm, shortness of breath, and/or symptoms that last more than a few days.
• Frequent dosing makes all the difference: Herbs and nutrients require more frequent doses to be effective. For acute infection support, you’ll see the best results when you take the nutrients, herbs and homeopathic remedies that support immune function every 3 to 4 hours throughout the day.

Let’s start with prevention:

Have you noticed that you are much more likely to catch a cold after staying out late at a concert and eating sugar-filled treats?

1. Avoid or minimize sugar and alcohol consumption as they both lower your ability to fight off viruses.
2. Get 7.5–9 hours of sleep every night as that is when your body gets to rest and recover.
3. Take Triple Flu Defense weekly. If your immune system requires additional support, take Genoma Security, ARA, and/or EHB daily (which contains immune boosting herbs and nutrients). See info about these products below under Natural Medicine Cabinet.
4. Take Vitamin D, especially if your levels are low. During the winter it is known that vitamin D levels tend to be depleted due to less exposure to sun light. Take 1,000 to 5,000 iu daily as a liquid or capsule.

Now for how to boost your resiliency:

Stress lowers your immune function – so if you are under chronic, daily stress, you may need to give your immune system extra help everyday. For many years of my life—while in naturopathic medical school (up late studying) and while Ella was young (being woken through the night)—my immune system required extra support. From that experience I learned what it takes to stay well and recover quickly.

5 Steps to boost your ability to fight off infections: 

1. Avoid IgG/A food allergens. By avoiding the foods that trigger inflammation, you will boost immune function. Learn more about IgG/A food reactions and whether the foods you are eating are making you sick here.
2. Take probiotics like Klaire Detox, Women’s Formula or Complete. Research shows that taking probiotics improves immune function and decreases susceptibility to infections.
3. Support stress recovery with herbs. Andrographis, Schisandra and Eleutherococcus are herbs that help your body recover from stress and support healthy defenses against viruses. Genoma Security is an example product containing these herbs.
4. Take antioxidants, such as glutathione, vitamin A*, vitamin C and zinc. These nutrients help your body to recover from stress and toxic exposures and to be ready to fight of infections. Liposomal formulas allow for increased absorption of glutathione and vitamin C. Here are example products that I recommend: Liposomal Glutathione, Lipsomal Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Zinc.
5. Take daily immune support which both support healthy bacteria in the digestive tract and support immune function.

To this day, in addition to avoid my food allergens, I take liposomal Vitamin C, stress recovery herbs and probiotics on a regular basis. When I take a flight or am exposed to others who may be sick, I take vitamin A and/or EHB (see info below).

*Be sure to check with me before taking vitamin A in high doses—while it is a very effective anti-viral, it is important not to use it long term or if there is a chance that you might be pregnant.

What to do when you catch a cold/flu:

When you get sick the key is to act fast! If you delay even 12 hours, you are prolonging the time that you will be sick. Be aware of how you are feeling, and as soon as you notice a scratchy throat, sniffles, feverish-ness, or the achey fatigue that a virus causes, immediately start supporting your body to fight off that virus.

*Please keep in mind that any and all supplements—nutrients, herbs, enzymes, or other—should be used with caution. My recommendation is that you seek the care of a naturopathic doctor (with a doctorate degree from a federally-accredited program) and that you have a primary care physician or practitioner whom you can contact to help you with individual dosing and protocols. If you ever experience negative symptoms after taking a product, stop taking it immediately and contact your doctor right away.