Immune-Boosting Natural Medicines in the COVID-19 Era

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This blog provides general information and discussions about health and related subjects. The information and other content provided in this blog, or in any linked materials, are not intended and should not be construed as medical advice, nor is the information a substitute for professional medical expertise or treatment.

If you or any other person has a medical concern, you should consult with your health care provider or seek other professional medical treatment. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something that have read on this blog or in any linked materials. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or emergency services immediately.
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Liposomal Vitamin C

• Liposomal Vitamin C has a fatty, lipid exterior coating to ensure optimal absorption. Non-liposomal vitamin C mostly passes through the digestive tract without absorbing into the cells, although it is still better than no vit C at all! Non-liposomic C is absorbed by the cells at around 15%, but liposomic C absorbed up to 90% by cells.
• High doses of regular Vitamin C that are not liposomal can cause diarrhea because body can’t absorb much of it, but high doses of liposomic Vitamin C are readily absorbed, thus bypassing this side effect.
• Almost as effective (if not more so) than Intravenous (IV) vitamin C therapy.
• High-dose Vitamin C therapy is well-known for its viral-fighting properties, but is not a popular treatment therapy due to the fact that it cannot be patented.
• Easy to make at home, but supplies of Vitamin C powder are getting harder and harder to find. Needed supplies:
  • Liquid or Powdered Lecithin–Sunflower Lecithin is best but Soy Lecithin will work in a pandemic emergency (powdered lecithin needs to soak a few hours)
  • Vitamin C powder (ascorbic acid) (some use rosehip powder)
  • Clean water
  • Ultrasonic jewelry cleaner and blender
    • ​Mix 6 tablespoons of lecithin with 2 cups of warm water in blender. Add 2 tablespoons of Vitamin C powder and another 1 cup of warm water. Blend until smooth.
    • Pour blended mixture into ultrasonic cleaner and set timer for 5-10 minutes. (Our own machine only goes up to 8 minutes so that is what Sarah and I do).
    • Store in glass or plastic only, refrigerate, and use within a week
    • Take 1oz 2-3 times daily for a maintenance dose, and up to 10 1oz servings if you get sick.
    • If you develop ‘bowel intolerance’, you are either taking way too much or your body already has all of the vit C it can use at a time

​Good instructions on how to make your own Liposomic Vitamin C (and more info) HERE and HERE.
More general info on the benefits of Liposomal Vitamin C HERE

Colloidal Silver/Ionic Silver

• Silver has been demonstrated over and over to have strong anti-viral properties
• Dose is very flexible: anywhere from 1oz to 8oz per dose, with several doses per day
• FDA is currently cracking down on sellers that are promoting or touting its viral-fighting abilities
• Instructions are somewhat complicated though once you go through the process of making a few batches it becomes easier
• Most homemade solutions are a mixture of ionic silver and colloidal silver, as well as some larger silver particles that can mostly be strained out of the finished product using a coffee filter or cotton cloth
• For making your own silver, here are a few basic tips:
  • NEVER, EVER use salt when making your own silver solution
  • ONLY use .999% pure silver wire, or silver bullion bars
  • use distilled water ONLY, as the water needs to have few-to-zero dissolved solids in it
  • strain finished product through a coffee filter or old tshirt to remove largest particles
  • never let anything metal touch the silver solution, because it will pull particles of it into the finished product.
  • a TDS meter (total dissolved solids) works well on finished product to see how many PPM your finished silver is. It isn't exact science but generally 10-20 ppm is good.

​Instructions and further information HERE. Overview of the history of medical use of silver HERE.

Mullein Leaf​ (Verbascum thapsus)

• Super-common weed throughout the entire U.S.
• Considered to be a very safe herb but not recommended during pregnancy, breastfeeding, and for diabetics (it has a slight diuretic effect/aka makes you pee)
• Expectorant—helps body get rid of phlegm in head and chest
• Anti-inflammatory
• Demulcent—calms irritation in the respiratory tract
• Known to be effective against seasonal flu viruses, but its effectiveness against covid-19 is yet unknown, but I highly suspect that it would help
• Very effective for dry cough. it can turn “non-productive” coughing into “productive” coughing, i.e. it helps get the gunk out
• Used to detoxify the lungs after quitting smoking because it works with the lungs to encourage healthy purging of toxins and new lung cell growth
• Very effective for asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, sore throats, COPD: it relaxes the lungs
• Mullein leaf is high in calcium and magnesium
• Drinking this as a tea 3 times daily may also help with seasonal allergies. the key here is to start consuming the tea 1-2 months before your personal allergy season begins, and to consistently drink it throughout your allergy season
• Helps induce sleep, especially when combined with other relaxing herbs
  
  • ​Usage:
    • Mullein leaf can be added to the water of a steam bowl: simply pour boiling water over some mullein in a bowl, cover your head with a towel and hold it over the bowl, and breathe deeply.
    • Traditionally, for lung and breathing ailments, mullein leaf was smoked. It seems counterintuitive, but the constituents in this herb help relieve spasm in the lungs, and pulling this herb directly into the lungs is beneficial for some under short use. Some herbalists caution against ingesting the herb in this way (mostly because smoking has a big taboo in our culture?), so use your own judgment.
    • Strong tea, as needed (very safe herb) (1 teaspoon in 1 cup of water)
• ​See THIS

Black Elderberry & Elderflower​ (Sambucus nigra)

(disclaimer: do not confuse elderberries with pokeberries. please see THIS and THIS)

• Elder is one of THE supreme anti-viral herbs, in my opinion.
• Generally broken down into two parts of the plant: the berries and the flowers. Both are excellent medicine but each have slightly different applications.
• Many scientific studies have proven elder effective against multiple seasonal flu strains. If taken early enough when you start to get sick, it can stop a viral infection in its tracks, but even if you do go on to get ‘fully’ sick, studies have proven that consuming elderberry drastically shortens the duration of viral flu infections. Personally, I’ve found it to be most effective if I begin taking it within the very minute I have that vague sort of “could I be starting to get sick?” kind of thought run through my mind.  Taking it that way has brought me through many a flu season in good health, even while co-workers and family members were getting sick and missing school and work all around me!
• Used for thousands of years for medicine
• Elderflower is very effective at treating fever, elderberry is also, but to a lesser extent
• Immune-boosting and immune-supporting
• Centuries-old tea formula for fever: equal parts yarrow, elderflower, and peppermint
• Elderberry fights inflammation and is especially effective at treating AND PREVENTING upper respiratory infections
• Elderberry was studied during the H1N1 outbreak and found to be effective against the virus
• Elderberry basically inhibits a virus’ ability to get through a cell wall, which keeps the virus outside of human cells, where the virus is unable to reproduce
• “In clinical trials, patients who took the elderberry juice syrup reported fast termination of symptoms. 20% reported significant improvement within 24 hours, 70% by 48 hours, and 90% claimed a complete cure after three days. Patients receiving the placebo required six days for recovery. As proof that elder has more to it than the enzyme-neutralizing constituents, researchers found that the patients who took it also had higher levels of antibodies against the flu virus." 
• A 2019 study on elderberry for cold and flu suggested that the fruit substantially reduced upper-airway symptoms.
• ​There is now research that suggests that the quercetin in elderberry is part of the reason it is so antiviral (especially when combined with zinc).
• Usage: elder is taken in almost every form imaginable. Tea, tincture, syrup, lozenge, etc. 3 cups of tea daily or 3 dropperfuls of tincture daily. If you have some 80 proof vodka, it is easy to make your own elderberry extract
• More great info HERE.

Yarrow​ (Achillea millefolium)

• shortens duration of colds and flu
• immune system support
• anti-inflammatory
• expectorant
• relieves fever—one of the ways it does this is by encouraging sweating
• antispasmodic, which means it can help the lungs relax instead of continuing into spasm
• decongestant: helps with head and sinus congestion caused by allergies and colds
• improves circulation (one of the effects of this is easier breathing due to more oxygen-rich blood reaching the outermost portions of lung tissues)
• mild sedative effect---useful to encourage good rest and help alleviate anxiety
• NOT for use during pregnancy
• tea: 3-4 cups daily for the duration of sickness
• tincture: 3-4 half dropperfuls 
• as stated in the elder section, a time-tested tea for cold and flu is: equal parts yarrow, elderflower, and peppermint
• “The Abnaki people use yarrow tea as a drug to treat colds, fevers, and grippe (Rousseau, 1947). People of the Algonquin and Quebec nations use it internally to treat colds and other respiratory disorders. The powder is also used as an analgesic snuff for headaches (Black, 1980). Yarrow infusions and decoctions are used as a gastrointestinal aid by the Cherokee, Gosiute, Iroquois, and Mohegan nations (Chamberlin, 1911; Hamel and Chiltoskey, 1975; Herrick, 1977; Tantaquidgeon, 1928, 1972).” source
• ​more info HERE and HERE

Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)

• potent antiviral (stimulates white blood cells)
• immune system stimulant
• antispasmodic-relieves spasms
• anti-inflammatory
• treats fever, especially the kind of fever that feels like it has settled down in your bones causing deep, agonizing joint and muscle aches (I have seen this very symptom mentioned in the covid-19 accounts I have read)
• induces sweating when drank as a hot tea
• tea: ½ teaspoon per 8oz hot water, drank as hot as you can tolerate. Take a cup of tea every half hour while symptoms are intense-after several cups you should begin a profuse sweat and fever should begin to alleviate
• use only when needed (aka during a pandemic!) because long-term ingestion of this plant can be potentially rough on the liver (sources say no longer than 6 months use at a time)
• if you develop nausea while taking, back off on either frequency or dose, or both. higher doses of this can produce vomiting, although it isn’t a concern from a medical standpoint, other than the obvious loss of liquid (hydration concerns).
• ​see THIS

Zinc

• proven to help keep viruses from proliferating in the body
• zinc deficiency can manifest as breathing difficulty, even without viral infection, so it goes without saying that boosting zinc could drastically help
• known to be effective against SARS (covid-19 is super-similar to SARS)
• immune system cannot function properly if you are low on this mineral
• list of foods high in zinc HERE

source: https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/03/bill-sardi/emergency-room-doctor-doesnt-realize-major-signs-symptoms-of-covid-19-coronavirus-cases-match-evidences-of-zinc-deficiency/

Other Herbs

Didn’t order your herbs in time? It’s not too late to make a quick dash to your local grocery store or health food store to snag some of these common-but-effective medicines. Any of the following can be made into a tea, or you can breathe them in using the steam method (lean over a bowl of boiling water with herb(s) mixed in it, with a towel over your head to keep the medicinal steam in). The ginger and garlic can even be eaten or juiced raw!

• Oregano: Potent anti-viral
• Thyme: Anti-viral, induces sweating and helps bring up mucus/phlegm, support immune function
• Sage: Somewhat anti-viral
• Basil: Anti-viral
• Tulsi: Anti-viral and is great immune-booster and adaptogen
• Garlic: Anti-viral
• Ginger: Anti-viral
• Fennel: Anti-viral
• Licorice Root: Potent anti-viral and proven to be effective in treating SARS, the ‘cousin’ of covid-19, if you will
• Rosemary: Anti-viral
• Peppermint: Anti-viral. Just because peppermint is well-known does NOT mean it is ineffective! 
• Dandelion: Yes, dandelion is somewhat anti-viral and has been tested against the seasonal flu. all and any parts of this plant can be consumed and it is ultra safe! Just be sure to harvest away from the roadside or sprayed areas if you end up harvesting your own instead of buying.
• There are many, MANY other herbs I could have included in this post but didn't have the room or time to explain. So just because I didn't list a certain one that you may happen to know about doesn't mean it's not important! Please see the links at the end of this post for more herbalism-based approaches from herbalists much more experienced and qualified than myself.
  

Other Common-Sense Measures

• Get good rest
• Stay hydrated
• Don’t eat junk (especially sugar, and ESPECIALLY high fructose corn syrup which causes massive inflammation throughout the body). If you have specific food cravings, try to 'investigate' them. Example: If you are craving potato chips, maybe your body needs more salt, or more potassium.
• Whenever possible, get fresh air and sunshine (that's free vitamin D, after all!)
• Reduce your ‘news’ intake, as 1-2 “news check-ins” per day are all you truly need to stay informed and on top of the situation, unless perhaps you are at ground zero in a so-called hotspot…
• ​Reports are starting to come out of Italy and France that NSAIDS such as Advil (ibuprofen) and Aleve (naproxen sodium) actually feed or strengthen the cover-19 virus somehow, so perhaps sticking with Tylenol for any over the counter medication you may need would be wise until further information presents itself. The argument by the mainstream medical industry is that there are no peer-reviewed studies to prove such a claim (duh - there hasn't been enough time to do so), but personally I will take the hear-say word of those in France and Italy over any concerns Pfizer may have about dwindling Advil sales....(see doctors in France report "grave adverse effects" in cover-19 patients that take nsaids.)
• Under travel restrictions? Use that extra time for something you always wanted to do but couldn’t because you were working so much, such as: reading a book, getting into painting again, taking up that hobby you bought all the supplies for but never started, cooking elaborate homemade meals, and yes, even catching up on some tv shows or movies could be beneficial!
• If you have an essential oil diffuser, use it! Any of the above-mentioned ‘grocery store’ herbs' essential oils will help keep the viral load at a minimum in your household when diffused into the air.
• If you already make your own silver, you may even try cleaning out your essential oil diffuser really, really well and diffusing pure colloidal silver through it, to deliver the vaporous silver into the air, i.e. directly into the lungs, if someone in your household should start to get sick.

Links to Herbalists' Protocols for Treating COVID-19 Naturally:
Matthew Wood
Stephen Harrod Buhner
podcast with Rosemary Gladstar
huge list of herbalist resources regarding coronavirus treatment ideas