Anti-Covid19 Immunity Boosters

3/24/2020

Upper respiratory tract infections (coughs, colds and flus) are really no fun. Some of my friends bring their children to the doctor once every 2 months. Sometimes, it requires more than 1 visit to resolve the infection. When I did my calculations...
- 2 children
- 6 times a year
- $75 per visit
= at least $900 a year.

I haven't even added in my own sleepless nights, spent sponging my babies to bring down fever and holding them whilst they cried and fussed. Invariably, I would catch the infections from them. Whenever a child went into kindergarten, the whole family went through anew, the baptism of infections. Many of these infections were mild for the children but extremely painful for me. If The Husband caught the infection from me, I was treated to more days of torture because The Husband is a nightmare patient.

There had to be ways to stop an infection in its tracks or prevent it altogether. I developed all sorts of home remedies which worked quite well because our family can get by on seeing a doctor every 2 to 3 years only... and that is only when I get careless with my alternative precautions.

Beating the Covid19
In view of the current Covid19 virus spread, it appears that the best way is to strengthen the body's immunity against pathogens. The first 4 days of the Covid19 infection is generally mild, characterised by a dry cough. If, I can beat the virus within the first 4 days, then pneumonia is unlikely to set in.

Indeed, if I can beat the virus DURING the incubation period, before the onset of symptoms, that is even better!

1st Line of Defence: Part 1
My first line of defence is astragalus. In Cantonese, this herb is called "puk kay." I make an astragalus soup once a week for the whole family. This herb increases levels of lymphocytes in the blood stream. Lymphocytes are your body's soldiers. The more of these in your system, the better your immunity.
- 党参
- 北芪
- 红枣
- 甘草

Pathogens operate by means of something called quorum sensing. This means that they stay benign until they achieve a certain quorum in numbers. This means that they wait till they have reproduced in enough numbers before they launch an attack on your body. Until they achieve those numbers, pathogens stay inoffensive.

It makes sense to have enough soldiers to kill pathogens even before their numbers grow large enough for them to sense a quorum.

1st Line of Defence: Part 2
- Our whole family now does intermittent fasting regularly. We skip breakfast in the mornings on most days. Click HERE to see how intermittent fasting also strengthens your body's soldiers against infections.

- Our whole family is now doing a low sugar diet. Except for The Son, the rest of us drink our milk tea sans sugar. Click HERE to see how sugar suppresses your immune system.

- Sleep before 10 pm. See video below for how sleep between 10 pm to midnight boosts immunity.

2nd Line of Defence: Propolis or Goldenseal Nasal Spray

When we travel to Europe, I make sure I stock up on propolis sprays and goldenseal tinctures. I previously blogged about goldenseal tincture HERE. Whenever I encounter a snotty student or a friend with flu/cough/cold, I will go home and spray either propolis or goldenseal up my nostrils. This kills the virus right inside the nose, even before it has a chance to reproduce. Make sure you get good quality stuff. The stuff you can get online may not be of good quality. We buy our stocks from brick and mortar European pharmacies OR reputable homeopathic shops like HERE.

3rd Line of Defence: Echinacea Tea
By following my 1st and 2nd lines of defence above, we can stay pretty much healthy even when others around us, are snotty. However, once in a while, I do feel a flu coming in. If I can catch it at a very early stage, I can usually throw it off within 24 hrs if I am fast enough to take echinacea tea.

Echinacea flowers, roots and leaves are potent against viruses. Echinacea works by activating lymphocytes EARLY. Echinacea mobilises the lymphocytes at an early stage of the infection, where viral numbers are low enough for the body to easily overcome. Echinacea ONLY works if you have high enough numbers of lymphocytes. Therefore, the 1st line of defence detailed above (i.e., drinking astragalus soup every week) is ULTRA important. Else, taking echinacea does not help.

I grow my own echinacea and have sold the surplus to parents occasionally when their children reach PSLE. Parents who buy, say it works and buy again. My home grown stocks are low so I am not selling the flowers anymore. Please see this link - HERE. You can buy the herb online. Do NOT buy from GNC. Their capsules are ineffective.

Buy the actual dried plant parts and make tea. Keep it in a thermos and sip every 15 mins. Echinacea is cleared out of the body by the kidneys super fast so you have to sip throughout the day. If I take echinacea EARLY enough and REST before I feel very ill, I can throw off a flu within 24 hrs.

New Line of Defence: Cloth Mask

I guess the one silver lining in the cloud of the Covid19 is that we have been able to easily and cheaply buy cloth masks. Cloth masks filter 0% of viruses BUT they do impede the large snot droplets when someone sneezes. If you are at prolonged close quarters with an infected individual, it is no protection against that type of prolonged viral load. However, if some idiot accidentally sneezes into your face, it does block that type of single sneeze viral load, just so long as you stop breathing and remove the mask to prevent breathing in the virus particles that will dry onto the cloth. My cloth masks are single use before wash. This means that I throw them into the wash the moment I get home and I put on a clean mask every time I go out, even if it means that I use 3 masks in one day.

If you are going to the doctor's clinic or the hospital then please wear the N95 or a surgical mask. For wearing into malls or the wet market, when a flu is going around, a cloth mask offers some level of protection from uncivilised people who spray their snot liberally into the air.

Even if their snot is not contagious, it is disgusting to breathe in someone else's snot, no?