Swine Pandemic Flu And Alternative RemediesWelcome back!
“He (God) causeth the grass to grow for the cattle and herb for the service of man…” Proverbs 104:14
The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease. Thomas Edison
What Exactly Is The Flu: The flu is a highly contagious viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. There are two types of influenza viruses, namely A and B.(However the Natural Remedies Points out that there is also a type C) These cause the acute infection of the throat, nose, bronchial tubes, lungs, and middle ear.
The virus finds access to the body through mucous membranes in the nose, eyes, or mouth.
What Are The Symptoms Of The Flu: The symptoms of the flu are fever, body aches, headache, a dry cough, a sore or dry throat, hot and cold sweats, and nausea and vomiting may also occur. There may also be a feeling of fatigue or tiredness as well. The symptoms are normally e the worst during the first 3 or 4 days. However it may take 1 to 2 weeks to get completely better.
What Is Available For Treatment: The CDC recommends the use of two drugs against H1N1: oseltamivir and zanamivir, better known by their brand names, Tamiflu and Relenza.
Do Anti-Viral Drugs And Vaccines Really Work: The widespread use of drugs like Tamiflu (though evidence shows limited benefit) has caused another problem. The problem? This has lead to resistant strains of the flu virus. Daniel Janies, an associate professor of biomedical informatics at Ohio State University, tracks the genetic mutations that allow flu virus to develop resistance to drugs. He says that flu can become resistant to Tamiflu in a matter of days. As amatter of fact, by mid-August of this year, two U.S. swine flu patients had developed Tamiflu-resistant strains.
A Closer Look At Tamiflu
1) Tamiflu accounts for 85 to 90 percent of the flu antiviral-drug market.
2) On average, Tamiflu cuts the duration of flu symptoms by a mere 24hours in otherwise healthy people.
3) One in five people taking Tamiflu will experience nausea and vomiting.
4) As late as this August, the company’s own Web site contained the following statement, which was written under the direction of the FDA: “Tamiflu has not been proven to have a positive impact on the potential consequences (such as hospitalizations, mortality, or economic impact) of seasonal, avian, or pandemic influenza.”
Tamiflu’s Dirty Little Secret: It has been noted that Tamiflu accounts for 85-90% of the flu anti-viral-drug market with recommendations from the CDC even. But it has a dirty little secret.
Do you know where Tamiflu comes from? “It’s extracted from the Traditional Chinese Medicine herb called Star Anise. It’s one of hundreds of different anti-viral herbs found in Chinese Medicine, not to even mention anti-viral herbs from South America, North America, Australia, Africa and other regions.”
The Boston Globe points out: “Star anise got picked as the building block for Tamiflu because it happens to have a high concentration of shikimic acid, but the acid is found in nearly every plant, and Tamiflu was originally made from a different acid found in the bark of the cinchona tree grown in Zaire — a source that was abandoned because of the political upheaval in that country.”
This is not surprising; for as many know already, and as The Boston Globe article pointed out: “Roughly 40 percent of medications come from botanicals, including aspirin and the breast cancer medication tamoxifen.”
A 360° Natural Healing Approach
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So it is necessary to make sure you keep your immune system strong in the first place. This is the “strong man” of the body. Keep him strong by: Trusting in God, and hereby reducing the negative effect of stress or distress upon your immune system. Get plenty of fresh air, sunshine, and exercise, copious amounts of water, lots of daily exercise, the all important rest, and eat loads of antioxidant filled foods i.e. fresh fruits and vegetables.
If in fact you begin to experience the symptoms of the flu, the quicker that you act the better off you are. In fact in many cases you can knock it out in 24 hours flat if you move quickly enough, with a sufficient enough response and with the correct remedies in the right amounts.
If I begin to feel symptoms this is what I would do:
Step 1) I would immediately stop eating food and go to liquids…drinking at least 10 glasses of water a day adding 1 pinch of pure sea salt per quart that I drink(1 quart is 5 8oz glasses). I would take an enema at the first sign of symptoms. I would also take in plenty of fresh fruit juices and vegetable broths. The vegetable broth would contain considerable amounts of cayenne. I would also add a “superfood” in water or juice. There are some good ones on the market, but I really like ” Perfect Food Raw” from Garden of Life.
Step 2) I would add about 10,000-15,000 milligrams(or up to bowel tolerance…the point that diarrhea sets in, and then reduce it to the point where there is no diarrhea) of Ester C Vitamin C with Bioflavonoids per day, spread throughout the day.
3) I would begin immediately taking the formula that I have used before and seen it work on a severe case of the flu with my wife. I wrote about it in our Angels Of Life Natural Health Journal saying: “Last flu season my wife came home one day with her joints in excruciating pain, and a terrible headache. Not having any elderflower or boneset, which may be difficult to obtain at the local health food store, (especially if you get organic or wild crafted which or much more powerful) I used a different combination and in less than 24 hours she had improved by about 95% with virtually no symptoms.
Here is what I used. Immediately I walked her to the bathroom and had her to soak her feet in the bathtub in water as hot as she could bear it with the water coming up to her knees as she sat on the edge of the bathtub. I kept a cool towel over her forehead and at the back of her neck. (This was for about 15- 30 minutes). Next I had her to drink water as hot as possible with a mixture of fresh squeezed lemon juice, and about 1/2-1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
This mixture was given her every half hour while she lie in bed. I also gave her garlic pills, vitamin c pills, Echinacea pills and grapefruit extract. The extract was in liquid form and mixed in with the water, lemon juice and cayenne pepper…
I gave her this mixture every half hour. Soon the pain subsided and she dropped off to sleep. I would then only wake her every hour for awhile to give her the mixture. Finally I left her alone to sleep and let the body do its healing work.
She slept well into the next day and by the late morning or early afternoon she was at about 95%.
I still recommended that she remain in bed and just rest, or move around very little. The key is to catch it early, when the symptoms first start, and aggressively go after it.
As Robyn Landis in her outstanding book, Herbal Defense, writes, “You can knock the flu! If you act fast, when you feel the first stirrings of symptoms-muscle ache, fever, headache… you can be done in twenty-four hours, stop the otherwise inevitable progress into full-blown disease, and skip the ten days of bed rest.” Angels Of Life Natural Health Journal VOL 8
4) To this I would add the amazing and powerful Elder Berry/Peppermint tea combo. I wrote in the same issue of Angels Of Life Natural Health Journal “Another powerful remedy against the flu is the combination of elderflower with peppermint. Elder is a blood purifier, and a general cleanser.
“The great herbalist, Henry Box of Plymouth, England, says: For colds, influenza, fevers, inflammation of the brain, pneumonia (inflammation of the lungs), stomach, bowels or any part, this is a certain cure. I have never known it to fail, even when given up, and at the point of death. It will not only save at the eleventh hour, but at the last minute of that hour. Besides, it is so safe and harmless that you cannot use it amiss.”
This statement carries significant weight when you consider that Henry Box was a herbal physician for more than sixty years and was known as one of the great doctors of all times. The elder flower preparation as given by Dr. Christopher is as follows: “The infusion for the tea is made as follows:
2 ounces elder flowers
2 ounces peppermint leaves (crushed)
1 1/2 pints boiling distilled water
Pour boiling water over herbs, cover and allow to steep (not boil) in a hot place 20 minutes. Strain and sweeten with honey, then drink the whole amount of tea as hot as possible while closely covered in bed. Cover a hot water bottle with a cloth or towel dipped in apple cider vinegar and place on the feet. In a few minutes there will be copious perspiration, and the pulse will slow down and the patient will sleep peacefully for hours…The chemical constituents of elder flower are volatile oil, pectin, potassium chloride, potassium sulphate, sodium, magnesium, calcium salts and a small quantity of potassium nitrate. These substances, of course, all are organic and natural.
“When taken alone, elder flowers are inclined to be emetic, and somewhat nauseous to some people. This effect can be prevented by combining them with peppermint (Mentha piperita). Peppermint is stimulant, nervine, calmative, and antiemetic, which offsets the undesirable effects of the elder flower. This combination is world-famous as a great fever and cold remedy.”
Black Elderberry Extract Benefits
Writing about a recent study and also comparing Black Elderberry to Tamiflu Paul Fassa writes: “A clinical trial during a severe flu outbreak around 1992-93 in Israel confirmed a perfect cure rate of severe flu victims there. Another study performed in Oslo, Norway more recently, around 2002, also confirmed the amazing efficacy for type A or B flu victims of several different strains. The cures mostly occurred in two days while a few were cured in three days. Tamiflu cures occur normally in 4.5 to 5 days. It took 6 days or more for the flu victims on placebos to recover.
What was used in both Israel and Norway was a Black Elderberry extract product of Israeli origin. There were no side effects from taking this inexpensive flu cure…Elderberry has a very high ORAC, or oxygen radical absorption capacity: over twice as much as blueberry. In addition, antioxidants called flavonoids stimulate the immune system. Other compounds in elderberry, called anthocyanins, have an anti-inflammatory effect; which would explain the effect on aches, pains, and fever.”
5) Another powerful remedy that could be added to this, especially early on, is Red Raspberry Leaf Lea.
Red Raspberry Leaf Tea:
Dr. John Christopher explains: “When a cold (flu) or fever just gets started, it can be cleared up very easily, if the procedures are started early, before it becomes too advanced.
“One of the most simple remedies is to stop the use of all foods and beverages, take a high herbal enema (catnip is good), and drink only red raspberry leaf tea. Between cups of this tea, distilled water may be used, and, if desired, give … some good organic (natural) vitamin C. It is possible to use quarts of red raspberry tea during the day and nothing else. For children, use according to age. The runny nose, fever, headache and weariness will leave and you will feel like a new person. Even after feeling greatly improved, continue on with the red raspberry leaf tea all that day and well into the next day. If an adult would stay on the tea for three days it would do a wonderful cleaning job for the body.
“To make red raspberry leaf tea use one heaping teaspoonful of cut or granulated (powdered) raspberry leaves into a teacup. Fill the cup with boiling distilled water, cover and let stand in a warm place for five or ten minutes. Strain, and drink it while it is very warm.”
6) Next I would consider adding a little known but very powerful herb called Ferula assa-foetida (F. assa-foetida, for short), however it would probably not be necessary.
Colloidal Silver/ Olive Leaf Extract
I would then add to this program Colloidal Silver, 2 TTBSP per day, and 1 -2 capsules of Olive Leaf Extract. 700-1400 milligrams.
7) Lots of prayer and an attitude of praise and thanksgiving. “He (God) causeth the grass to grow for the cattle and herb for the service of man…” Proverbs 104:14
Keith M Henry, N.D. is the Director of phase 3ministries, based in Orlando FL. He is medical missionary herbalist, and Naturopath . Download your free copy of his report, Emergency Herbal Medicine, HERE. It may very well save your life.
Sources:
Natural Remedies Encyclopedia pg. 226, Vance Ferrell, Edgar E. Archbold, M.D., Harold M. Cherne M.D., 4th Edition2
See Prescription For Nutritional Healing pg. 468, Phyllis A. Bach; CNC; James F. Bach, M.D.; See also WebMD-Influenza ; www.webmd.com
ibid
The Atlantic Online Magazine; Article by Shannon Brownlee a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation and the author of Overtreated (2007) and Jeanne Lenzer an investigative journalist and a frequent contributor to the British medical journal BMJ.
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ibid
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Naturalnews.com-Article: What’s Missing From Every Media Story About H1N1 Influenza; May 2, 2009, Mike Adams
The Boston Globe; Article: Ancient Herbal Medicine Boosts Influenza Arsenal, November 14,2005, By Sara Shipley Hiles
ibid
12See.www.phase3ministries.com
13 ibid
14 www.naturalnews.com; Article: Elderberry Trumps Tamiflu For Flu Remedy; May 30, 2009, Paul Fassa
15 opp cite Angels Of Life Natural Health Journal
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