Flu Home Remedies

[Echnaton]

However you have more information available about standardized pharmaceutical's than folk remedies,

And there's the critical point that's worth repeating over and over again. Because pharmaceuticals have to go through rigorous trials before marketing, and regulations require all potential effects ot be listed, this information comes packaged with them. However, a lack of provided information does not mean there is a lack of effects. Because folk remedies don't come with a list of side effects doesn't mean they don't have any, it just means they have never been rigorously tested, catalogued and listed.

It is more than just rigorous trials.  Products made with known ingredients provide a tracking mechanism for information about their use.    If dangers get through the initial tests, public health practitioners have the ability to relate adverse effects back to products and their ingredients.  Problems from folk remedies are untraceable and "supplements" may be so poorly labeled that the ingredient information is useless.    Many are known to have adverse interactions with other substances that cause side effects or diminish the potency of medicines.  Proper homeopathy at least has no active ingredient, but not everything that is labeled as homeopathic is lacking active ingredients.

Lionking, it is your body and you may ingest or apply what you choose, but don't get fooled by marketers.  People that sell remedies are no different than people that sell any other product.  They are looking for a way to connect customers to their product, nothing more.

[gillianren]

There is, for example, a huge list of known drug interactions with St. John's wort.  Including reducing the efficacy of oral contraceptives.

[Zakalwe]

the idea behind some traditional medicines is treating diseases with opposite of what caused them. Diseases that came from cold, are treated with heat.

Which is why the vast majority of folk remedies are ineffectual, as they are based on, in a lot of cases, superstition and nonsense and in most cases deliver either no benefit or no benefit over and above the placebo effect. Those that have been shown to be efficacious have been integrated into medicine. Aspirin, which I have previously mentioned, is one such case. Artemisinin is another. Then they are properly packaged, marked, delivered in carefully controlled doses with "use-by" dates. This is in marked contrast to many "folk" remedies where there is little or no control over potency, cleanliness of preparation or age. Modern medicine, allied with access to better sanitation , is the reason why life expectancies across the world have increased from 31 years (early 20th Century) to 67 by 2010.

The farcical idea that diseases are treated "opposite of what caused them" is probably related to the ideas that originated with Hippocrates, who tried to treat mania with small doses of Mandrake root, as a large dose causes mania.  The phrase "hair of the dog that bit you" derives from this.  It's snake-oil of the highest order, and one that Hahnemann perfected into the bull-turd that is homoeopathy.

And as for claiming that flu is caused by cold? Rubbish.

I also had the flu once. I have never felt so sick before or since. Even my skin ached, which was a first for me. It developed into a proper chest infection that had me in bed for 5 days, allied with a  raging fever that caused pretty freaky hallucinations.

[Tedward]

Well, I have a list of ailments that I treat with drugs. All prescribed and the only natural thing I do to contain one is carful eating (within limits, it is hard to avoid all pies!). That latter is gout. That has a powerful anti inflammatory on standby for when it rears its ugly toe. Would I trust olive oil to this? Not on your nelly.

Edit. I am happy with the flu jab, the one instance (??) I can remember in the last many years was probably the one they did not build into the vaccine. I can live with that, I understand it is based on the three main strains around that year that it is given so something can slip through. And time slips by, my recollection of 10 years is way off, getting on 15+ years I think.

[LionKing]

Hi Echnaton,

I was reading a bit about the side effects of Panadol versus tea's.

"If any of the following side effects occur while taking acetaminophen, check with your doctor immediately:
Rare
•Bloody or black, tarry stools
•bloody or cloudy urine
•fever with or without chills (not present before treatment and not caused by the condition being treated)
•pain in the lower back and/or side (severe and/or sharp)
•pinpoint red spots on the skin
•skin rash, hives, or itching
•sore throat (not present before treatment and not caused by the condition being treated)
•sores, ulcers, or white spots on the lips or in the mouth
•sudden decrease in the amount of urine
•unusual bleeding or bruising
•unusual tiredness or weakness
•yellow eyes or skin"
http://www.drugs.com/sfx/panadol-side-effects.html

they didn't say that this needs overdose. although they are rare, but they are dire!

see this also http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/oxycodone-and-acetaminophen-oral-route/side-effects/drg-20074000

here are the tea's
http://www.healthmw.com/20/02/2012/mens-health/tea-side-effects-top-10-bad-effects-of-tea-on-health-49.html 

they need big quantities to have this effect. In case of common cold, at least for me, I don't drink 5-6 cups  day.


Best

[Andromeda]

"Check with your doctor immediately"

Because those side effects are rare and indicate something else is wrong.

I have a bad reaction to opiate-based painkillers.  That does not mean I can point to my experiences of them and objectively say that therefore opiates are worse than any other painkiller.

Incidentally, as a Brit I do drink 5 or 6 cups of tea a day

[Jason Thompson]

they didn't say that this needs overdose. although they are rare, but they are dire!

And I'll say it again, these side effects are known because as a marketed pahrmaceutical Panadol has been subject to extensive research on its effects. It also happens to be taken by sick people rather than part of routine daily refreshment as in the case of tea. When people take medication and they notice odd effects straight after they report the fact. When they drink tea and they notice strange effects they don't, because they don't expect tea to be the cause. The result is a lot less information on the effects of something like tea in healthy versus sick people.

No-one is disputing that pharmaceuticals have side effects. No-one at all. There are medications that list 'sudden death' as a rare side effect. Why? Because during the course of its use over several decades maybe one person had reacted badly to it due to what turned out to be a previously undiagnosed metabolic disorder or allergy and died. That doesn't mean it's a deadly poison, and it's not enough to withdraw it from use, as its benefits were well documented, but it was enough to have to have that potential side effect listed on the pack insert according to the regulations that govern the sales of pharmaceuticals. Now, do you honestly think that in centuries of tea drinking by a population of billions not one person has ever reacted adversely to an infusion of tea leaves and gone into some kind of shock and died?

Alternatively, consider that apples and almonds contain cyanide and contrast that to the contents of some drugs. Or the therapeutic uses of botulinum toxin, which is also the most lethal natural toxin known....

[Andromeda]

I know someone who had Botox injections for migraine, interestingly.

[Tedward]

If I took note of the side effects of my cornucopia of prescription medication I would not take any. Guess what, I have none of the "can induce...." etc ever showing up.

And my middle name should be Urn. Tea Urn.

[LionKing]

they didn't say that this needs overdose. although they are rare, but they are dire!

And I'll say it again, these side effects are known because as a marketed pahrmaceutical Panadol has been subject to extensive research on its effects. It also happens to be taken by sick people rather than part of routine daily refreshment as in the case of tea. When people take medication and they notice odd effects straight after they report the fact. When they drink tea and they notice strange effects they don't, because they don't expect tea to be the cause. The result is a lot less information on the effects of something like tea in healthy versus sick people.

No-one is disputing that pharmaceuticals have side effects. No-one at all. There are medications that list 'sudden death' as a rare side effect. Why? Because during the course of its use over several decades maybe one person had reacted badly to it due to what turned out to be a previously undiagnosed metabolic disorder or allergy and died. That doesn't mean it's a deadly poison, and it's not enough to withdraw it from use, as its benefits were well documented, but it was enough to have to have that potential side effect listed on the pack insert according to the regulations that govern the sales of pharmaceuticals. Now, do you honestly think that in centuries of tea drinking by a population of billions not one person has ever reacted adversely to an infusion of tea leaves and gone into some kind of shock and died?

Alternatively, consider that apples and almonds contain cyanide and contrast that to the contents of some drugs. Or the therapeutic uses of botulinum toxin, which is also the most lethal natural toxin known....

we haven't heard about people dying from tea but we heard about those dying from Panadol. PERHAPS it is safer to go with tea

[LionKing]

If I took note of the side effects of my cornucopia of prescription medication I would not take any. Guess what, I have none of the "can induce...." etc ever showing up.

And my middle name should be Urn. Tea Urn.

I understand that we should carry risks when we have to and take medications. I just don't think this is the case with common cold, that is vey common.

[LionKing]

Echnaton can you please direct me to the natural versus synthetic argument, or rather lack of,  you are speaking about?

[Andromeda]

we heard about those dying from Panadol.

Only from overdose - that's not the same thing at all!

Tea may be safer, but it is less effective at relieving symptoms.

[LionKing]

we heard about those dying from Panadol.

Only from overdose - that's not the same thing at all!

Tea may be safer, but it is less effective at relieving symptoms.

to me I have felt better from tea and lemon, but mostly from sweating.
no rare reactions are not from overdose. this is what I am saying

[Andromeda]

we heard about those dying from Panadol.

Only from overdose - that's not the same thing at all!

Tea may be safer, but it is less effective at relieving symptoms.

to me I have felt better from tea and lemon, but mostly from sweating.
no rare reactions are not from overdose. this is what I am saying

You didn't say "rare reactions", you were referring to death.  I quoted you.