Flu Home Remedies

[LionKing]

harmful synthetic chemicals .. you know that medicine has those

Can you say which word in the phrase "harmful synthetic chemicals" you are talking about?  Is it the "harmful, "  "synthetic" or the "chemicals" part that concerns you?  I ask this because there is no scientific difference between "natural" and "synthetic."  It is an artificial distinction.  As long as you make these vague questions, you will never get a satisfactory answer from anyone.

at any rates I am not trying to enforce anything on anyone .. you are free to choose what you want.

Ya, we got that, and it is a dodge of a response. 

I was just comparing what is done in different cultures . I couldn't see drinking tea with lemon or boiling lemon and sweating as traditional methods used as is done here, although people are moving more towards Panadol Flu. I am just against certain drugs used that might have side effects and certain reactions with other medicines while the alternative is available.

Is this a sociological query or a medicine question?  Please clarify.  If the former, are you just interested in old folk remedies?  If the latter, as is implied by your query, then tradition is irrelevant and safety and efficacy are what matter.   If a folk remedy has no efficacy then the absence of side effects are irrelevant, are they not?  So please tell us which traditional methods you think are effective and why?  Why do you think sweating out a fever is either effective or has no deleterious effects?

Hi Echnaton,
I am talking here ONLY about FLU, comparing ONLY Lemon AND Tea, boiled lemon, and sweating.
I am concerned about Panadol Flu and the like, that have harmful side effects versus those mentioned above.
I am not talking about alcohol for instance , that is clearly natural and found I nature but might have side effects.
about easing symptoms, I can't speak for everyone, but for me, the easing of symptoms after sweating is instant, and after it in two days or three the disease is mostly gone altogether.

Now coincidently I am at home because of tendonitis. the doctor prescribed an anti-inflammatory that I think was behind my feeling of uneasiness in my side. My grandmother prescribed rubbing heated olive oil (known of anti-inflammatory benefits) on the tendon and wrapping it. I did and afterwards I felt pain and I said to myself that I bruised myself and shouldn't have listened to her. Nonetheless, the second day  I felt much much better. I can't say, however, that it was because of olive oil because it might be of resting also.


the idea behind some traditional medicines is treating diseases with opposite of what caused them. Diseases that came from cold, are treated with heat. Flu , at least to me, is successfully treated by heat.

[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. Flu , at least to me, is successfully treated by heat.

What's next? Blood-letting? Homoeopathy?

Flu is caused by a virus not cold. And believe me, if you had flu, you'd know about it.
I think that you are confusing flu with the common cold.

[Andromeda]

A cold =/= flu, LionKing.

Furthermore, there are no "diseases that come from cold".

I have had no end of colds, but I have only had flu twice.  The last time, I had a temperature of 39.9.  Wrapping myself up to hold in heat would probably have finished me off.

[LionKing]

Ah yes, sorry for the English confusion..I am talking about common cold. excuse my english

[Jason Thompson]

I am talking here ONLY about FLU, comparing ONLY Lemon AND Tea, boiled lemon, and sweating.

You may like to look up the chemical composition of tea some time. It has a variety of chemicals in it, many of which are substantially more harmful than a lot of things you find in off-the-shelf pharmaceuticals like Panadol. Quantity is the key, as well as the metabolism of the individual consuming it.

I am concerned about Panadol Flu and the like, that have harmful side effects versus those mentioned above.

I have taken medicines with extensive listed side-effects and suffered none at all. It have drunk tea from a certain brand and felt very sick. I'll say it again in the hopes you will get it, but so-called 'natural' remedies DO have side-effects. They're just not listed in an information leaflet like the ones on pills you buy from a chemist, and as a result people don't make the connecton quite so readily between adverse reactions to things like tea as they do those to a pill.

about easing symptoms, I can't speak for everyone, but for me, the easing of symptoms after sweating is instant, and after it in two days or three the disease is mostly gone altogether.

Yes, that's called inducing a fever, increasing the temperature to try and kill the organism causing the illness. The body does that on its own, which is why you have a high temperature when you are sick. All you are doing is accelrating what your body is already doing. It is just as risky as a normal fever, since elevated temperature will damage the cells in your body also after long enough.

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 about as sound scientifically as homeopathy, i.e. not at all. Colds do not 'come from' cold. You get them most likely because in the cold your extremities have blood diverted from them to preserve your core temperature, leaving them vulnerable to invasion by viruses and bacteria due to localised compromising of the immune system. The illness is caused by a virus.

[Andromeda]

after it in two days or three the disease is mostly gone altogether

Most colds are pretty much cleared up within 2 or 3 days of hitting the worst of it, without any intervention.

Whatever works for you LionKing, that's great, fine.  It hurts no-one else that you prefer to sweat it out when you catch a cold.  However, your posts here are coming across as trying to shame anyone who uses anything other than what you deem "natural" (and haven't yet defined).  Furthermore, it is the nature of this board that anyone making assertions must be prepared to back them up with evidence.

[LionKing]

http://www.theecologist.org/green_green_living/behind_the_label/268787/behind_the_label_lemsip_max_cold_flu_capsules.html

perhaps this article explains better what i mean

[Jason Thompson]

No, that article is pure fearmongering. No-one disputes that many of the contents of off-the-shelf remedies can have harmful effects, but you'll note that the article makes no mention whatsoever of the doses at which those things have harmful effects and how much is found in the average does taken by a person suffering the symptoms. That is disingenuous to say the least and outright dishonest at worst.

Many drugs themselves are harmful in certain quantities but have undeniable beneficial effects at lower doses. This is absolutely NOT the 'natural vs. synthetic' argument you are trying to present it as.

And again I will draw your attention to the many harmful contents in things such as tea, a perfectly natural infusion.

Try this for what I mean:

http://io9.com/what-if-natural-products-came-with-a-list-of-ingredient-1503320184

[Zakalwe]

Treated, a cold will last about 7 days. Untreated, it'll be gone in a week.

Not to be confused with the 'flu. That's a whole different kettle of fish. You'll know when you have 'flu. Someone once described to me a test for 'flu. If there was £100 (or dollars/shekels/groats) on the ground in front of you then if you feel too ill to care (much less pick it up) you've got the 'flu.

[johnbutcher]

I have had the flu once.
began 26/12/1994
27,28 and 29 are gone.
there are no home remedies for flu. there is a reason why it kills people.
if someone phones you and says they have the flu, well, you cant lift your head never mind a phone.

[johnbutcher]

I was at work. The symptoms came on around 4pm.
I couldn't read the prescription sheet so phoned in someone to relieve me. There was 2" of snow outside, I was in short sleeves and drinking iced water, yet my temp was 41.
The next three days disapeared.
Thank you to my wife, who poured water down my neck.

[johnbutcher]

Note.
I called for help before I became disabled.

[Echnaton]

Now coincidently I am at home because of tendonitis. the doctor prescribed an anti-inflammatory that I think was behind my feeling of uneasiness in my side. My grandmother prescribed rubbing heated olive oil (known of anti-inflammatory benefits) on the tendon and wrapping it. I did and afterwards I felt pain and I said to myself that I bruised myself and shouldn't have listened to her. Nonetheless, the second day  I felt much much better. I can't say, however, that it was because of olive oil because it might be of resting also.

Hope you get better soon.

The plural of anecdote is anecdotes, not evidence.  Humans are simple no good at determining cause and effect relationships from among multiple inputs and variable results.  That is why folk medicines are typically useless. 

Everyone should take all medicines with care.  Many are very powerful but have potentially bad side effects.  However you have more information available about standardized pharmaceutical's than folk remedies, such as tea, because tea can be made from practically anything.

[Jason Thompson]

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.

[gwiz]

Ah yes, sorry for the English confusion..I am talking about common cold. excuse my english

In that case, my answer is that I just treat the symptoms - non-prescription painkillers for the sore throat, decongestants for the blocked nose, pastilles for the cough.

As I said, I now get the vaccine each year to prevent flu, which I last had in 1991.