Supplements & Immune Boosters

ldot123

Hi gang,

Now that winter is approaching, does anyone have any hints for fighting off colds and so on. I do get a flu shot every year but that certainly does not cover everything. I have been prone to picking up every bug going around since my first chemo for Hodgkins in 88 and my most recent adventure in chemoland in 2007. I have tried zinc, vitamans C & D, echinacea etc.. Anybody have any other potions that might boost the immune system?

Cheers, Lance

KathiM

How about the 'brights'?
Ramp up your colorful fruits and vegies. Green tea, too. Mmmmm, blueberries! Packed with anti-oxidents and natural germ killers...

Wash your hands well and often. I am a computer consultant. I kept getting colds, flu until I stopped touching my face while I was working on someone's keyboard. I also started carrying a bottle of hand sanitizer...I was amazed at how this cut back on the bugs!

Hugs, Kathi

PS. Oh, and I keep a supply of a natural flu thingy called Oscillococcinum. I take a dose before getting on an airplane...and after I land...works REALLY well...even when I am well.

Unknown

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

KathiM

unknown said:

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

...and more....
These toothbrush thingies also shield the brush from 'other' germs that fly in the bathroom when the toilet is flushed...(hummmmm, this MAY be Too Much Information)....I have mine behind a closed door....(the toilet AND the toothbrush).

Hugs, Kathi

scouty

Hi Lance
While I was on chemo and since I concentrated on my ANC (absolute neutral count which is part of your white blood cell testing). It is your bodies ability to fight infections. If memory serves, the range is like 1.7 to 7.0, the higher the better. I juiced fresh veggies, ate loads of mushrooms, garlic and onions (natural immune builders) and took supplements. The 2 that were supposed to help my immune system the most were astragulas and mangenese (both can be found in health food stores and are not expensive at all). As Kathi says, eats loads of dark green veggies especially raw (like you get in salads).

I hope this helps,
Lisa P.

dixchi

DeBug
I have a bad habit of putting pencils or a finger in my mouth or around my mouth somewhere
when I am concentrating on something. A habit to break to keep away bugs. I recently
attended a workshop given by a pharmacist who recommeded singing the birthday song while
washing hands, that is about 20 seconds, she was talking about the MSRA stuff, a staph
bug, and how to control it.

changing2

Anti Viral Tissues!
My wife and I started using the Anti Viral tissues by Kleenex and niether of us, has had even a sniffle! The box reads "kills 99.9 of cold and flu viruses". We swear by them! Hope this helps!

Kanort

Green Tea!!!
Hi Lance,

I so believe in the healing powers of green tea. I make up a big batch and add one bag of regular tea and two peach tea bags to the mixture! YUMMY! Sweeten it with stevia!

Hugs,

Kay

ldot123

Kanort said:

Green Tea!!!
Hi Lance,

I so believe in the healing powers of green tea. I make up a big batch and add one bag of regular tea and two peach tea bags to the mixture! YUMMY! Sweeten it with stevia!

Hugs,

Kay

Stevia?
Hi Kay,

What is Stevia? And thanks, will try the green tea mixture.

Cheers,
Lance

KathiM

ldot123 said:

Stevia?
Hi Kay,

What is Stevia? And thanks, will try the green tea mixture.

Cheers,
Lance

If you are in treatment....
Believe it or not, my first oncologist said "NO WAY" to green tea. My second said "Whatever". Just make sure to ask, if you are in active treatment.

Hugs, Kathi

CherylHutch

ldot123 said:

Stevia?
Hi Kay,

What is Stevia? And thanks, will try the green tea mixture.

Cheers,
Lance

Taken from Wikopedia
Lance,

Stevia is a genus of about 240 species of herbs and shrubs in the sunflower family (Asteraceae), native to subtropical and tropical South America and Central America. The species Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, commonly known as sweetleaf, sweet leaf, sugarleaf, or simply stevia, is widely grown for its sweet leaves. As a sugar substitute, stevia's taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, although some of its extracts may have a bitter or licorice-like aftertaste at high concentrations.

A lot of folk who are on sugar-restricted diets will use Stevia as a sugar substitute if they aren't comfortable or react to the chemical sugar substitutes like Equal, Sweet and Low, etc.

Hugggggs,

Cheryl

CherylHutch

KathiM said:

If you are in treatment....
Believe it or not, my first oncologist said "NO WAY" to green tea. My second said "Whatever". Just make sure to ask, if you are in active treatment.

Hugs, Kathi

A variety of opinions
Kathi,

This is a prime example of what I was trying to say in another topic about the belief of sugar feeding cancer vs it being a bit of a myth. There are so many opinions out on the internet... as well as from oncologist to oncologist. So what you said above about one oncologist saying "NO WAY" to green tea and a second saying "Whatever"... it just goes to show no one has the ultimate in answers, so again, we have to rely on what feels right for ourselves

Huggggs,

Cheryl

KathiM

CherylHutch said:

A variety of opinions
Kathi,

This is a prime example of what I was trying to say in another topic about the belief of sugar feeding cancer vs it being a bit of a myth. There are so many opinions out on the internet... as well as from oncologist to oncologist. So what you said above about one oncologist saying "NO WAY" to green tea and a second saying "Whatever"... it just goes to show no one has the ultimate in answers, so again, we have to rely on what feels right for ourselves

Huggggs,

Cheryl

I agree completely...
I felt SO MUCH better when I was drinking green tea, I did it anyway...lol...I didn't think to ask till after my first set of infusions, and I had been drinking it...

All I'm saying is that your doctor needs to know everything, however benign it may seem, so that he/she is on the same page with you. Even OTC vitamins...

Hugs, Kathi

pamness

You got lots of great information
I managed to get through two years - one year of surgery, treatment, etc. and another year ned, without a cold, etc.

I washed my hands whenever I was in a public place and went to the bathroom, I used a paper towel to open the bathroom door (in public places), I avoided movies and restaurants when they were crowded and went at less crowded times, I carried an anibacterial spray and hand sanitzing washes - to use when someone sneezed on my credit card, or had a cold when I handled money.

I stopped touching my hands to my face - I am actually not a germaphobe. All this occupied about 1 minute a day - the outcome was great.

Just use common sense it can really help. You don't have to go nuts.

Pam

ldot123

CherylHutch said:

Taken from Wikopedia
Lance,

Stevia is a genus of about 240 species of herbs and shrubs in the sunflower family (Asteraceae), native to subtropical and tropical South America and Central America. The species Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, commonly known as sweetleaf, sweet leaf, sugarleaf, or simply stevia, is widely grown for its sweet leaves. As a sugar substitute, stevia's taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, although some of its extracts may have a bitter or licorice-like aftertaste at high concentrations.

A lot of folk who are on sugar-restricted diets will use Stevia as a sugar substitute if they aren't comfortable or react to the chemical sugar substitutes like Equal, Sweet and Low, etc.

Hugggggs,

Cheryl

Stevia
Hey Cheryl.

Thanks for the definition. Forgot to check Wikapaedia- must still be the chemo fog :-)

By the way, I am another Canuck - from the heartland known as Toronto (but don't hold that against me) Thanks to everyone for their replies. Some really good suggestions.

Going for my 2 year check tomorrow from my battle with Hodgkins 20 years ago. It will be interesting to talk to my Hodgkins Onc about developing colon cancer. Will let you know what transpires.

Cheers, Lance

CherylHutch

ldot123 said:

Stevia
Hey Cheryl.

Thanks for the definition. Forgot to check Wikapaedia- must still be the chemo fog :-)

By the way, I am another Canuck - from the heartland known as Toronto (but don't hold that against me) Thanks to everyone for their replies. Some really good suggestions.

Going for my 2 year check tomorrow from my battle with Hodgkins 20 years ago. It will be interesting to talk to my Hodgkins Onc about developing colon cancer. Will let you know what transpires.

Cheers, Lance

Toronto?????
Hey my fellow Canuckian!!! You really must think of moving out West . Did I actually hear Toronto, or just outside of Toronto, got snow the other day??? It's just waaaaay to early for that kind of nonsense!!!

Hey, good luck with the Hodgkins Onc tomorrow, although I'm sure, after 20 years, he's going to have nothing but good things to say. Meanwhile, it will be very interesting to hear if he/she thinks there's any link between the Hodgkins and the colon cancer.

Do let us know how it goes!!

Hugggggs,

Cheryl

CherylHutch

pamness said:

You got lots of great information
I managed to get through two years - one year of surgery, treatment, etc. and another year ned, without a cold, etc.

I washed my hands whenever I was in a public place and went to the bathroom, I used a paper towel to open the bathroom door (in public places), I avoided movies and restaurants when they were crowded and went at less crowded times, I carried an anibacterial spray and hand sanitzing washes - to use when someone sneezed on my credit card, or had a cold when I handled money.

I stopped touching my hands to my face - I am actually not a germaphobe. All this occupied about 1 minute a day - the outcome was great.

Just use common sense it can really help. You don't have to go nuts.

Pam

Cold/Flu...
Hey Pam,

I'm thinking now that mine was either a false alarm or I have a super immune system now. There was no doubt in my mind that I was coming down with something... scratchy sore throat, a few sniffles, sneezes and even a bit of a dry cough. Now, here we are on Sunday and no sign of anything. So, either it was a cold that decided not to develop (I did stay home all day and night yesterday and took it easy), or it really is the cement blasting that is going on at the apartment building next door and the cement dust is getting to me.

I try to be aware... washing hands, using sanitizer (when I remember), etc. but staying away from places where a lot of people gather, I have to admit I still do that, just because that is my lifestyle. That's why I was not surprised that I may be coming down with a cold since last Sunday was my big Celebration of Life and Friendship party... and there was a mixture of kids and adults in the gang of 200. There had to be a bunch of germs floating about.

But today, I seem to be doing quite good I'm a little leary of the anti-bacterial products. Again, in moderation... but if used to excess, we get the problem of bugs becoming immune to them and then the super bug emerges. That scares the heck out of me to ever be exposed and contract one of those super bugs.

Hugggggs,

Cheryl

ldot123

CherylHutch said:

Toronto?????
Hey my fellow Canuckian!!! You really must think of moving out West . Did I actually hear Toronto, or just outside of Toronto, got snow the other day??? It's just waaaaay to early for that kind of nonsense!!!

Hey, good luck with the Hodgkins Onc tomorrow, although I'm sure, after 20 years, he's going to have nothing but good things to say. Meanwhile, it will be very interesting to hear if he/she thinks there's any link between the Hodgkins and the colon cancer.

Do let us know how it goes!!

Hugggggs,

Cheryl

Hodgkins
Hi Cheryl,

No snow here - yet! Actually a balmy 27 celsius (yeah right)

My Hodgkins doctor said at the time I got colon cancer that the radiation I received for Hodgkins may have contributed to the colon cancer. They are just starting to see stuff like this with long term Hodgkins survivors. Will let you know if I get nore info.

Go Leafs! Lance