a continuation of Teh Snot

[baratron]

I have Teh Snot still/again. What I think happened is that my cold went away, and I either caught another one straight on top of it, or this is really severe allergic rhinitis. I don't know which, but my nose is running like a tap while my ears are completely stuffed up and congested. I've been awake an hour and got through more than 10 "man-size" tissues already.

Both echinacea and zinc do terrible things to my digestive system. I'm also vaguely under the impression that one or both of them don't mix well with allergies - where the problem isn't so much a "bad" immune system so much that the immune system is busy fighting the wrong things. I already take a good multivitamin, and extended-release vitamin C, combined with a pretty good diet containing multiple fruits & vegetables and industrial quantities of innocent smoothies. I've started washing my hands religiously when I get in from "the outside", even if I don't think I've touched anything. Beyond that... um.

The only sensible thing I can think of is not to go out or see people when I can't reliably breathe through my nose, as breathing through your mouth bypasses a lot of the respiratory tract's cilia and mucus cells, so makes you far, far more likely to catch an inhaled virus. But that means cancelling a lot more work than I currently do, which'll be inconvenient to students and leave me short of money, so it's not really that sensible. But I really do not need constant Snot for a couple of months of the year, nor the threat of chronic fatigue due to hyperventilation or resurgent Epstein-Barr. There must be something I can do to improve my immune system, surely?

Comments

[lizw.livejournal.com]

I'm also vaguely under the impression that one or both of them don't mix well with allergies - where the problem isn't so much a "bad" immune system so much that the immune system is busy fighting the wrong things.

I find that with echinacea. Zinc doesn't cause me any problems (thank goodness, since it seems to help with both my libido and my eating disorder issues.)

[jenny-gould.livejournal.com]

I am much healthier eating organic food, as it seems to have more trace minerals. Best hair and nails in my life.

I also discovered that loads of germs are actually caught through touching, and then rubbing your eye. So, wash your hands fequently, especially if you shake hands with lots of people. Keep things like keyboards and other common contact items wiped clean. Cold germs can survive for ages.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

How are you taking zinc, and what brand are you using? I found that zinc tablets that you swallow gave me the most awful diarrhoea, whereas chewable zinc tablets made me vomit. Admittedly, I haven't tried either for a few years, because I really don't like vomiting :/ It may be that formulations have changed since then.

[ludy]

I guess stormy Brighton does agree with you - which is a shame.
There is a lot of debate about echinacea and auto imune probelms, some pople say it can be stimulating and others say that is has a more balancing effcet, but i haven't seem anyting about it and allergies.
The VM-2000 that you take has some zinc in and as you tolearte that maybe you can find some low dose zinc in the format (it says it's zinc as oxide, amino acid chelate) and see if you are ok with taking that too and if so try grdualy steping up the ammount.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Do you have massive quantities of ethanol-based hand sanitizer on sale there like we do? It really does make it easier to clean your hands while you're out instead of waiting until you get home; I at least can't help touching my face even if I try not to do it at all, so cleaner hands help me catch fewer colds. (Admittedly I do feel a bit mad for sterilizing my skin so frequently and publicly.)

I've had good luck with treatment by my acupuncturist and naturopath, even though I do have to sort of go "la la la" to myself while she says the high-woowoo stuff.

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

Meditation is said to help the immune system.

Sometimes snottiness is made worse by an allergy to the bacteria involved.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Nah - this particular batch of Snot started on Friday night/Saturday. I got out of bed somewhere around 3.45pm on Saturday afternoon, because I was just so snotty and miserable.

Thank you for the observation about the zinc! I'd noticed it in there, but hadn't explicitly thought about quantities or method of binding... hrm. When I last tried zinc it was cheap nasty chewable zinc from Boots because it was all I could afford. But lots of things are improved by chelation - and it's even a treatment for heavy metal poisoning! The non-constipating Solgar iron supplement, Gentle Iron, is chelated, and as far as I know it's the only iron supplement in existence that doesn't completely screw up the digestive system. I also do get on very much better with natural source or nature-identical vitamins & minerals than I do with purely synthetic ones, godknows why, except my body is overly fussy.

So I'll go to the health food shop in the morning and see what Solgar or Viridian do in the way of chelated zinc. This supplement exists (http://www.solgar-vitamins.co.uk/product-details.asp?prodid=800) but may well cost a small fortune. If it does, I'll try one (http://www.solgar-vitamins.co.uk/product-details.asp?prodid=3725) of the (http://www.solgar-vitamins.co.uk/product-details.asp?prodid=3670) others (http://www.solgar-vitamins.co.uk/product-details.asp?prodid=3720).

You're good for my health, my love :)

[lizw.livejournal.com]

Swallowing, one Tesco's own-brand capsule per day.