Battling Colds and Allergies to Maintain a Healthy Immune System

Do you have a cold or is it allergies? Yes, it can be confusing for us sometimes. Rik Longenecker our health professional at the West Village store location shares some light on the differences between colds and allergies.

by Rik Longenecker

As seasons change the incidence of colds and allergies spike. Colds and allergies often present with a package of similar symptoms and can be confused with one another. Symptoms of each include runny nose, sore throat, fatigue, congestion. The major difference between them is that colds don’t last as long as allergies.

Colds are viruses; they are contagious. They take hold in your body when your immune system is compromised by any number of things; stress, lack of sleep, poor eating and exposure to other infected people. Colds are often accompanied by fever, which almost never happens with allergies.

Allergies are an overreaction of your immune system to an otherwise relatively benign substance that is perceived as an infectious agent. i.e. cat hair, dust mites, milk products.

There’s a saying, “Life happens”. Stressful periods will happen to all of us but the state of your health will largely determine how often you get sick and how severe it is.  Most will recommend external preventative measures like hand washing, avoiding sick people and staying indoors when the pollen count is high. While there is merit to these measures, focusing on internal strategies to strengthen you so that your immunity can resist these problems seems more helpful.

Strategically, supplements used to manage each condition are as follows: 

Vitamin D3- Getting your D levels to around 60 will be highly beneficial to modulating the immune system. It is also chemo protective, i.e. cancer protective at those levels. Higher amounts of D3, those above 3000IU should be accompanied by K2.

Olive leaf- powerful antiviral.

Oregano Oil – Antibacterial

White Tea/Green Tea- Gargling with it daily should reduce the incidence of colds dramatically.

Echinacea- Antiviral

Astragalus- supports your immune system so viruses don’t start

Vitamin D- Getting your D levels to around 60 will be highly beneficial to modulating the immune system. It is also chemo protective, i.e. cancer protective at those levels. Higher amounts of D3, those above 3000IU should be accompanied by K2.

Stinging Nettle & Quercetin- helpful in reducing histamine and they do it without the side effects of the OTC antihistamines.

NAC- Will help with mucous

Curcumin- Reduces inflammation.

Perilla Frutescens Seed Extract -Reduces inflammation and supports the immune system in the lungs and intestine

Nigella Sativa (Black Seed) – reduces histamine and is a bronchodilator

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