Husband gave me his cold.

[tvillemom]

OK....trying to stay raw....hubby gave me his cold. You know, drainage, sore throat...not really congested, but his cold developed into a really bad, deep cough. I didn't want this to happen to me, so I immediately started on meds to combat this.
So all you serious raw fooders out there, do you take meds when you get a cold? I know its not a detox....but then again I've heard people say ALL symptoms are some sort of detox that I should let MY body take care of. Funny, a year ago, I wouldn't have worried so much.
DH and I are going out of town next weekend,(flying to Puerto Rico) and I can't be down and out with a bad cold.....trying to get the house clean, kids schoolwork (we homeschool) pack for everyone (the kids are spending the night away too)...so I need to be able to function.
Sorry for the long thread....guess I would like to heal naturally, but am scared of things getting much worse.
Wendi

[Revvell]

Even before eating raw I didn't take drugs. Drugs have never been known to cure anything, just to mask the symptoms.

The problem so many have here with detox is, the system does not understand drugs so, it'll hoard them in the liver then, when people start eating better, the body will eliminate these drugs, some way, some how. THAT is part of detox. As long as one keeps putting drugs in their bodies, they will have to contend with detox.

Yesterday I started what many would perceive as a "cold". (Where did that name come from anyway? I'm not cold. My temperature, if anything is warm). I've been sneezing, blowing my nose like crazy, my eyes are watering, low energy, yet drugs? Not even in my awareness until I read this post AND I'm doing a conference call with a client at 10 this a.m., a teleconference at noon and leaving Thursday for a live, day-long conference on Friday. (I've sneezed 5-6 times so far since I started typing this).

Drugs? Not on your life. See, you're assuming you "might" get worse. I KNOW I'll feel better. Much of what happens with us is how we pereive things and what we tell ourselves. You're coming from fear; I'm coming from healthy, joy, happiness. I'm thank-filled my body can do what it does. I'll not stop it. As a matter of fact, I'll assist it with lots of fluids ~ and still do what I need to do today, tomorrow, etc......

What it comes down to is trust.

Oh! I read your sigline. "Temple" and "drugs" don't seem congruent to me. Do they to you?

Revvell

[SedonaSun]

Sounds like what I had/have.... the cough is still with me a couple weeks later, though it's not very often at all anymore, but still there, which seems odd.

I don't do the drug thing either -- I hate taking them, they kick off my restless leg syndrome, and I hate that drug hangover spacey feeling the next day.

For the cough, I took some natural (all herbal) cough syrup at night to sleep... worked surprisingly well. Didn't eat much, usually just want oranges or orange juice. Usually I don't take anything at night, but when it keeps me and hubby up all night, I feel something is warranted so I can rest.

Sorry you're dealing with it...

[fruit]

Tvillemom,I just wanted to share my experience...
Last week my kids were sick with the flu and strep throat and i was so afraid of getting it because when i lived on fast food i always got every single cold out there.And when i get sick i get it really bad because of my health problems,Well i started to drink a smoothie that i named the 333 i use 3 oranges juiced,3 bananas,and 3 tablespoons of coconut oil with some ice..Well what do you know one day i wake up feeling like im getting this flu so i comtinued to drink my huge 333 smoothie and can you beleive for the first time in my life i beat the flu from actually hitting me hard....
Im still surprised..Good luck and thank for listening to my boring story.... :D

[dreamrawalwz]

As you said you heard, it IS detox...in a way. Meds will just mask the symptoms and put them on hold for a later date. MUCH better for you to just let it run its course instead of stopping it.

[JennaBoBenna]

I'm just getting over a cold. I didn't take anything for it. I fasted the first day of it, though, but that didn't last long! lol!
My cold didn't get worse at all. It was only really bad the first two days or so, and only then I was just getting rid of a lot of mucous!!

[tvillemom]

OK....that's kinda what I thought.....and yes, Revvell, as much as it seems like "DUH"...my body is a temple, I SHOULD treat it that way, and drugs are definitely a NO-NO! Thanks again you guys....I will learn to trust my body more!
Wendi

[juliebove]

I haven't used any cold meds for many years. Partly because they don't work! They do treat symptoms only but aren't really going to make that cold go away any better. And partly because I am diabetic and we can't use cold meds. I do treat various symptoms though to give me relief. For congestion, I use a hot pepper nose spray or a salt water nasal douche. Salt water in a gargle is good for a sore throat. And I use various inhalant type things like Olbas or some other sort of bath salts for colds in the bath. I also have a small Olbas herbal inhaler to keep in my purse. I also eat a few goji berries and take an elderberry supplement or drink elderberry tea to boost my immunity.

[Seren]

The only thing I take/ used to take when I got colds was loads of vit C, but now I don't need it, I have plenty from my food :D

Seren xXx

[GreenPrince]

I never get a cold.

[mongomango]

I very rarely get sick, and the last time I did was in very peculiar circumstance...but I own a business and if I cannot be away or if it's not ok for me to be operating at less than optimum, I will take 5 drops of grapefruit seed extract in a glass of water 5 times a day. The next morning all symptoms are gone. Or, I will put 3 or 4 drops of oil of oregano under my tongue several times a day.

[Juicyfruit]

In the last four months I had two brief episodes of flu/cold type symptoms and I did nothing but drink fresh juices. They were both over in two to three days. What percent raw are you? Make sure you just eat 100% raw or juice fast and it will pass quickly.

[GreenPrince]

I never get a cold.In former times when I felt a beginning cold, I found that c-vitamin was useless for me,
but I soon discovered a supreme method to stop every beginning cold, and it never failed. Never.

The first time this happened, I said to myself by chance:
”What's this? I can't catch a cold now, I am too busy. I have no time for a cold.”
The cold surrendered.

Here is a saving clause: I am not sure it always is good to stop a cold as I used to do.

To you who get cold, my basic advise: water, warmth and rest.
Particular water: the mucous membranes need a high humidity to fight the invading microorganisms.
Water is generally more imortant than food in the initial stage of an illness.

Mongomango, I will tell my busy friends your method this coming winter.

[eatyourbroccoli]

apple cider vinegar.

1/4 to 1/2 cup of it dissolved in 12 ouces or so of water. add 1/4ish cup of lemon juice and some honey/agave to take the sting off the ACV.

will taste a LOT like lemonade, and will help decongest you within the hour.

also boiling ACV in a pot and standing over it inhaling the steam will open your nasal passages RIGHT up..and help with any chest tightness.

i also included bee pollen in my diet for those few days (threw it in some smoothies) because i do eat bee products and i think bee pollen can be incredibly beneficial to our health.

my stepdad gave me a cold about a month ago. i did the aboves things and it was gone in 3 days. he had his for over 2 weeks.

[Lay-Lay]

ginger marshmellow tea with a touch of mint.

[Revvell]

It's funny to me as I read this how people blame one person for their "cold" as though they don't get out and in contact with other folk. I've had people not want to come to classes I've held because they didn't "want to give the other students" their "cold". I always laughed. Like my class was the only contact the students had with people and this one person was the one and only person who had a "cold" and SURELY this person "gave" it to them

Please, if you don't want something, don't catch or receive it... just let it go on by. ;)

Personally, when I've got some cleansing or detoxing going on, I look to my own immune system. Same with manifesting ~ if I'm not getting enough money, clients, etc., what's going on with me?

Revvell

[Ginger]

If I feel ill I fast & rest & drink lots of water maybe some wheatgrass. If for some reason my body wants food, I eat high water content fruits & drink fruit juices. I keep it simple so my body can focus on healing. Never took the drugs even back in my SAD days. Why surpress your cough when it's clearly trying to get out? Why stop a fever when it's there to kill the bacteria off? Why stop your nose from running when that stuff needs to get out!

[alex]

I never take anything either.

Drink lots of water - only water - and stop eating. Food digestion is the most energy intensive job the body has to do. Let the body use that 25% energy to heal and detox the cold to the best of its ability.

You just have to ride it out.

Drink lots of water


alex

[Migrou]

I don't do drugs either, I drink plenty of fluids and eat lots of citrus fruits (vitamin C). I will also take hot baths or walk in order to break a sweat and get the toxins out of my body.

I have been pregnant and breastfeeding for the past two years so drugs are definitely out. Even before that I chose not to take pills, I don't believe in them.

[rawnora]

I strongly agree with Rawveganmom and alex.

The fact that you and your husband have the same symptoms just means that is how the body eliminates toxins (think about how much overlapping of symptoms there is from one affliction to another), and both your bodies needed to bring waste levels down at the same time. Either you both eat and live the same way or you both recently overindulged at the same time. Sometimes it just happens coincidentally. For all the times when we get sick and nobody else around us is sick, we never seem to question the idea that when it happens simultaneously with another person, it means we "caught" it.

The body is wiser than our intellects. It is total master of its inner domain, and only it can decide when it is time to clean house. After making dietary improvements, within a period of time that will vary from individual to individual, our bodies use the vitality they have regained (from not having to eliminate the waste generated by unhealthful foods) to perform very labor and resource-demanding deep cleansing chores like producing fever, which is a mechanism that accelerates elimination. I had such episodes 3 times during my first 2 years of being raw, and the last one was very severe and included a high fever. I had not had fever since my late teens. Fever is so demanding of bodily energy that it more often happens in children, who have more vitality with which to reject accumulated poisons.

When we have acute symptoms, it's best to stop eating or eat lightly of juicy fruits only, stop working, rest and stay warm but get fresh air and sunshine if possible. It may not be convenient or pleasant but it will lead to a higher level of health. All remedies only keep the body from eliminating waste, even if they are "natural".

Hope you feel better soon.

Regards,
Nora
www.RawSchool.com

[rawnora]

I just read your post again and wanted to add that the only time acute symptoms get "much worse" is when remedies are administered. Taking remedies is a crap shoot, really, because while they sometimes do completely suppress symptoms, they also sometimes force the body to produce more severe symptoms. That's what happens when people think their colds "turn into" pneumonia, bronchitis, flu, etc. Simple cold symptoms are self-limiting. The body will turn them off when it has had a chance to do what it needs to do, and this will happen a lot more quickly if you simply rest and stop eating.

Going raw isn't just about eating the right foods, it's about respecting and cooperating with the body. One of the many benefits of eating the right foods is that it allows the body to catch up on all the elimination it's gotten behind on. The typical American diet produces so much waste that the body's eliminative channels cannot keep up. The body stores what it can in fatty tissues and elsewhere but the rest circulates in the bloodstream, irritates and inflames the tissues and organs it contacts and wreaks general havoc. Taking remedies amounts to choosing to retain these wastes rather than allowing them to leave.

Have fun on your trip. :)

Nora

[tvillemom]

I agree with ya'll and stopped taking the drugs....I feel much better...still have alot of mucus, but it's funny because one minute I'm fine...then bam....blow my nose and I'm fine again. I'm juice fasting toda...I just felt like I needed the "energy" to detox, and didn't feel like digesting food....so YES, I agree with ya'll. I haven't even told DH that I quit taking his meds....and in the old days I would've thought I would've gotten an infection, or severe sore throat....(because I started out with a sore throat) but all of my symptoms seem to be passing! Thanks again....nice to see that so many of you have never taken drugs. My DH thinks as soon as you get sick you immediately take something. I DO BELIEVE my body can heal itself...and I'm on a mission to prove to DH that it can!
Wendi