Immune Boost 1-2-3 Cautions

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Someone recently asked an excellent question: “Is there any risk in taking higher amounts of echinacea?” I’ll extend that to include vitamin C, garlic, and probiotics. The answer is possibly. I’m not hedging, but it’s complicated. Let me give you some examples.

One factor that can apply to any supplement is allergies. Echinacea and garlic are plants, and you may be allergic to one of the components of the plant. Instead of reducing your allergic response, it may heighten the response, causing the watery eyes and runny nose you’re trying to avoid. There’s no way to know for sure other than trial and error. If something makes you feel worse, it goes without question that you’ll stop it immediately.

Another potential issue is your genetics; you may process a phytochemical from these plants faster or slower than typical. That means it could be metabolized out of your system before it really has a positive effect or it could take longer to metabolize and stay in your system longer. There are no genetic tests for how you’ll react to any supplement—it’s trial and error.

One other aspect that’s important is whether you take medications. No surprise that there’s incomplete research on the interaction of every plant with every medication, so there’s no way to know how an herb or nutrient will interact with your meds. Garlic may reduce the coagulation of your blood; if you’re on blood thinners, you may not be able to take garlic because it could thin your blood too much. Or you might be able to take it because of your genetics and how you metabolize it. See how complicated it gets?

What you should know is that most people will not have a problem using the 1-2-3 immune boost. If you do, do what any reasonable person would do and stop taking it. On Saturday, I’ll cover the issue of using echinacea if you have an autoimmune disease.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Protect Yourself Before You Travel

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Paula’s cousin recently visited friends in Arizona, and after she flew home, she got a fever with all the trimmings of the flu. After last week’s posts on boosting the immune system to deal with colds and allergies, there’s a little more you need to know.

Spring break is right around the corner and if you’re traveling, you need to prepare for it. It’s especially true if you’re going to foreign countries but any time you travel, you should do one more thing besides use the 1-2-3 immune boost approach I gave you last week: take a probiotic supplement with prebiotics every day for a week before you go and every day you’re there.

Your immune system starts in the gut; if your gut is healthy, your immune system will be stronger. Probiotics are the good microbes that help us digest food and do thousands of other things to help our overall health. Prebiotics are the fiber and sugar that feed these bacteria. Adding a probiotic to the 1-2-3 regimen, beginning a week before you travel, will help when you eat foods you don’t normally eat and are exposed to viruses and bacteria that are not in your everyday environment.

After all, the idea is to relax and renew, not be forced to the sidelines.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Immune Boost 1-2-3: Vitamin C

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The third part of our immune system boost is vitamin C. Also known as ascorbic acid, it’s best known as an antioxidant. From the research of Linus Pauling until today, vitamin C has been researched extensively. Even though vitamin C hasn’t been proven to prevent a cold, it does seem to reduce the symptoms of a cold. That may be the result of its antioxidant capacity to reduce inflammation.

When the body is exposed to viruses or allergens, the immune response is triggered. That’s desirable, of course, but what we don’t like are the symptoms associated with the response such a watery eyes, runny nose, congestion, and on and on. While the exact mechanism is unknown, what may be happening is that vitamin C may be clearing up the free radicals on immune response cells, thereby allowing them to function better. No one knows but it makes sense.

Take 250–500 mg three times a day. Some people increase their C to 10 times that amount, but my strategy is always to take the lowest amount to get the result I want.

CGE123Let’s summarize our immune boost 1-2-3:

250–500 mg vitamin C; usually 1 tablet
600 mg garlic; usually 2 tablets
500 mg echinacea; usually 3 tablets

Just remember C-G-E-1-2-3; check the label to make sure you have the right strength. Take this combo three times a day until the symptoms are resolved. Whether a virus or seasonal allergies, I’ve found this works best. Of course, genetics may make one immune booster more effective for some people; that’s where trial and error come in.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Immune Boost 1-2-3: Garlic

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The second part of our immune boost supplements is garlic. Garlic has been noted to have beneficial properties for over 5,000 years. Garlic thins the blood, thereby benefiting blood pressure, and helps lower cholesterol. Garlic does many things, but what benefits our immunity is its ability to boost the immune system while reducing inflammation.

There is little question that garlic helps the immune system. It’s been used as a dietary treatment to help the immune system recover from chemotherapy; it’s also been used in supplement form to help the immune system get and stay stronger. That’s an obvious way it helps with viruses and allergies, but it also acts as an anti-inflammatory. It’s important to remember that inflammation occurs whenever our body is under attack—not broken-leg inflammation but the release of negative hormones. Garlic helps reduce that type of inflammation.

Just as with echinacea, it’s important to begin as soon as the first tickle occurs. The quantity would be 600 mg taken three times a day. That gets our immune system starting to work better, but there’s one more thing we need. I’ll cover that on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Immune Boost 1-2-3: Echinacea

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The cold and flu season is still around. The seasonal allergy season is right around the corner and may have started depending on where you live. When you feel that first tickle in the back of your throat, that first nasally sensation, that’s when you have to take action. That’s what we do in my house, and that’s what I’m going to cover this week.

It begins with echinacea. The research on echinacea is equivocal when it comes to treating colds, but when it comes to boosting the immune system at the beginning of immune challenges, the research supports its use. There are three key factors.

  • Echinacea must be started at the first hint of a symptom, as I suggested above.
  • The dose must be high enough to stimulate the immune system; I recommend 500 mg of echinacea derived from both the root and aerial parts three times per day.
  • Echinacea works best for those with a compromised immune system. Even the healthiest person will catch a cold or have seasonal allergies, but if you have a weak immune system to begin with, or it’s been weakened by illness or stress, echinacea will be even more effective.

That’s where you begin. There are two more to go coming the rest of this week.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet
Reference: Adv Ther. 2015 Mar;32(3):187-200.

 

How to Fix a Broken Heart

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What causes broken heart syndrome (BHS)? Most types of cardiomyopathy are idiopathic—no one really knows how it happens. In the case of BHS, there’s a severe stressor, good or bad, that precipitates the symptoms. But what is actually going on? I found two potential explanations.

First, an excess amount of catecholamines are released in response to the stress. The theory is that this stuns the heart muscle and temporarily causes the muscle weakness. The second theory involves an increase in sympathetic activity in the heart. In short, the nerves that stimulate the heart to beat faster keep firing. Between the two factors, the heart tissue gives the symptoms of BHS.

Another factor may be hormone levels; BHS mostly happens to post-menopausal women over 55 years old. More research is needed to find out whether this is truly a factor or not.

The most important thing to know is that the effects are temporary; the heart tissue is not permanently damaged and can recover. Here’s the important point: the person still needs to be treated in a hospital. Left untreated, the person can die. Typical treatments may be medications to slow down the heart rate and reduce blood pressure. While there may be no blockages, all those tests may show excessive plaque, so changes in diet and medications may be warranted. Typically the heart can recover in a month or two with no permanent damage.

Can you prevent BHS? After all, not everyone who has a severe stress event gets BHS. It’s hard to say with certainty, but there are three things that may help. First, have a strong heart to begin with; exercise is critical for that. Second, find a way to deal with stress on a regular basis: yoga, prayer, meditation, counseling, whatever works for you—do it. It can help with the stress response.

Finally, never, never, ever ignore chest pain. In this case, I’m talking to my women readers. I rant all the time about men who ignore chest pain. Don’t be like them! Women take on the role of caregivers, and that’s so important to our society, but this is a time when you have to take care of yourself first. When in doubt, check it out.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Broken Hearts and Octopus Traps

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Broken heart syndrome (BHS) has several names, such as stress-induced cardiomyopathy. One you’ve probably never heard is takotsubo cardiomyopathy.

BHS is similar to other forms of cardiomyopathy in that the heart gets significantly weaker. If you view the appearance of the heart during echocardiography, the bottom of the heart, specifically the left ventricle, is weaker and balloons out more than normal when the heart contracts. Healthcare professionals in Japan thought it looked like the takotsubo, a pot used by Japanese fishermen for trapping octopus, thus the name.

The symptoms of BHS are severe pain deep in the chest along with shortness of breath. For some, there may be a build-up of fluid in the lungs that causes coughing and an inability to sleep lying down. It feels like a heart attack. Some of the changes in the EKG may look like a heart attack, but an angiogram will show no blockages causing a heart attack. Enzymes that rise during a heart attack will not follow the same pattern. The diagnosis can be confirmed by an echocardiogram which will show the ballooning effect.

On Saturday, I’ll finish up the treatment of BHS and what may help to prevent it.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Broken Heart Syndrome

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This week’s focus is on American Heart Month and specifically heart disease in women. While heart disease is the leading cause of death in both men and women, there’s one type of heart disease that affects more women than men: broken heart syndrome. Can you die from a broken heart? Absolutely. We’ll find out how this week.

Cardiomyopathy is a weakening of the muscle tissue of the heart. There are four major forms of cardiomyopathy and several minor ones that can affect men, women, and even children. Cardiomyopathy affects up to one in five people and most don’t know that they have it until serious symptoms start to develop. Shortness of breath, fatigue, and swelling in the ankles are the first symptoms people may notice, and the symptoms get more severe as the heart continues to weaken. Treatment can range from medications to a heart transplant in severe cases.

Broken heart syndrome is a special type of cardiomyopathy. The primary cause is severe stress such as the death of a loved one, hence the name. It’s not limited to extreme bad news; extreme good news can initiate the process as well. I’ll explain what happens to the heart in Thursday’s post. Until then, give your loved ones extra hugs and kisses today. More than anything, give them the most important thing above all else: time.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: http://bit.ly/2kWCbsT

 

The Way Things Used to Be

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On the radio, I heard a woman say, “I just want things to be the way they used to be!” That mirrors the frustration that I read from emails people send about being older. I don’t necessarily mean those over 60; I get the same type of frustration from 30-year-olds who find that their bodies don’t respond the way they did in their teens.

Things can’t be the way they used to be. Your body is a miracle, plain and simple, but it’s designed to run its course. It’s the original planned obsolescence. Hormones change. Joints wear. On top of that, we don’t do ourselves any favors with our lifestyle.

Things can’t be the way they used to be and that’s good. We remember what was good about those times, but we forget what wasn’t good and idealize the rest; we don’t remember the zits, the braces, and the awkwardness of inhabiting a body we weren’t used to using.

This goes back to the last two messages. You have to decide who’s in charge and then work to be the best version of you that you can be. Forget about the way things used to be—make your body the best that it can be today.

Spend some time examining your health habits. You may think you’re eating well, but it may not be enough of the right nutrients and that’s keeping you too thin or too heavy. The exercise you do may not be the best for the body you have today. It’s going to be trial and error, but you’ll do your research, consult the experts, and figure it out one piece at a time.

Stop wishing for a body gone by. Make what you have the best it can be right now. Who knows? It may just be better than you ever imagined it could be.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Who’s in Charge?

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“Make sure you define the disease; it doesn’t define you.”

That quote is from physician Dr. Louis Papa in a video I recently watched. What a powerful statement. While the discussion was about heart disease, he said it applies to any disease.

We all have health challenges; you won’t escape. Even if you have the best genetics, you can still have an accident that can disrupt your body. The key is how we respond to these health challenges.

There seems to be no end to the problems that ail us. I hear from people with an amazing litany of health problems: heart disease, diabetes, cancer, autoimmune disease, and so on. Some people seem to take a defensive position; they take treatments but allow the disease to define their life. They limit their world, not because they have to, but because they don’t believe they can live their life to the fullest. They allow the disease to define them.

I think it’s because they haven’t decided who’s in charge. As I said, we all will face some serious diseases and conditions in our life. Some are our own doing, others for reasons we just don’t understand right now. Just make sure you understand that you’re in charge. Talk with your doctor. Find out what you should and should not do. Like the doctor said, you define your disease. Then get about living your life again.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

 

Reference: https://youtu.be/4DJVLVwWwIY