This is the handout I give to my patients.  I would love to hear your stories and your tips.  We haven't found the cure to the common cold but there are many things we can do to support us while we have one. What Is A Cold? A cold is a viral sinus infection- “too much snot”, coughing, facial pain, sore throat, headache, ear popping or pain, pain in the sides of neck- glands feel “swollen”, coughing all night (like in the Nyquil commercials). A chest cold is when the drainage gets into the chest.  It can feel like you have a fist in front of your chest or you can’t take in a deep breath (but it should not feel as though you are short of breath).   Studies show we treat colds too quickly as sinus infections and we are not allowing your body to heal itself.  Even mild bacterial sinusitis does NOT typically need antibiotics.  The more antibiotics that you use now, the less effective your immune system will be and the less effective the antibiot...

There are so many ways to stay well during flu season that it will be impossible to cover all the possibilities, so I will cover the ones I have experience with.  The flu vaccine is rarely effective (a few years ago it was 19% effective) and I will post about that in another blog, so we need to focus on more natural ways of staying well. First and foremost is your diet.  Sugar lowers your immune system and simple carbs like bread, cookies, crackers, etc turns into sugar so cleaning up your diet will go a long way.  Eat a majority plant based diet and include good protein sources like beans, lentils, fish, chicken, lean meats and eggs (organic and free range when possible).  Add in a cup or two of daily bone broth as it helps with gut function and immune system.  That gelatinous stuff on top when it cools is really good stuff for you so don't scoop that off. Eat plenty of garlic and oregano as they have natural infection fighting properties.  Get plent...

Shingles is the terrifying disease of the older folks due to pain.  It is the talk of any group of elderly folks at the local Hardees.  They do have a shingles shot but since I have had two patients hospitalized due to complications of the vaccine and several more with shingles after the vaccine, I have shied away from that and just stuck with acute treatment with Valtrex and/or steroids.  Anything to prevent that painful syndrome called Postherpetic neuralgia right?  I have had patients suffer for years from pain in spite of that treatment though.  Wasn't there anything better? Just FYI, not everyone gets pain with the shingles.  Sometimes it just itches. While under a lot of stress a year ago, I was at work and felt a weird pressure at the crown of my head like I had my pony tail too tight but I didn't have a pony tail.  Next thing I know I have a burning, icy cold, searing pain moving down the right side of the top of my head.  I had shingl...