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sick of being sick: immune boosting help

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Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 23, 2004
Messages
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although 50% bludger and 50% sick most people think i'm one of those chronically sick ppl. I've had 12 days off this year already....

anyway i was wondering if there is such a thing as a definitive immune system boosting process.

My proprosed plan consists of the following

1. Eat 2-4 pieces of fruit daily.
2. exercise more then 30 mins a day (excludes walking to work).
3. sleep more then 8 hrs a day
4. drink a berocca (vit c & bgroup supplement) daily.
5. cannabis to once a week (at most and instead of smoking it, eating it), and have at most 1 weekend a mnth of MDMA or other.
6. at most drink 1 beer a day.

My question is, is there something i've missed, are there other supplements i should consider.

I've always wondered about the excerise thing. I work in an office so that means that i sit on my ass for 8 hours straight (i don't take lunch either). Is the potential of excerise better realised through doing it half-way through the day or is it alright to do it after work?

i'm sick of being sick
 
I'm not completely sure about the workout question, but I believe mental health is also a major factor of physical health, limiting stress in life is very important. I know cayenne pepper is really good for the immune system as well. Eating a balanced diet would definately help. Other than that I can't really think of anything else. I rarely get sick myself, luckily.
 
Exercise is good, but if you doit frequently, have at least one day a week for rest.

Also, garlic!
 
I want to second the garlic notion. Take about two cloves of garlic, chop them up into chunks (so they survive the stomach acids) and swallow the chunks with a glass of water or whatever. You can also chew it up and pack it in you lip like you would with chewing tobacco. Also, it is important to take the garlic with a natural source of potassium (bannans or potatoes). This will help the garlics phytochemicals absorb into your system properly.
I eat garlic like this every day. When I miss a couple of days, I start to feel run down and might even come down with a cold (I'm a pre-school teacher so I'm exposed to lots of nasties...)

Echinacea and goldenseal are also great for immune functioning. I recommend their liquid forms for optimum results.

Exercise is always good unless you are already sick (you need your strength to fight off the illness.) This isn't the most scientific explanation but...If you have more strength (from exercise), it will be easier for your body to fight off infection when you do come in contact with it.

Cannabis has been shown to improve immune functioning (sorry, don't have a source for that). But if you feel like it is making you sicker, you might as well cut down.

best of luck and post back with the success of your regime :)
 
My biggest suggestion would actually be to not sleep more then 8 hours a night. For most people, 7-8 hours of sleep is good. Too much sleep can be just as bad for you as too little sleep. Make sure you eat vegetables in addition to the fruits as well.
 
thanks for the tips - i'm kinda loathed to do the garlic thing - perhaps if i just swallow it and i can avoid the smelly breath thing?
 
I feel your pain! Im the kinda person that when I get sick, I get sick BAD. Im talking a cold that lasts weeks and turns into a chronic lung infection that takes months and months to go away and usually only with an antibiotic (which I HATE taking). This happens to me every time I get a cold.

I dont know what to do for myself..I mean I eat a very healthy diet for the most part (occasional slip ups like fatty pasta) and take lots of good vitamins and supplements. The only thing I dont do is workout consistantly, which might be part of the problem.

My mother works out twice a day every day and has for years. Ive seen her sick maybe once in the past 6 years, and her "cold" consisted of coughing and having a stuffy nose for maybe one day. Shes 55 and in extremely good health, MUCH better than I am at 22. So you might be onto something with the working out.
 
From what I've heard and experienced, garlic pills aren't as good as raw garlic.

When you eat it like I suggested, chunk it and swallow it like pills, the garlic breath isn't too bad (its noticable to my girlfriend who kisses me, but no one else really). The bannana also helps with the breath.

Remember to eat bannanas or potatoes with it because they increase the effectiveness drastically. good luck :)
 
abieda said:
My biggest suggestion would actually be to not sleep more then 8 hours a night. For most people, 7-8 hours of sleep is good. Too much sleep can be just as bad for you as too little sleep. Make sure you eat vegetables in addition to the fruits as well.

Have to disagree with this. There are a lot of people who need more than 8 hours of sleep. Some studies have shown that more than 9 hours is optimal for some people. And lifestyle has to be taken into consideration too. For example, if you have a fulltime job, workout regularly, and have a somewhat busy social schedule, you need a lot more sleep than if you were more sedentary...
 
hate bannanas but love potato - am right with you guys there.

am happy to do the sleeping thing - it certaintly makes sense to do more sleeping if your doing more physical excerise
 
There's also something called Wellness Formula which you can get at helthfood stores. They have everything from vitamin C to Goldenseal to garlic. If you start to feel like you're getting sick, pop some every couple of hours, and it almost always knocks it out before it can set in. It's a little expensive, but worth it...
 
Two words: Omega 3. In particular, Cod Liver Oil. If you can manage to get it down (the liquid supplements taste a little better today than they did in the old days ;) ) it's the best immune booster there is.

Astragalus is another herb with famed immune-boosting properties.
 
I read something about eating hot peppers helping the immunity in the body and also helping guard against throat infections because they create heat and heat kills bacteria (same deal with working out a lot). I wish I had a source to post for that but I read it in a magazine a long time ago.
 
I have been sick a lot lately, mainly with bronchial related things. I have asthma, which is generally triggered by mold and dust mites, and I also get chronic bronchitis. I doesn't help that I have smoked pot fairly reguarly since I was 16 (I am now 21), and that I have been an on and off again ciggarette smoker for about 4 years. I am also very active, I perform cardio exercise at least 30 minutes a day, and I log about 100 miles a week on my bike. I am a semi-pro cross country mountain bike racer, and I snowboard, rock climb, backpack, and jog. I live in northern Michigan, and the winters are especially hard on my lungs - I just got over a horrible case of the flu and bronchitis. I haven;t smoked anything for the past 4 months, but still have to use an albuterol inhaler and a nebulizer reguarly. I am also on Advair 500/50 and I take L-Lysine daily. In addition to these problems, I have had kidney stones, and I have ulceritive colitis. I have severe intesinal problems and eat a fiber-rich diet, which helps me stay regular. I was a stimulant )methylphenidate, aderall) user for around 10-14 months, and have been an IV heroin user in the past. My last shot was over a year ago and I still struggl with stim's. I know my drug use has added to my health problems, but I live very healty now. I get seriously ill about twice a month, and am not sure what to do. I also suffer from high anxiety, and have been addicted to xanax in the past. Any thoughts?
 
your plan sounds good mate just make sure you're eating a rounded diet not just fruit :) some nice green veggies in addition would be good. i love fresh spinach myself.. add some of your other favorite veggies in a nice salad and you're set.

you wont need the supplement drink thing if you're getting a balanced diet. i swear i feel better now that i just eat a variety of minimally processed foods (whole grain breads, no preservatives like hydrogenated oil, etc) than when i ate a bunch of crap and took a multivitamin

as far as your work, take your allotted breaks and get as much sunlight as you can. walk around the building or something to get your blood going. you should try to at least get up and walk around every 2 hours or so. just stretching in your office will get blood going which helps your immune system.

also you could get a bike and ride to work, and you'll get your exercise on the way to and from work. that way you don't have to come home from a long day and then force yourself to the gym or whatever, just hop on your bike and jam home. of course if you live very close to work this might not be much exercise but you could take a longer route home some days.

hmm also mdma 12 times a year might be a little often if you're trying not to get sick.. i recall getting sick quite a few times the day or two after taking mdma, especially in a rave environment.
 
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its funny but when people i know tell me these sorts of things i laugh disdainfully, yet when its bluelight tis a different thing altogether

Anyway, will update the list

1. Eat 2-4 pieces of fruit daily.
2. exercise more then 30 mins a day (excludes walking to work).
3. sleep more then 8 hrs a day
4. drink a berocca (vit c & bgroup supplement) daily (just for a littlewhile i'll leave this in place frizzantik. I agree its not a permenant solution...
5. eat green vegie (yuck), perhaps daily. I can't do it. Ok 3-4 times a week.
6. i want to give the cod liver oil a ago though: trial daily for 6 mnths
7. fish, 4-7 times a week. I actually try and eat fish daily (tuna mostly). The most healthiest i've ever been was when i used to eat sushie daily, for breakfast

Just to give an update. Have meet the original plan completely except for today, saturday, but went out all day walking around the city and had a salad and other healthy foods for lunch/dinner.

xannax my doctor suggested that if i contiune to get sick that a full work up might be in order i.e. blood, liver, kidney tests and so on. Perhaps your deficent in something? i guess it depends though on how much it costs to do that stuff in your part of the world (tis free here)
 
Jimmy the Gun said:
I want to second the garlic notion. Take about two cloves of garlic, chop them up into chunks (so they survive the stomach acids) and swallow the chunks with a glass of water or whatever. You can also chew it up and pack it in you lip like you would with chewing tobacco. Also, it is important to take the garlic with a natural source of potassium (bannans or potatoes). This will help the garlics phytochemicals absorb into your system properly.

I've never taken garlic straight like this before, but after reading your post, I've tried it, and it really seems to work. It's good for when I don't want to cook a meal just to get some garlic.
 
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