Back in residency, when I was 28, I was feeling much older than my age.  I felt tired and run down.  I could blame it on the 100 hour work weeks but it felt like it wasn't just sleep deprivation.  I had rosacea which where my cheeks were red, with deep pores, and little telangiectasias (little blood vessels) around my nose creases.  Make up couldn't cover it up.  I also had an inflammatory eye condition called episcleritis where I had bright red nodules in my eyes and everyone would ask me if I knew I had red eyes.  Ugh.  I was so frustrated and maybe vain but nonetheless, I didn't feel healthy.  I felt bloated after every meal and just wanted to desperately take a nap, which was a combination of the 100 hour work week but also my diet. I started taking doxycycline orally which is an antibiotic and another topically for the rosacea.  I was using steroid eye drops for the eye condition which will some day maybe still cause cataracts.  With all this, it barely helped.  I started Evening Primrose Oil twice daily which seemed to help more but still it was there. I wanted to eventually have kids but I didn't want to be taking medicines while pregnant for something vanity related. Meanwhile, my best friend talked me into doing the South Beach diet in which I got rid of the "white stuff" and higher sugar fruits and veggies.   I did this because I was always hungry.  Literally I would keep food at the night stand to eat when I woke in the middle of the night hungry and first thing since I would wake up ravenous.  It was tough!  For the first two weeks I was so crabby and irritable and I didn't think I would make it.  By the end of the month, all those hunger and mood swings went away completely!  I couldn't believe it.  By balancing my protein and healthier carbs, I felt tons better.  My energy improved, no more belly bloating, no more having to lean back in my seat after eating and unbutton my top button!.  On top of that, in spite of doing whole milk, whole milk yogurt, bacon, butter, etc( I had been doing the low fat stuff), my LDL ( " bad cholesterol") went down from 140's to 60's!  Thankfully the "low fat" fad is no longer recommended since that is not what causes abnormal cholesterol. Back to my vanity.  Within a few months, my rosacea and eye condition cleared up and I was able to go off the medicines.  It wasn't until years later after playing around with my diet that I realized it was really wheat that was the culprit.  If I eat too much wheat, my eye condition will flare up and my cheeks turn red.  Total bummer I am missing out on croissants but it is worth it!  I still eat the occasional wheat but it is far and few between that I save up for yummy sins like delicious fried bologna sandwiches.  Yes I eat them once a year! So, the moral of the story is start with nutrition first, not medicines when possible!

So when my kids get fever and congestion, and I make sure they don't have anything dangerous of course, I like to treat with as little medicine as possible. I admit that I don't typically worry too much but easy for me to say right? First of all, I do not use acetaminophen or ibuprofen for fever and never aspirin in a kid.  I must digress a little here...  Fever is a natural process that shows the body is doing its job.  Acetaminophen and ibuprofen stops or slows down that process. I could do a whole complicated blog on this one but trying to keep it simple.  I swear my kids got better faster when I learned this!  If your child is under 3 months of age, be sure to see your doctor right away. Babies can be tricky recognizing signs of serious illness.  Depending on the doctor, you may not want to treat the fever in your infant prior to seeing the doctor so they can verify it prior to doing potentially more extensive evaluations. My favorite treatment is the Wet Sock Trick.  I learned this from my naturopath. It works well alone but I like to add my Young Living RC oil to the feet and chest.  Be sure the feet are warm first.  My favorite way is to do a very warm epsom salt bath with some apple cider vinegar.  When they are out, put the oil or a natural form of Vicks Vapo Rub to the feet.  Then the crazy part but it works.  You you wet some cotton socks with very cold water and wring it out.  Put them on and then put some wool socks on top.  Use grown up socks on the kids since it is hard to find little wool socks. The wet sock or "magic sock" treatment usually takes care of most things.  Other things I use are the homeopathic honey cough syrups that you can find at health food stores or even surprisingly at CVS pharmacies.  I will do vitamin C chews four to five times per day.  For infants, you can do lipospheric vitamin C which is sweeter and do a little pinch in the cheeks 4-5 times per day initially.  Diarrhea would mean that you need to hold off although I have never had that problem at that dose.  I like to increase probiotics to several times per day.  Be sure they have adequate vitamin D as well.  Be sure they are getting at least 400 IU daily of vitamin D3 although doses higher are often used during illness.  Consult your holistic doctor for appropriate dosing for various remedies. For kids willing to drink hot teas, you can make teas using honey, lemon, garlic, ginger, and a pinch of cayenne.  Obviously, the younger they are, the milder it will need to be.  Honey really helps kids overcome the taste of the other ingredients.  The older you are, the bolder you can make the tea.  Add honey when cool enough to touch the water comfortably to avoid damaging the good properties of the honey.

My cold handout I give to my patients. Sinus infections need the same treatment plus antibiotics. 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 antibiotics will be as well. What Can You Do To Relieve Symptoms? For congestion and fever Do the Magic Sock trick!  Sounds crazy but it works! Ideally do that epsom salt bath with apple cider vinegar in really hot water.  Get some cotton socks, run them under cold water and wring them out.  Put them on and cover with another pair of wool socks.  In the morning the socks will be dry- may need to rewet midnight for kids who sleep longer.  It helps with fever, cough,  and congestion.  Consider adding Vick’s Vapo Rub or eucalyptus oil to the feet first- works great on a cough.  I personally use RC essential oil on the feet and chest. If you have cold feet, be sure to warm them first in hot water.  You can also wrap your feet with a hot towel afterwards. Try this for an earache Slice an onion in half and microwave the onion until warm- not hot.  Place the onion in a sock and hold up to the ear for pain relief.  Garlic oil is also popular. Before going to bed and when you wake in the morning try these tips: Use steam from your shower or boil water with Vick’s liquid or eucalyptus oil or tea tree oil- this works great with chest colds! Hot bath with epsom salt and apple cider vinegar.  Use a hand towel wet with the bath water and tent it over your nose and mouth. Use Mucinex D or other behind the counter medications with pseudoephedrine. Ok to use Coricidin HBP if you are sensitive to pseudoephedrine. I am less likely to need this when I do the other tips. Try Simply Saline in the white can or a Neti Pot.  Do not use the squeezy bottles of nasal spray as the preservatives can bother your sinuses and cause them to bleed. If you use a Neti pot, you can put one drop of lugol's iodine or a splash of peroxide. Use a humidifier with about 1/8-1/4 cup of peroxide to it and breathe it in your nose occasionally and sit near it. If SEVERE nasal congestion, okay to use Afrin nasal spray up to 3 nights. When you get the chest cold where you get that tickle in the chest with a lot of cough, use Herbal Formula Phytocillin.  It tastes awful but works fast for that chest cold. If thinking you may need antibiotics- make a neti pot with essential oils- 8 T neti salts, 10 drops of rosemary, 6 drops of tea tree oil.  Mix and use ½-1 tsp per neti solution, rinse twice daily, tingles a bit, can use 7-10 days Tea for cough- Ginger (fresh is best)-grate the ginger and let it steep for 15 minutes and strain it. Add honey when cool enough to touch to avoid damaging the good parts of the honey. Add a pinch of cayenne pepper, lemon juice, some add Bragg’s apple cider vinegar. If you are of age, then add a shot of high proof liquor like whiskey.  Many locals use the Rock and Rye from the liquor store. Make chicken bone broth with a lot of garlic. Keep the garlic as cloves and eat the cloves! “Stimulate Your Immune System!.” Pick which ones work well for you-sometimes it is best to rotate them. Probiotics- Get a good quality one and take 3-4 times the dosage for a few days and then take daily year round. Echinacea- Do double the dose for up to one week.  Do not take this one for an extended amount of time since it can elevate blood pressure and avoid in autoimmune disease. Emergen-C- Drink this in your water frequently when sick or Vitamin C up to 1000 mg 2-3 times per day. Zinc Lozenges- There is good science behind this one!  Fights off colds quickly (but has a tendency to make food taste bad when using. Elderberry syrup and astralgus have great anti-viral properties and worth alternating for prevention and using when sick. During ALLERGY SEASON: Vitamin C 1000mg 3 times a day can be helpful. I like Orthomolecular's Natural D Hist that has a combo of quercitin and stinging nettle. Pollen allergy: to prevent, eat a tablespoon of local raw honey every day year round (not under age 1). Prevention- Get good regular sleep, eat a healthy diet high in fruits and veggies, low in simple carbs like sodas, sugars, pastas, and avoid fast foods.  Stress relief is important-consider Yoga/Tai Chi/meditation/prayer. Essential Oils- The brand I use is Young Living (YL) but there are other great ones. Congestion/Cough- Eucalyptus or RC to feet and chest. Fever- Peppermint or Lavender to feet. Immune- Thieves to the feet or diffuse.  Allergies- Make capsules with Peppermint, Lavender, and Lemon -not all oils can be used internally. Oils should be diluted and avoid thieves and peppermint topically in babies When exposed to others in groups or exposed to someone with a cold or flu, irrigate your sinuses frequently after exposure and also rotate using XLear nasal spray to kill viruses. Most important for your health is to eat real food, avoid sugar, get plenty of sleep, manage your stress, and practice gratitude. For more remedies check out my First Aid Kit! Dr. Benton Benton Integrative Medicine

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 plenty of sleep, manage your stress better, and practice gratitude.  Good hand washing and not being too close to sick people will go a long way.  If you are sick, cough into the inside of your elbow.   If you try to eat from the rainbow daily and follow these tips, that should be adequate for most to stay well and get better faster when you are sick. Supplement wise, there is so much to consider.  One of the most important would be probiotics in my opinion.  Due to pasteurization of foods and exposure to antibiotics not only through prescription but due to animal meat being treated, we run in a deficit in our gut.  We need good gut flora for a strong immune system. Imagine in the olden days how things were different.  We drank raw milk which had natural bacteria, we ate more fermented foods because they didn't have refrigeration, and they nothing was pasteurized.  Now we have more frequent exposure to antibiotics, everything is pasteurized, and we are afraid of germs so we sanitize everything.  Germ are not all bad. Thank goodness for antibiotics because they are lifesaving but most antibiotics are used in animals that we eat so we have a continual low grade exposure to those as well as in plants.  So you can buy probiotics or get them naturally in yogurt (the kind with the least ingredients, preferably organic), kefir, kombucha (fermented tea), sauerkraut, and much more.  You can actually make these at home for much cheaper and likely much healthier. For others, you can do vitamin C 1000 mg daily (potent anti-oxidant), vitamin D3 (target blood levels are 50-80 and is so important for so many processes in your health), and omega 3's like fish oil(quality does matter).  Astralgus has been shown to be helpful for flu prevention as it is an antiviral remedy.  Echinacea is an immune booster.  I would rotate those every two weeks as soon as your area starts reporting flu outbreaks.  If you have an autoimmune condition though, I would avoid echinacea as that may cause other issues for your condition.  I have also seen patients develop high blood pressure after taking echinacea for months so I would do two weeks on and two weeks off.  I think rotating supplements in general is more helpful than taking them daily.  I also happen to love essential oils and use Theives to the feet regularly or diffuse when someone is sick in the house. Elderberry Syrup Elderberry syrup is a growing favorite with increasing NIH studies to back it up for prevention and treatment.   One of my favorites is a locally made preparation but I know many holistic moms making their own and sharing with loved ones.  Here is a site for those of you not ready to make your own. Again, first focus on diet and lifestyle for prevention.  God really gave us everything in nature that we need to give good health.  Many prescription medicines even come from natural substances.  Just know that the odds of dying from the flu are low in spite of what the media tells you.  Per the CDC National Vital Statistics, only an average of 1000-3000 die that have a flu positive test out of over 300 million people.  They combine all cause of pneumonia death year round with the flu deaths to reach that 50,000 mortality number.  A little misleading I must say.   If you come down with the flu, there are a lot of things that will help you manage and stay tuned for that! The Solution to Pollution is Dilution! For prevention after exposure, do regular saline irrigation of your sinuses, alternating every few hours with X-Lear nasal spray all day long. At home, fill a humidifier with water plus about 1/8-1/4 cup of hydrogen peroxide to kill off any mold in the humidifier but also breathe it in your nose a bit to kill off any germs.

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 shingles!!  The painful kind!  I was only 41 for pete's sake.  It was noon at work and no access to medicines.  I called my handy dandy naturopath Dr Swanz who recommended a vitamin regimen. I decided much to the dismay of my friends and colleagues to go natural.  So I picked up my remedies at 5 and got them going.  I felt it diminish but my doctor friends really were worried because that particular location puts you at risk for infection of the cornea.  Due to the pressure, I agreed to Valtrex and picked up a late night prescription and took one dose that night and one the next morning at which time my symptoms were 90% gone.  I went to the ophthalmologist who said my cornea was OK.  I discontinued the Valtrex and finished up my vitamins with complete resolution of symptoms that day. I was a little disappointed I caved because I really wanted to experiment on myself and do it totally natural.  I had my opportunity when we went on a family vacation during spring break on a cruise.  I got a sunburn in the part of my hair which reactivated my shingles on my scalp.  Lucky me had all the remedies.  Within three hours of that stinging, icy cold, burning pain, my symptoms completely resolved.  I took them another three days to be sure it was gone but yay!!  Thanks Dr. Swanz. Since then, I have been offering this to patients in addition to the Valtrex ( I always offer both traditional and western medicine options).  Many have opted to do the natural treatment only and they had very quick resolution like me, even in the older patients.  Thrilled to have another option since I haven't always had luck with Valtrex.  Sometimes, nothing helped in the past.  This year, no failures yet! I may have tweaked it a little from what Dr. Swanz recommended but this is my regimen I used. Vitamin C 1000 mg 4-5 times per day Vitamin D 20,000-100,000 IU daily for about a week -for adults I use the 100,000 IU Vitamin A 15000 IU 1-2 times per day for 2-3 days L Lysine 1-2 capsules 4-5 times per day. As with anything, I do not replace your doctor.  Just know there is a risk that if you have shingles on the tip of your nose, forehead, or top of head, that you can have infection in the cornea of your eye and you need to see an eye doctor.