What Most
Doctors Won't Tell You about Colds and Flus
By
Dr. Ben Kim
DrBenKim.com
The
next time that you experience a cold or the flu, remember this: giving your body
plenty of rest while allowing the cold or flu to run its course is good for your
health.
Conventional
medicine and the pharmaceutical industry would have you believe that there is
no "cure" for the common cold, that you should protect yourself against
the flu with a vaccine that is laden with toxic chemicals, and that during the
midst of a cold or flu, it is favorable to ease your discomfort with a variety
of medications that can suppress your symptoms.
Unfortunately,
all three of these positions represent a lack of understanding of what colds and
flus really are, and what they mean to your body.
Colds
and flus are causes by viruses. So to understand what colds and flus do at a cellular
level, you have to understand what viruses do at a cellular level.
First,
do you remember learning about cellular division in grade seven science class?
Each of your cells are called parent cells, and through processes of genetic duplication
(mitosis) and cellular division (cytokinesis), each of your parent cells divides
into two daughter cells. Each daughter cell is then considered a parent cell that
will divide into two more daughter cells, and so on, and so on, and so on.
Viruses
are different from your cells in that they cannot duplicate themselves through
mitosis and cytokinesis. Viruses are nothing but microscopic particles of genetic
material, each coated by a thin layer of protein.
Due
to their design, viruses are not able to reproduce on their own. The only way
that viruses can flourish in your body is by using the machinery and metabolism
of your cells to produce multiple copies of themselves.
Once
a virus has gained access to one of your cells, depending on the type of virus
involved, one of two things can happen:
1. The virus uses your cell's resources to replicate itself many times over and
then breaks open (lyses) the cell so that the newly replicated viruses can leave
in search of new cells to infect. Lysis effectively kills your cell.
2. The virus incorporates itself into the DNA of your cell, which allows the virus
to be passed on to each daughter cell that stems from this cell. Later on, the
virus in each daughter cell can begin replicating itself as described above. Once
multiple copies of the virus have been produced, the cell is lysed.
Both
possibilities lead to the same result: eventually, the infected cell can die due
to lysis.
Here
is the key to understanding why colds and flus, when allowed to run their course
while you rest, can be good for you:
By and large, the viruses that cause the common cold and the flu infect mainly
your weakest cells; cells that are already burdened with excessive waste products
and toxins are most likely to allow viruses to infect them. These are cells that
you want to get rid of anyway, to be replaced by new, healthy cells.
So
in the big scheme of things, a cold or flu is a truly natural tool that can allow
your body to purge itself of old and damaged cells that, in the absence of viral
infection, would normally take much longer to identify, destroy, and eliminate.
Have
you ever been amazed by how much "stuff" you could blow out of your
nose while you had a cold or the flu? Embedded within all of that mucous are countless
dead cells that your body is saying good bye to, largely due to the lytic effect
of viruses.
So
you see, there never needs to be a cure for the common cold, since the common
cold is nature's way of keeping you healthy over the long term. And so long as
you get plenty of rest and strive to stay hydrated and properly nourished during
a cold or flu, there is no need to get vaccinated or to take medications that
suppress congested sinuses, a fever, or coughing. All of these uncomfortable symptoms
are actually ways in which your body works to eliminate waste products and/or
help your body get through a cold or flu. It's fine to use over-the-counter pain
medication like acetaminophen if your discomfort becomes intolerable or if such
meds can help you get a good night's rest. But it's best to avoid medications
that aim to suppress helpful processes such as fever, coughing, and a runny nose.
It's
important to note that just because colds and flus can be helpful to your body
doesn't mean that you need to experience them to be at your best. If you take
good care of your health and immune system by getting plenty of rest and consistently
making health-promoting dietary and lifestyle choices, your cells may stay strong
enough to avoid getting infected by viruses that come knocking on their membranes.
In this scenario, you won't have enough weak and extraneous cells to require a
cold or the flu to work its way through your body to identify and lyse them.
Curious
about how to differentiate the common cold and the flu? Here is an excellent summary
of the differences from cbc.ca:
A cold usually comes on gradually over the course of a day or two. Generally,
it leaves you feeling tired, sneezing, coughing and plagued by a running nose.
You often don't have a fever, but when you do, it's only slightly higher than
normal. Colds usually last three to four days, but can hang around for 10 days
to two weeks.
Flu, on the other hand, comes on suddenly and hits hard. You will feel weak and
tired and you could run a fever as high as 40 C. Your muscles and joints will
probably ache, you will feel chilled and could have a severe headache and sore
throat. Getting off the couch or out of bed will be a chore. The fever may last
three to five days, but you could feel weak and tired for two to three weeks.
One
final note on this topic: because the common cold and the flu are both causes
by viruses, antibiotics are not necessary. People who take antibiotics while suffering
with a cold or flu often feel slightly better because antibiotics have a mild
anti-inflammatory effect. But this benefit is far outweighed by the negative impact
that antibiotics have on friendly bacteria that live throughout your digestive
tract. In this light, if you really need help with pain management during a cold
or flu, it is usually better to take a small dose of acetaminophen than it is
to take antibiotics.
Please
share this basic health information on colds and flus with family and friends;
although it isn't readily available from the annals of conventional medicine,
this information can save you and your loved ones significant time, money, and
angst.
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