Echinacea

Just wondering if any of you use the herb Echinacea?? I only recently discovered how powerful it is with colds/flu.

I took it during my last cold and it only lasted about 2 days versus the usual week. And my son who is VERY prone to bronchitis/pneumonia/earinfections due to his asthma usually gets very sick even with the slightest sniffle.
So, I started noticing the beginnings of a cold the other day and gave him echinacea mixed in w/ his milk. Well, 3 days later and NO COLD and NO COUGHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am soooo excited, relieved, and amazed. I did a bit of research on the web, and it seems a lot of other people use this as well for their children during the cold season. There are no side effects, and if used for about a week at the beginning of a cold, it seems to really make a big difference.

Anyone else use it or know anything about it????

It's also good for cats.... add it to the drinking water, does some good things during allergy season.

dtolle,

I use Echinacea. If you start taking it at the very first sign of a cold or sore throat, it does help shorten the severity and duration of many colds. Also, if you have been subjected to someone you know who is sick, it is a good idea to take Echinacea as a preventative so hopefully you will not catch what that person had.

Also, combineing it with a lot of Vitamin C is great! You can't go wrong with Vit. C.

Here is another method,...zinc lozenges. They work WONDERS! Take a zinc lozenge each day at the first sign of symptoms, and it is a whamy on the cold.

yes, both of my kids take a vitamin c supplement along with their daily vitamin. I do notice it helps too. I was just totally amazed w/ the effect of the echinacea on my son. Its been 5 LONG years of colds, bronchitis, etc. Many a doctor visit, many an ER visit.
We have never been able to get thru a winter w/o having one really bad cold. If this does the trick, I will be so excited. So far so good....this cold was a bad one ( my daughter got it, she is too young for the herb ), so I KNOW he was exposed. But no sickness. WOW!

Thanks for the info. I had heard about and even bought some for my sweetie, but have never used it myself. I guess I'll have to give it a try.

I have used Echinacea as a preventative also, and have found it to be extremely effective. I have seen conflicting information on what the daily dose should be if you are treating an illness you already have.

|My sister was just telling me about it today! She got some in chewable form with vitamin C. Don't tell anyone - but I have a problem with swallowing pills (big woosh here) and chewable is the way to go! Would it help Ripley's immune system, he has the residual respitory thing all the time?

. . . or anyone else who happens to know:

How much herbal remedy do you give a cat? Is it by weight? Just curious cuz I got one that's sneezing a bit and I'm open to anything that might help.

(I do have a thread about this in health, this just caught my eye.)

Can't take the stuff unfortunately - makes me very nauseated. The bad thing is that I catch every bug out there, so it would be beneficial. Oh well.

I started taking Echinacea twice a day about three weeks ago. I work at a nursing home and about two weeks ago a horrible stomach flu started spreading and infecting both residents and staff. I was one of the few that didn't catch this illness in spite of repeated exposure. I'm really glad I started taking Echinacea when I did!!

Dosen't it come in herbal tea? I like to drink herbal teas, especially lemon and honey and chamomille(said to be good on stomach ailments). I love to drink it with a teaspoon of honey. So I can give it to Rascal?

I just swear by Echinacea I take 2 capsules religiously once per day and when I feel run down or that I am getting sick I double the intake over 12 hours. Brilliant stuff

AKA Tracey swears by it!