Docs Immune System Cocktail Read the headlines and it can be very frightening. Ebola, paralysis causing enteroviruses, the upcoming flu season, antibiotic resistant bacteria. Yikes! What can we do? PUT FAITH IN OUR OWN IMMUNE SYSTEM ! A healthy immune system is your best defense because we cannot completely avoid contact with all of these pathogens. My patients always ask me how I can manage to not get sick even when getting exposed to sick people all the time, so I felt it necessary to reveal my immune system strengthening cocktail. 1. Vitamin D 5000 units three times a week. Research has shown the importance of adequate Vitamin D intake for a strong immune system. I usually reduce this in the summer months when I can get adequate sunlight. If you prefer to check your blood levels, you need to have vitamin D3 levels between 45-70 ng/dc for optimal function. 5000 units 3 times a week keeps me there! 2. Allicillin, one capsule daily. Allicillin contains an active ingredient from garlic which has been used for thousands of years by multiple cultures to avoid illness. If I feel a cold coming on I will immediately increase this to 3 times a day until the symptoms subside. I have been using this for years and have a lot of faith in it. I take this supplement year round. 3. Sustained release vitamin C 500 mg daily. I will increase this to 1000 to 2000 mg daily if I start to feel under the weather. 4. A high quality probiotic. Probiotics contains various types of healthy bacteria to seed our gut and keep it healthy. There is overwhelming research that shows a healthy gut is vital for a healthy immune system. If you need to take an antibiotic it is vital to follow up with some good probiotics because antibiotics kill the good with the bad and can leave your gut unhealthy and your immune system vulnerable to recurring infections. This is vital in children with recurring ear or step infections. We use a product from Designs for Health. It is shipped and kept refrigerated to keep the bacteria alive. It is also enteric coated to protect the good bacteria from our stomach acid and then dissolves in the intestine where it is needed. I take one of these daily. 5. The last ingredient is free but may be the most difficult to get, adequate sleep! Six to seven hours of good sleep a night is powerful in keeping your immune system strong. All the supplements and antibiotics in the world will not work very well if you burn the candle too hard. I welcome any questions that you may have on staying healthy. There is a cost to keeping your immune system healthy, however, there is a much bigger cost to getting sick. Take care of your immune system and it will take care of you. We use pharmaceutical grade vitamins products in our office from Douglas Labs and Designs for Health. They are not much more expensive than the stuff you get in the retail stores and their quality is worth the extra price. Stay Healthy ! Dr. Lou
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 19:18:59 +0000