Each winter, in my early teen years, I caught the most terrible colds. Most of us know what it is to suffer the common cold: runny nose, sneezing incessantly, stuffy head, coughing, achy body, scratchy throat, no sense of taste or smell. These colds lasted for 2 weeks and were miserable. I dreaded them each winter because I knew they were bound to hit me; it was just one of those things I expected every cold season. I did not know anything about natural remedies until my early 20’s, so my colds as a teenager were dealt with by using over the counter medications. And they didn’t help me get better any faster!
A few weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon, one of these old-fashioned colds hit me hard. By Monday morning, I felt terrible – bad enough that I canceled our school day. I had flashbacks of the colds I had as a teenager that lingered for so long. I wondered how fast my favorite immune herbs could help me feel better. Was my cold gone in two weeks? No….it was gone the next day!
Here’s what I did:
I consumed 1 quart of Immune Tea – that’s it!
Double E Immune Booster is a mixture of herbs that is great to keep on hand. If you’ve read much of what I’ve written in the past, you’ve probably seen me mention it a time or two. It is a life-saver around our house!
After consuming a quart of this tea on Monday, I woke up Tuesday morning feeling great and back to my normal routine. I had no runny nose, no congestion, no sneezing – nothing! All of my cold symptoms completely stopped! I was impressed! I did take an immune booster a few times a day for the next few days to make sure the cold did not come back. This time I chose to take elderberry syrup over the next few days because I have a lot of it on hand right now, but I could have taken colloidal silver, or continued taking the Double E, or some other immune booster.
Sometimes I find myself with something a little more serious than a cold or I don’t get a handle on the illness at the very beginning, so here’s a regimen I have followed if I need more “oomph”. The key is to hit illness hard and early on.
Day 1: Drink a quart of immune tea herbs (like echinacea and elderberry or an herbal mix).
Day 2:
*Make a quart of immune tea but add herbs if there is any kind of cough or congestion. For example, you can make a tea similar to this:
- 4 cups of boiling water
- 4 teaspoons Immune Tea mix or 2 tsp. of echinacea, 1 tsp. rosehips and 1 tsp. of elderberries (or whatever immune herbs you have on hand)
- 2 teaspoons dried mullein
- 1 teaspoon dried chickweed
- 1 teaspoon dried lobelia
*Take a spoonful of homemade cough syrup hourly or up to every 15 minutes. Recipe HERE.
*Take a spoonful of colloidal silver hourly. Check it out HERE.
*Nebulize with colloidal silver if there is a cough and/or congestion. THIS in itself immediately has stopped continuous coughing the rest of the day. If you have never invested in a nebulizer, I highly recommend it! We use it for croup and other respiratory needs and it helps immensely! You can check out nebulizers HERE. Many times we only need to use the nebulizer once a day to help coughs and congestion, but sometimes 2-3 times a day, or more as needed.
Day 3:
*Drink another quart of immune tea or immune/lung tea
*Take homemade cough syrup and colloidal silver every 2 hours or so
*Nebulize colloidal silver at least once if there is a cough or congestion
Days 4 and on:
*Drink another quart of tea
*Take homemade cough syrup and silver a few times a day as needed depending on how much the illness has improved
*Nebulize silver once a day until cough and/or congestion is gone.
This is just an example of how I’ve stopped a cold in its tracks many times over the years. I share for educational purposes. 🙂
Let’s look at some of the ingredients in and immune boosting herbal tea to understand why it works so well:
Contains Naturally Caffeine Free:
Nettle Leaf – high source of vitamins and minerals, blood purifier
Peppermint Leaf – excellent for digestion, cleanses the body, adds flavor to the mixture
Echinacea Root – infection fighter, natural antibiotic, immune booster
Echinacea Tops – infection fighter, natural antibiotic, immune booster
Elderberries whole – immune booster
Eleuthero Root – improves energy levels, stimulates immune system
Rosehips – very high in vitamin C, fights infection
You can buy these herbs separately (by clicking the herb name above) and combine in a container to use, or buy a mix from the Bulk Herb Store.
- Bring 4 cups of water to a boil
- Add 8 teaspoons of Immune Tea {or your own combination} to water
- Remove pan from heat
- Cover with a lid
- Steep for 20-30 minutes
- Strain herbs from the liquid
- Drink this tea throughout the day. Make sure to finish it all before you go to bed.
*Note: If making this tea for a child, give them half the amount {2 cups} throughout the day. I mix it with juice for my toddler, which makes her drink it right down!
How do you treat colds naturally?
Linked To:
A Mama’s Story Growing Home Walking Redeemed The Modest Mom What Joy Is Mine
Updated from 2/24/2014
This is a great post! I use lots of herbs and natural remedies and love them. Thank you for posting. 🙂 gentlejoyhomemaker.blogspot.com
Thanks for reading! 🙂
This is such a great post. I have been freaking out, because it’s (of course!)cold and flu season, and I can’t afford to miss work. Not only do I not want to get sick, because it’s miserable to run a fever, and such, but I also can’t afford to take the time off. But so many of my co workers are running fevers, and sneezing everywhere, and they are still coming to work! It’s made me feel very uneasy, and I wasn’t sure what to do at first. I can’t wait to give these ideas a try! Thanks for helping me stay healthy!
Homeopathy Edmonton
Hello Jill, this is a really good and I am sure potent herb mixture. I had a cold that was starting last week, and I did elderberry and my cinnamon honey mixture and I awoke with no symptoms.Blessings, Roxy
We love elderberry! We eat cinnamon and honey on our toast – a delicious combination. I love it when taking medicine tastes GOOD! Thanks for sharing your experience, Roxy! 🙂
I’m stopping by from the Wednesday Link Party. This is great. I love that there are some natural ways to remedy our illnesses.
Thanks for reading Leah!
If I were to make this immune-boosting tea myself, would I mix equal parts of each ingredient? Also, I don’t have any eleuthero root. How important is that to the recipe?
Thank you.
The Bulk Herb Store occasionally shares the recipe of one of their formulas, but they do not for this one, so I don’t know what amounts they use. If I were trying to put this together, I would personally do 2 parts nettle and peppermint, 1 part echinacea roots and tops, 1/2 part elderberry, and 1/4 part eleuthero and rosehips. So for instance, {depending on how much I wanted to make}, I would put 2 cups nettle, 2 cups peppermint, 1 cup echinacea roots, 1 cup echinacea tops, 1/2 cup elderberry, 1/4 cup eleuthero, 1/4 cup rosehips. This is just my opinion, but I’m sure it’s not their formula. 🙂 Eleuthero is great for the immune system, but it would still be effective without it.
I’m so glad you shared this! I have all the herbs on hand (with the exception of eleuthero) and was wondering how I might go about making my own tea mix. Thank you!!
Hi, Nikki! I don’t have Bulk Herb Store’s recipe, but I would personally do something like 2 parts nettle and peppermint, 1 part echinacea roots and tops, 1/2 part elderberry, and 1/4 part eleuthero and rosehips. So for instance, {depending on how much I wanted to make}, I would put 2 cups nettle, 2 cups peppermint, 1 cup echinacea roots, 1 cup echinacea tops, 1/2 cup elderberry, 1/4 cup eleuthero, 1/4 cup rosehips. Thanks for the question!
Jill recently posted…How To Make Vanilla Extract That Basically Lasts Forever
Thank you! I will give this a try 🙂
Anytime, Nikki!
Tips for a nursing mama or pregnant? I have been told to avoid both peppermint (except in very small doses) and echinacea while nursing/pregnant.
Hi, Heather! Never use peppermint oil before 4 months of pregnancy. I used it after that on occasion with no problems. I drink glasses of Mama’s Red Raspberry Tea (http://tinyurl.com/z7us295) during my whole pregnancy, which contains some peppermint. It might be best not to drink peppermint tea straight during the first trimester, but I have no problems with it being in a smaller amount in this tea mix. If a person has had a problem with miscarriage, it may be best to avoid peppermint altogether. I also take echinacea during pregnancy, nursing, and give it to infants if needed. I know some have offered caution, but there are no studies that show it is truly harmful, and I believe it is much safer than other medications that are prescribed to babies every day. It’s been used for hundreds of years safely. My naturopath recommends echinacea to babies- it’s just one of those herbs that you may find different opinions on. Some herbs are a definite no for pregnancies and infants, but echinacea is not one of those. 🙂 You can also safely use colloidal silver, elderberry, and garlic for colds and flu. I hope I’ve been able to help a little – these are of course just my experience and opinion. 🙂