Getting a Cold – My Worst Cold in Years – Lessons Learned

Getting a cold is miserable. It knocks you out. It might not lay you up, but it sure slows you down. It affects everything you do including sleeping, talking, working, and even thinking.

I really haven’t had a bad cold in years. Usually I’m diligent about practicing what we preach at Sinus Survival. But it happened. A full-blown, knock-me-off-my-feet, bad head and chest cold, mixed-in with some other mutant virus.

Everyone around me has had a cold for weeks. I usually take precautions and have my routine, which has worked for years. But I went off course. Saturday, I started feeling the aches and pains of a cold. I was on the go all-day and got home late. Sunday a friend called and wanted to take a bike ride. We’re both beginning our road bike training for centuries this summer. April in Denver is about cold, snow, mixed-in with some nicer days. It was a nice sunny 50 degree day when we left for our ride. We took a 51 mile ride, which turned into a cold gale-wind ride on the return.

This week the full impact of what was lurking in my system hit me: the disgusting mucus drainage, head-splitting sinus headache, sore throat, ear ache, the coughing, chills, sinus pressure, nausea, the whole works. So what happened? I’m not supposed to get colds anymore. I’m immune to them, right?

Looking back, I’m reminded of the importance of taking offensive measures and then playing defense when we need to. No one is immune to all colds, but you can take the right steps to strengthen your immunity AND to go to declare war against a cold at the first sign of one. By doing so, you can usually overt having a full-blown cold. If I review the last three weeks, I actually set myself up for this cold. It was as if I was training to attract the worst one I could get – come and get it! It was the perfect set-up for the perfect storm:

• I had been under an enormous amount of stress. I haven’t slowed down to address it.
• Working late hours routinely for a month, getting little sleep, and poor quality of sleep.
• My eating routine changed, having quick snacks, versus eating whole-real foods.
• My exercise routine changed, due to long work hours.
• I ran out of grape seed extract and AlliUltra, a month earlier and was too busy to order more.
• When symptoms developed, I didn’t go into correction mode. I actually lowered my immunity by taxing my body further with a long work-out in the wind and cold. I didn’t follow my normal take action plan.

Here’s the take-away from this, a routine I learned from Dr. Rob Ivker:

1). Follow the best routine for building immunity and best health:

• Get 7 or more hours of sleep nightly
• Practice good sleep habits to set-up great quality of sleep (see sleep habits in Silver or Gold Membership)
• Get 30 minutes of aerobic exercise per day to limit stress and detox body
• Eat healthy whole foods, 50% fruits and vegetables.
• Take supplements and especially cold immunity boosters during the cold season: Grape seed extract in the a.m. on an empty stomach, Allimax or AlliUltra 1x a day.
• Generally, the hands are the transmitters for cold viruses (1973, University of Virginia) wash hands with antibacterial soap during peak cold season. Be careful who you shake hands with, who might have a cold.

2). Go into full prevent mode at the first sign of a cold symptom:

• Get even more sleep and rest: 8+ hours a night.
• Slow down, let your body recover.
• Limit work-outs to less strenuous ones during this time.
• Follow Dr. Ivker’s Quick Fix program (Free for download for Silver and Gold Members): it includes the Sinus Survival nasal spray, Allimed or AlliUltra 2 caps, 3x a day, Vitamin C : up to 3,500 mg a day, Sinuthyme: 2 caps/3x a day to dry out mucous.
• Use the Sinupulse to prevent mucus from becoming blocked and infected (which then causes a cold to go into a full sinus infection (sinusitis).
• Steam showers or use a steam inhaler with Eucalyptus and/or tea tree oil

The one positive thing I did do this week was to go back to what I know works in #2 above. By doing so, I won’t let this cold expand further into a sinus infection, like I used to always get with any cold.

Good health takes practice. Here’s to your best health.