Does echinacea help you personally with colds?

[Digit]

I am a smoker, and since I have been taking it, I have skipped three years of colds.
My method is to take two capsules at the first sign of symptoms, then I continue with a single capsule every 4-5 hours.
Oh, and I use the Echinacea Angustifolio.

Anyone else have success with this?

[mopinko]

1. there was a report about a study

on npr that said that echincacea had not impact on colds. sorry. so have the 50 or so other studies into it's efficacy.

[wli]

2. I generally need harsh stuff for chronic sinusitis here

I've tried echinacea and it didn't really help. I suspect it does for other, more common issues.

[pitohui]

3. no it does not do anything for me

my seneca friend has good results tho

maybe depends on your body chemistry like any other drug

[Jackpine Radical]

4. No. It helps, but quite impersonally.

[unrepuke]

5. Definitely. Without Ech a cold will last me 7 days...

Using it I can kick the bug in a week!

;-)

[kestrel91316]

6. I have found that if I NOTICE I am starting to come down with a bug ......

and take Echinacea RIGHT AWAY it seems to "abort" the cold. But if I delay more than about 12 hours it doesn't help at all.

I don't listen much to research like this. I listen to my body.

[Dover]

7. I can barely remember the last time I had a cold. But I will say that

I took Ech. tablets and drank ech. tea the minute it started and did my ritual hot soaks in the tub, and the cold was gone in three days. Perhaps anecdotal, but there is NO accepted drug that works any better.


Imagine that.....the big drug companies still don't know how to CURE a cold, only suppress the symptoms. Who knows, maybe colds just need to run their course anyway. No biggy.

Seems to me that many who get colds and flu are otherwise rundown and/or stressed which opens them up more to illness.

On edit: I heard this story on the news today and they quoted a fellow who said these tests did not give the ech. in the recommended dosages.....they used much less. So that might be something to consider, besides looking into WHO might have financed these tests.

[NYFlip]

8. It doesn't help me

Zinc lozenges work for me. At the first sign of a sore throat I suck on them and I haven't had a cold since 2001.

[Nevernose]

9. I buy my echinacea from Sasquatch

Yeah, yeah, yeah --flame away at my sarcastic remarks. Sometimes you catch a cold, sometimes you don't. Echinacea doesn't have a thing to do with it.

Appeal to common practice
Hasty generalization
Ignoring a common cause
Etc.

(Thanks, Walt!)

[Cleita]

10. I find it works very well with bacteria infections like

bronchitis if you take more than 1,000 mgs. a day. It doesn't work with virus infections for me.

[faithnotgreed]

11. definitely use echinacea and it works

esp if you have a cold or something coming on
take a dropperful and hold it under your tongue/in your mouth and swallow after 5 mins (or however long you can stand it if you cant make it to 5 mins)

yes it works

[Dover]

12. What works better? I'd really like to know.

There are plenty of drugs to suppress the symptoms, but what drug actually cures a cold? Or prevents it?

I heard on the news that the dosages used in the recent tests, were much lower than what is recommended. One thing is clear....the drug companies don't like the competition from the herbal market. So make up your own answers.

[Digit]

14. I agree...they did not say who sponsored the study....

...and I also noticed that they used lower dosages.

It works for me, but ONLY if I take it really soon after the first symptoms appear.
Just wanted to counteract the propaganda!

[Beam Me Up]

13. Echinacea and Goldenseal at the first signs of a cold. IT WORKS.

I usually take higher than usual dosages of vitamin C as well. I've been using this combination for 3 years. I used to get major sinus infections, soar throats, the works. Now I either ward off the cold altogether or have relatively minor symptoms.

[Must_B_Free]

15. only works when taken at first sign of cold

it won't do anything if you're already sick.

[DELUSIONAL]

16. It makes a difference if taken before -- or when immune system is low

Anecdotal study -- getting my husband to take echinacea before he boards a plane keeps him from getting a nasty cold.

Every time he takes the echinacea for a few day before, during and after the flight -- he doesn't get a cold.

If he doesn't take the pills he always gets a cold.

The research I've read seems to have not used recommended doses -- plus I do believe the real use of echinacea is to boost the immune system.

Thus if it is taken too often or habitually it might not work as an immune booster -- would be my guess.

When reading research it is alway important to determine the particular bias of the researcher/experimenter. If the experimenter is biased against a positive outcome s/he could influence the outcome. A double blind/placebo is the only way to run experiments like this -- as well as having unbiased researchers.