Echinacea?
My immune system seems quite depressed lately. About three weeks ago, I had an infection in my ear canal (cellulitis), which I treated with antibiotic ear drops and an oral antibiotic. About a week after I stopped taking the antibiotics, I came down with a cold. About three days after that cold seemed over, I was hit with a horrible cold that left me completely wiped out. I'm not sure if it was a "relapse" or a new virus that caused it.
Before I was diagnosed with LADA over seven years ago, I took echinacea at the first sign of a cold and it worked well for me. Since LADA is an autoimmune disease, I've avoided echinacea ever since the diagnosis.
What do y'all think about taking echinacea? Since I know that my body is producing very little insulin these days, part of me says, "Why not? What can it really hurt since my pancreas is toast anyway?" OTOH, there's an awful lot about diabetes that I don't know.
If you have other ideas for boosting the immune system to ward off colds, etc., please let me know about them. My diet is quite healthy since I'm a vegetarian and I take a multivitamin every day plus a B complex vitamin and vitamin E on alternating days.
(I'm going to post this in the Type 1 forum, too, so I apologize in advance if you get it twice!)
Thanks for sharing your wisdom. :)
Before I was diagnosed with LADA over seven years ago, I took echinacea at the first sign of a cold and it worked well for me. Since LADA is an autoimmune disease, I've avoided echinacea ever since the diagnosis.
What do y'all think about taking echinacea? Since I know that my body is producing very little insulin these days, part of me says, "Why not? What can it really hurt since my pancreas is toast anyway?" OTOH, there's an awful lot about diabetes that I don't know.
If you have other ideas for boosting the immune system to ward off colds, etc., please let me know about them. My diet is quite healthy since I'm a vegetarian and I take a multivitamin every day plus a B complex vitamin and vitamin E on alternating days.
(I'm going to post this in the Type 1 forum, too, so I apologize in advance if you get it twice!)
Thanks for sharing your wisdom. :)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Carol Coombes on -
I'm type 1 dx 2 1/2 yrs ago. I still take echinecea & vitamin C at the fist sigh of a scratchy throat and so far I've hadd no problems or reactions. All the best Carol
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Permalink Reply by Sharon on -
Hi Janet,
I wasn't aware there where any complications with diabetes and echinacea - what is the relation to the pancreas?
For myself, I was just DX in January and every month I caught some sort of illness until July - since then cross
my fingers I've been good - even when my 4 year old had a cold, I didn't catch it!. This has been uplifting because
I thought I was facing being sick all the time.
Just this past weekend I did feel like I was coming down with a cold - started super dosing Vit C and using Deep Immune by St Fracis which is an Astragalus formulation and I seem to be winning.
Sharon
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Permalink Reply by Janet on -
Sharon,
My concern was that echinacea boost the immune system -- and my immune system is already attacking my pancreas. Will echinacea speed up that attack?
Have you tried Emergen-C? It works pretty well for me.
Janet
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Permalink Reply by Sharon on
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Hi Janet,
I never even thought of that!! I googled echinacea and autoimmune disease and it does seem there
could be contradictions - I'm sure it would be the same with Astragalus as well as it boosts the immune system. I found the below statement on the St Francis website....
Many references contraindicate use of echinacea in autoimmune and progressive systematic disease. Herbal authorities Berris Burgoyne and Kerry Bone explain that “from a rational perspective… Echinacea is positively indicated in a number of autoimmune diseases and is without adverse effects. While more research is needed to understand the role of Echinacea across a wider variety of autoimmune diseases, the theoretical concern expressed by some authorities in the 20th century that Echinacea was contraindicated for this class of disorder is looking to be exactly that: theoretical only”.
Not sure what to make of the above I have a follow up appointment with my Naturopath in December and will definetly add this question to the list.
I have used Emergen-C in the past and I find it does wonders. I haven't used it since I was dx because of the sweet taste I thought it probably has a lot of sugar in it. I guess I should look at the ingredients to see. Since I'm a type 1 I'm very insulin sensitive.
Sharon
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Permalink Reply by Uta Sievers on -
Thanks a lot for researching this, Sharon! I have been diagnosed with LADA in July and like every year, when the cold season hit at the end of September, I started taking Echinacea, on and off... no idea what it has done to my pancreas in the meantime but I'll immediately throw away the rest of the package! Looking forward to hearing what your naturopath says.
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