Echinacea anyone?

[Uncle Wig]

So, Does anyone feel they have had success staving off a cold by taking echinacea?

If so, in what form did you take it?

edit: I'm aware that the echinacea study results are mixed, partly due to the inconsistency in the ways its prepared and which species of the plant is used. So that's what prompted to seek anecdotes from all of you.

[mrbigstuff]

I recall a study not too long ago with the result that echinacea cannot do anything to lessen symptoms once you have a cold, but may help if you take it regularly. I know that Germans are big on it, as that is where my friends go the idea about 20 years back. FWIW, some other study found that zinc actually may make a difference in lessening symptoms from a virus. I'm not digging up the citations at the moment, however, so YMMV.

[freeradical]

Try getting a little more sleep, and making sure that you're hydrated, eat properly, etc.

[Paul F.]

[ztirffritz]

Zinc is the only thing that has been proven to impace the severity or duration of a cold.

[JoeM]

I use Astragalus instead of Echinacea. It has been extremely effective for me in avoiding colds or recovering sooner from them. Here's some info if you consider taking it:

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/astra...000223.htm
http://www.webmd.com/heart/astragalus-ro...de-effects
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/herbsupp...agalus.htm
http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/Treatmen...astragalus

[Grateful11]

I've loaded up on Echinacea and Golden Seal several times when I thought I was coming down with
something, can't really tell that it done any good.

[Trouble]

Zicam here if I feel a cold coming, but I haven't had a cold or the flu or even the sniffles in almost 2 years.

[space-time]

mrbigstuff wrote:
I recall a study not too long ago with the result that echinacea cannot do anything to lessen symptoms once you have a cold, but may help if you take it regularly. I know that Germans are big on it, as that is where my friends go the idea about 20 years back. ...

A German fellow told me about Echinacea, I think I tried it once but I am not sure if it did anything.

[macbeergeek2]

That's the problem with taking supplements like this to prevent or lessen the severity of something... you never *really* know if they worked.