does echinecea really work for kids?

Cal04

both daughters are back to school and i guess colds and flu are just around the corner. second daughter suffers from a chronic cough that usually starts with a cold. thinking of starting them on echinacea and seeing if that will help ward on viruses. if you think it works, for how long do you give it and how much?

lazygal

It's not something I'd be giving to children, its a herbal remedy and has no real effect on preventing colds.

Evidence here:

http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/290/21/2824.short

January

Hi Cal04,

Please note that abbreviations such as DD etc that are accepted on other forums are not accepted here.

I have edited your post accordingly, please take time to read the charter to familiarize yourself with the guidelines of the forum.

Thanks,
January.

Orion

Cal04: please do not use other forum's abbreviations. Use daughter instead of dd. I've edited your post accordingly.

Folks - please also remember the rule about medical advice. The topic is borderline - don't stray over that line please.

[edit]Ha - January is too bloody fast sometimes!

January

Orion wrote: »

Cal04: please do not use other forum's abbreviations. Use daughter instead of dd. I've edited your post accordingly.

Folks - please also remember the rule about medical advice. The topic is borderline - don't stray over that line please.

[edit]Ha - January is too bloody fast sometimes!

Haha! That's what I get for having no life on a Saturday night...

nesf

January wrote: »

Haha! That's what I get for having no life on a Saturday night...

Join the club...

Those days ended as soon as the second one came along. :P

Morag

Apparently we get them back eventually

Khannie

Sharrow wrote: »

Apparently we get them back eventually

At that point I'll have no idea what to do with them.

Moonbeam

Sleep!!! haha

Bold moderators to the naughty step for going off topic;P

Echinacea - Here is a useful link about it
http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/echinacea-000239.htm

I gave it ago for a few winters but can not say if it did or did not make a difference.

Shelli2

I would think that a general all round booster would have a better effect?

My mother swears by codliver oil capsules, with added vitamins (many different types, cant remember which one she used to give us)

I find Minadex very good, and the little fella loves the taste of it.

kelle

I tried it on my two older children for a full winter, and there was no difference - they still caught anything that was going around.

Moonbeam

Moonbeam wrote: »

Sleep!!! haha

Bold moderators to the naughty step for going off topic;P

Echinacea - Here is a useful link about it
http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/echinacea-000239.htm

I gave it ago for a few winters but can not say if it did or did not make a difference.

In the interest of balance, I'd suggest that the OP also googles expressions like "echinacea debunked". That will throw up a lot of references to the significant body of research that, well, debunks claims that echinacea does any good for colds, or cancer, or athlete's foot, or any of the other things that people mistakenly believe it can cure or prevent.

One of the best-known facts about health is that there is no cure or prevention for the common cold. If there was, every single person alive would know its name, how it works and where to get it.

Orion

Deleted User wrote: »

One of the best-known facts about health is that there is no cure or prevention for the common cold. If there was, every single person alive would know its name, how it works and where to get it.

+1

With the best medicine and treatment a cold will be cured in seven days.
With bed rest and fluids it'll be gone in a week.

You can get effervescent tablets of Vitamin C that dissolve in a glass of water to become an orange flavoured drink.

As said already, there's no cure for the common cold, you have to leave it in the hands of your children's immune systems, so boosting the immune system is the way to go. If you start taking the tablets as soon as there's a twinge of a cold (ie. dry throat, tingly throat/nose, runny nose, stuffy feeling) I would swear by it as a prevention. I know it would be difficult to get the kids to tell you if they feel a cold/flu coming on, since if you ask them to look out for it they might accidentally invent it, but the good thing about VitC is that it's totally natural to have in your body and you'd have to be trying pretty hard to ever take too much. Honestly I've taken it anytime I've felt the flu twinge and while sometimes it doesn't completely prevent it, it most definitely reduces how bad I feel every time. I can't remember the last time I had to deal with a proper cold/flu. In fact, the orange tablet in Uniflu packs is a vitamin C.

cbyrd

You should be really careful about taking herbal remedies. There's a reason that they'll all have to be tested soon, different people have different reactions to them and some of the side effects can be pretty nasty.. just so you're aware they can interfere with medications that you take aswell.

cooperguy

Its a herbal medicine, so the likelyhood of it doing anything for anybody is pretty slim. Save your money and give the children more fruit and veg instead!

run_Forrest_run

when I heard you say 'chronic cough' I'd be more concerned with finding out the real reason for this, asthma etc.
Contact your GP would be by bet and forget about these herbal remedies which have never undergone major clinical trials unlike conventional medicine.