Emma65

Antibacterial products (antibac toothpaste, handwash etc) has the active ingrediant triclosan which has been proven to build up resistency in the bacteria - not you. So by continuously using products with triclosan you will eventuall have MORE bacteria than you did before and in the end your immune system will in the end not be able to cope with the onslaught.

Antibiotics will lower intestinal bacteria, make you prone to develop fungal infections and so on. There are reason why you need to use antibiotics every now and then. Sometimes it can not be avoided. Still - be careful.

/E

magiciansampras

I've started washing my hands more often and using the little hand-antibacterial stuff. I've been traveling a lot since the Fall and have noticed more little colds and such - I assume the correlation is real.

747LWW

Likely and cannot be avoided but chances are minimized by frequent hand cleaning, min. touching likely infected items, avoiding touching your face, etc.

mikeon

The problem with antibiotics is that they do not differentiate between the normal bacteria on you and inside your body from the bad ones that make you sick.

As said before, bacteria builds up resistance. That's why you always have to, when on antibiotic medicine, must take it all to try and kill every single thing as the one's that survive are the one's that become resistant. They multiply and it will be harder to kill them again.

The way I learned it was that the antibiotics will kill off the local bacteria that help you or are harmless and the bad ones that survive will take over the space that the good bacteria were once in. Remember that Simpson episode where Mr. Burns had so many diseases in his body that he could not be killed since they were all fighting each other to get in, well that's what I like to try and remember what the bacteria on our bodies do.

Plus, I hate penicillin, it makes your urine smell just like it and it's awful smell. Plus the other side effects it has on your stomach and everyday routines in the bathroom.

echyde

I get a flu shot. For other diseases it depends on if I'm traveling or not. I now have some Cipro and a Z-Pack if I'm out of town. I'm fortunate that my good friend is a doctor, so if I'm really sick he can just call something in for me.

IMOA

A couple of single malts does the trick for me, I laughed when a mate first suggested it but it works well.

Oh, and I've never taken any form of antibiotics

TMOliver

Other than the flu shot (and desperate hope that the disease control folks have opted for the prevalent strain, a shooting dice endeavor), nothing will keep the flu away except your immune system and general health (and no one's really sure about that). All else is snake oil. Washing your hands more, not licking your fingers or picking your nose, etc., are likely better preventives than any medication.

bdjohns1

I rely on my healthy immune system. I've run a fever 3 times in the past 5 years (and one of those was a tetanus immunization reaction). No fever has lasted longer than 8 hours (once I literally had a cold for an hour - went from normal, to 101 and sick, back to normal in 60 minutes).

Plus, when I travel for work, I'm traveling to food manufacturing facilites, generally. They tend to be pretty clean places, and the employees are required to be clean (above and beyond simple handwashing - everytime you enter a processing area, you sanitize your hands, you step in a footbath with high sanitizer concentration). Some of the rooms are probably cleaner than the operating room at the hospital.

DESMOINESguy

I often get a cold while traveling. Usually comes on quickly, beginning with scratchy throat or stuffy nose. I'm a big believer in Zicam and Airborne, plus an array of vitamins, sudafed, and lots of liquids (watch the booze).

Anyway, I carry a whole arsenal of these things in my carryon when I travel.

Case in point: Am flying AMS-MEM yesterday, 10 hour flight, begin to notice scratchy throat. I immediately begin a 2-3 hour cycle of Zicam zinc Rapidmelts, alternated with injections of the gel into my nose. Sudafed about every 4-6 hours, plus I chug some Airborne about every 3 hours. Got home, felt like crap, full blown cold is errupting. I have serious sore throat, dripping nose, the whole deal. Went to bed, but had fitfull sleep due to the cold. Throughout the night, I took a RapidMelt about every 3 hours or so. Awoke today, felt even worse, but struggled to go about my business and kept up the regimen above. All of a sudden, about a half hour ago, I noticed that I am feeling much better. My symptoms have subsided at least 50%. No sore throat. Nose drying up. Still feel tired, and crappy, but that is partly just jet lag I'm sure.

Best thing is to get on it quickly (I'm talking colds here) and stick with it. My regimen will shorten duration of a cold down to like 3 days, at least for me.

peachfront

This flyer has the right answer. When I caught the 1997 flu, I was still at the peak of my health craze -- lots of nonsense like zinc, vitamin C, no fat, no caffeine. I don't believe I had ever tasted a single malt in my life.

Vegas quickly cured me of such nonsense. And I haven't had such an awful case of the flu again. Coincidence. Hmmm. I wonder.

zac

Actually I have a feeling the whole hand sanitizer thing is going to be the eventual downfall of society. We are just forcing bacteria to evolve and will probably end up "creating" some nasty staph infections in the future.

The flu is a virus but stopping all these minor issues with the hand sanitizer, etc. is really just making the body's immune system lazy.

I would say that the best way to avoid getting sick is to actually get sick every once in awhile. Your muscles need exercise and so does your immune system. Find the George Carlin sketch on swimming in sewage (it's funny if nothing else).

Also, one sure way to prevent illness when traveling (for leisure at least) is to purchase expensive travel insurance .

Doppy

I had good luck with elderberry supplements when I got the flu a few years back, as opposed to the person who gave me the flu (and normally seems to have a very strong immune system). I got over the flu in half the time with not nearly as bad of symptoms.

Rejuvenated

Bundle and drink lots of H2O.

dmodemd

I read an article a few months ago that taking 1000mg of vitamin C every day has proven to prevent and reduce colds. So I started taking it and since then I had a couple colds come my way trying to get started but they fizzled out in a day or two. The rest of my family got a nasty cold (hope I didnt bring it to them ). So I think it really works. My mom always got me to take Vitamin C during a cold, but it didnt seem to do much. It may be that taking it as a preventative is the key!

I was doing the cold-eeze thing and it works but you have to take 6 a day and it gets tough to do. You also have to keep taking it two days after you feel better otherwise the cold comes raging back with a vengance!

A recent study showed that echnicea works too but I dont know when and how much you take.

AAJetMan

Are you still finding that at the Clubs?
I tried to take some from a drugstore but I would've had to pay for it there.