Immune systems-natural remedies vs conventional

[es1967]

Thought I would post a thread on immune systems and how much they vary within our family. It seems the same cycle occurs everytime our family catches something. DS caught a mild cold and cough this past week. Wed night he had a runny nose, eyes and cough. Gave him the usual vit C, D, elderberry,probiotics etc. I do this regularly even when not sick and I really think this is why he gets over things quickly. By Thursday he was 95% recovered. Friday all better. I cosleep with DS and did not get anything. I also take the same regime I give my son.
DH on the other hand came down with the cold on friday night and was literally coughing and blowing his nose all weekend-including today. It was horrible. I have gotten him to take vit c and vit d but he refuses to give up dayquil and nyquil. He cannot live without this stuff. I find it so strange that he continues to take this but he does not notice that DS nor myself take this and we hardly experience any cold side effects. It is rare for me to pick up anything that DS has but DH always gets the illness bad. I had my vit D checked and it was very low-around 20 something and I rarely pick up colds or flus. I am wondering why? I do eat and very healthy diet-juicing,smoothies etc etc. Anyways, DH was blowing his nose so much I was wondering how one could possibly have so much stuff inside of them?? DH eats out alot but does not eat exceptionally bad. He does drink way too much diet coke but I can't get him to understand how bad that is either.
Now I better take some extra vit c just in case. Anyone have an info that I can have DH read to make him stop taking the dayquil and nightquil? I reallly think it is prolonging his illness.

[EdnaMarie]

Dayquil and nightquil are not remedies, not conventional or otherwise. They supress symptoms, and that is it. Of course they are not going to say on the commercials that this may cause the illness to last longer, but they fully admit it!

Also, blowing one's nose can cause further irritation and more mucous build-up.

In other words... what you are doing is really more or less doing nothing, giving your body what it needs to heal, including sleep, nutrients, and fresh air. Your husband is jacking his body up with stimulants, depressants, and also irritating the heck out of his nose.

But you want a link... I don't have one. :cringe: Sorry. There are not a lot of well-funded studies on why you shouldn't buy x, y, or z.

[es1967]

Thought someone might have a good link. He's not every receptive to my natural methods. I've never used Nyquil or Dayquil myself and I don't plan to.
I just think its funny it takes him so much longer to recover and the illness is so much worse.

[ameliabedelia]

I don't have any links or anything, but perhaps if you just approached it as plain old common sense. Dayquil an Nightquil only have one purpose, and that is to relieve symptoms. They don't fight the disease, they don't help your immune system, they only theoretically make you temporarily more comfortable.

The symptoms of disease are there for a reason. The runny nose and coughing and increased mucous production all have a purpose, they help your body heal itself and get rid off/kill off germs. By suppressing those symptoms, the body can't work as efficiently and you are really just prolonging the misery.

It's the same thing with Tylenol or Motrin during a fever. Sure, it temporarily lowers the fever, but the illness is still there, and Tylenol and Motrin just suppress the body's natural fever-fighting illness.