What Most Doctors Won’t Tell You About Colds and CBD

Very few people make it through the winter without an annoying cold or a runny nose. Some of us will also catch the flu. With winter approaching, it’s important to know how you can protect and boost your immune system. Sure, you can go down the standard route, get a flu vaccine, that is laden with toxic chemicals, or you can shove conventional medicine down your throat once you’re sick.

Another option is to let it run its course and protect your system using CBD. What most doctors won’t tell you is that in most cases it’s best to let colds and cases of flu run their course while using natural medication to help ease many symptoms.

In most cases, these natural remedies, such as CBD, will even help boost your immune system, preventing your body from catching these viruses.

How Do We Get Colds and Flus?

That is an extremely complicated question to answer, but in most cases, it comes down to the following reasons:

1. We are constantly in confined areas with other people who spread germs. Viruses such as influenza become airborne when someone coughs, and it only takes a few breaths to become sick.
2. Viruses causing most respiratory infections are constantly mutating, and unfortunately, our immune systems have trouble dealing with these ever-changing germs.
3. Viruses can live on non-porous surfaces for hours on end. If you touch a table or pen, recently touched by a sneezing person, you’re likely to get sick.

How do These Viruses Affect our Body?

To understand how a cold affects our body, it’s important to understand that colds and flu are the outcomes of viruses in our body. These viruses are microscopic particles of genetic material, each coated with a thin layer of protein.

Unlike the natural cells in your body, these viruses are not able to reproduce on their own, but instead, use the machinery and metabolism of your cells to produce multiple copies of themselves.

Once the virus enters a cell, it will either use that cell’s resources to replicate itself, eventually breaking the cell in search of a new cell, or, incorporating itself into the DNA of your cell. This allows the virus to be passed down through natural genetic duplication (mitosis) and cellular division (cytokinesis).

Why Let a Flu or Cold Run Its Course?

In most cases, the viruses that cause colds and cases of flu will affect weak cells, ones that are already burdened and contain excessive toxins. These are cells that your body would anyway prefer to get rid of – and it’s natures way of helping.

Most doctors would argue and prefer to prescribe some form of medication that they are affiliated with, but a cold or flu is actually a natural event that helps your body to identify damage cells, destroy and eliminate them. This means that the best remedy is to let it run its course.

So Why Protect Your Body Using Cannabis?

With that said, it doesn’t mean that you have to catch a cold or flu intentionally. If you look after your body, by living a healthy lifestyle and resting well, your cells will be strong enough to avoid infection. You simply won’t have weak cells that need to be flushed out of your system. And for that, we sometimes need a natural helping hand. Remember, most people do not die from viruses, but bad colds and the flu certainly do cause a lot of pain and discomfort.

Cannabis and especially its two major compounds, CBD and THC, have been known to ease many symptoms of the common cold. CBD is an anti-inflammatory which can fight pain, such as sinus pressure, while THC can reduce common pains associated with these viruses which allow the body to rest and self-heal. While smoking marijuana isn’t recommended when sick as it can cause respiratory irritation, other forms of the plant can be used such as CBD oil. Furthermore, CBD has become a favorite item in recent years for its immune strengthening properties.

According to Dr. Robert J. Melamede, Chairman of the Biology Department of the University of Colorado, “Contemporary antiviral medical technology is currently not able to meet the world’s immediate challenges,” said Melamede. “We believe that cannabis extract-based medicines can help to reduce influenza deaths.”

Dr. David Allen thinks that “Cannabidiol (CBD), may offer control of the immune system and in turn, protect from viral infections. Cannabis has already been seen to inhibit fungus and bacteria and can be considered a new class of antimicrobial because of the different mechanism of action from other antimicrobials.”

When the immune system launches an attack on a virus, it causes an inflammatory response that produces flu or cold-like symptoms. While the body uses its’ own endocannabinoids to moderate the immune response, it’s not always capable of controlling the inflammatory process. Cannabinoids in cannabis help in this aspect by giving the natural endocannabinoid mechanism a boost. Also, constant use of extracts may help to keep your body intact helping to prevent a future attack.

Final Thoughts About CBD and Colds

As colds and the flu are both caused by viruses, antibiotics are, in most cases, not required. They may make you feel better because they have a mild anti-inflammatory effect, but this is far outweighed by the negative impact that they have on the friendly bacteria throughout your digestive tract. If you really require help with pain management during a cold or flu, CBD oil could work as an effective treatment.