On the same immune balance note:  Here’s a video that explains, in a simplified but informative way, how immune balancing works; the ins and outs of over-aggressive or under-aggressive immune response. And, it also integrates an explanation of EpiCor’s production process and its interaction with immune cells. It’s only a couple minutes in length and worth a watch. See it below.

A nagging little chest tickle came on a couple days ago, along with some sinus congestion. In my earlier years, I could almost set my watch to what would happen next: the chest tickle turns to a cough; the sinuses turn into a cavalcade of infection; the infection makes its way to the chest, which turns the nagging dry cough into a crunchy, yucky hack that sounds like a St. Bernard barking.  Breathing turns into a wheeze fest. And after 10 days of this crap, I give in and go to the doc to get my Z-Pack. Which may or may not really work, since it may be a viral thing I’m dealing with.

Now, the symptoms don’t really grow into that potpourri of misery described above. They pretty much stay in check and then are gone in a day or two. To me, this is the picture of immune balance: immune defenses reacting proportionally to confront virus or bacteria.  Which means just enough to vanquish the bad stuff, but not too aggressively to cause a lot of overkill symptoms (endless phlegm, inflammation, etc.)  And this year, unlike the past two, I’ve not had the luxury of maybe getting some extra sleep in the morning to help the cause. My schedule this week made that sleep impossible.

I must stress, this is just a description of my experience and is not any kind of suggestion that everyone can have the same kind of result.  Peer-reviewed, published human trials (Alter. Comp Med. EpiCor Cold Flu) do support the kind of experience I’m describing. Still, the trials do not constitute settled science.

So here’s to another year of conquering the crud.

Original Post OK, I feel like crap today. I’ve been in New York City the past week, walking all over kingdom come in 90 degree weather with killer humidity. In and out of air conditioning. In and out of boiling subway tunnels.

I came home to Des Moines two days ago, which welcomed me to 98 degree weather with killer humidity. Plus some flooding to boot, though my suburban area did not get hit.

Now, some kind of sinus irritation has set in. It has the potential makings of a classic summer cold. Thick feeling head, heavy chest, raspy voice. I was out to dinner tonight with my wife and kids. My daughters said I was spacing out, staring into a zone, acting kind of out of it.

The key is, can my immune system…going on 2.5 years with EpiCor… make this be nothing more than a short-lived irritation that doesn’t balloon into a flow-blown crud attack that takes 10 days to kick?  I think so. We shall see. I’ve taken no OTC meds, though I did use a little nose spray last night. I also had a beer with my brother after work, which probably did not help, either.

Days missed at school due to seasonal crud have been reduced dramatically. One daughter has had no sick days this year. The other has been out a day and a half. This amidst the H1N1 outbreak and possibly the worst winter in our state’s history. And, this amidst a music rehearsal and class schedule that runs from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. most weekdays, with all-day competitions on weekends. In other words, sleep has been at a premium. Typically, in past years, sick days might total a week to two weeks for each daughter.  

I know when they start college next fall, they likely will have a less demanding schedule than they did in high school. At least for their freshman year.  Yet, I’ll be pushing them to stick with EpiCor as well.

To view several published studies and papers on EpiCor, click here.

Now, the immune balance supplementation science seems to be bearing itself out with respect to my experience. If immune balance doesn’t help ward off seasonal cold and influenza, it may help reduce length and severity of symptoms. The eyes are 90% cleared up after 24 hours. The bronchial crud made a very visible appearance, but has since receded in the past 36 hours. A mild cough did not balloon into a incessant hack and is not next to non-existent. I have not spent 5 minutes at the toilet coughing up gunk each morning and night. I’m sure sipping a couple of pear martinis at the neighbors’ house when this was starting didn’t help things, but I’m sure it wasn’t a game changer either way.

As for my daughters, one half-day at home for one of them has been it. The other is symptom-free so far. And throughout it all, no fever for anyone.  All in all, I’ll take this scenario any day.

I was sitting next to two state economic development officers and two Iowa State University (host of the cloud conference) IT managers. We exchanged typical pleasantries and when it came my turn to tell what I do, I mentioned that I’m involved with a nutraceutical ingredient that has a steadily-building research portfolio showing how it imparts “balance” to the human immune system. What happened next seems to happen more and more, especially in the past 9 months or so. As they asked about their own health challenges and issues, and how immune health impacts them, they started writing down the immune balancer I mentioned (EpiCor) and how to get a hold of it.

The scribing gets especially furious when I tell folks that I, a lifelong ragweed/pollen allergy sufferer, have not taken a prescription or OTC allergy product now for two years. I don’t even mention my skating by two winter crud seasons now with only a scratchy throat and an extra nap here and there. Nor do I mention my baby boomer joints and muscles being able to handle a 6-month season (with 2 more months to go) of disc golf every 2 or 3 days with no inflammation-triggered arm or back strain.

This dialog is one sign of a growing interest in immune balance. This blog is now experiencing a 50- to 70-percent month-over-month increase in views, and is up over 1000 percent since this time last year. Wellsphere, one of the major online health portals, has added this blog to its “Top Health Blogger” roster.  Naturopathic physicians and wellness coaches seem to be seeking out online information on immune balance and the EpiCor ingredient (as has been confirmed to me by one of my Twitter followers). I think the concept of immune balance is forming a new cloud of its own… where information, consumer experience, research and movement of product all converge in a diffused, user-driven platform spreading across the country and in other global geographies. The only difference is that in addition to packets of data being stored and deployed, packets of immune cells are being studied, reorganized and redeployed for better health and quality of life.

They proceeded to grow at a very healthy pace. In fact they not only grew, they spread…wickedly. For the past 9 years, I’ve been regularly pulling up tree shoots from the ground, before they grow into real trees. My neighbors have been doing the same thing, pulling the invading tree shoots out of their yards, shoots that I inadvertently supplied them. I’m surprised they didn’t shoot me by now.

Now, I’m a bit more familiar with this proliferative plant: The Red Sumac.  While it does turn brilliant orange in early fall, it is more like a weed than a tree; a really big weed that spreads like wildfire.  I’ve also discovered another interesting factoid…the hard way. From time to time while mowing around the garden or pulling weeds, planting flowers, etc, I would brush up against the leaves of the sumacs. My arms or my face gently scraped against the leaves, and I didn’t think anything of it. That is until about two days later…when I began itching in those areas that came into contact with the sumac leaves. And the itching didn’t stop. It was intense and led to some poison-ivy like irritation. Ten days of calamine lotion and cold showers (to keep inflammation in check) later, it went away. From time to time, I would invariably forget to steer clear of those leaves, get a brush on the arm or face, and the whole mess would flare up again. Even pruning bare branches in the late fall, after all the leaves were gone, would still get a little itch fest going again.

Last summer, after having taken my immune balance supplements for six months, I forgot to wear long sleeves and a hat while toiling around the sumacs, and I felt the horrifying brush of those soft, green leaves again. A little irritation emerged, nothing major, and it was gone in a day or two.

This past weekend, I again got a forehead full of leaves. And absolutely nothing has developed. Not even a tinge.

Also, don’t confuse your garden variety sumac with poison sumac. That’s a different beast. Those leaves are more elliptical, not lance-shaped, and they are more potent.

A 1997 Univ. of  Mass. paper on skin irritation from poison ivy and related plants gives a nice overview of why people experience  severe itching and blistering from contact with these leaves. The basic reason: immune system over-reaction to something that, by itself, would be harmless. That’s the cornerstone of immune balance…or imbalance. The paper has a nice phrase that hits the nail on the head: “Allergy is an altered or unwanted immune response.”

Let me again emphasize that properly labeled nutritional supplementation is not meant–nor does it claim–to diagnose, treat or cure any disease or health condition.

And a first happened in our house. Both of my daughters began showing crud symptoms at the same time.  Of course, this is prime-time winter crud season at school. However, neither of them went to the doc to get antibiotics. I can’t remember when that had ever happened; being able to bypass the Z-Pack when both are under the weather. The severity/duration of their symptoms stayed in check. One stayed home from school one day (she’s been taking colostrum), and the other (on EpiCor) didn’t take a day off.

My other daughter, who with me, takes a daily EpiCor supplement, is in good shape, though may be showing a couple mild symptoms herself (a little throat scratch that started yesterday).  Meanwhile, at school, at least 4 of their friends have mononucleosis! What the heck is up with that? And they said strep is starting to make the rounds.

So far for me, nothing at all.  All quiet on the western front. My last discernible hint of any cold/flu-like episode was early last spring, when I was a little congested in the head and slept in until mid-morning one day.  That was the last of anything I experienced. My nutritional supplement regimen right now: EpiCor (500 mg); chromium picolinate (200 mcg); Vitamin D3 (1000 mg), lutein ( 6 mg).  No massive Vitamin C or zinc intake.

Over the weekend (2 days ago) I started getting that “throaty feeling.”  You know, where your throat starts feeling a bit swollen and a little further down, that scratchy, coughy sensation sets in. In the past, I could set my watch to the time when a full-blown bronchial congestion, cough, phlegm fest and possible laryngitis would come crashing through. So far, nothing of the sort. I’ve been drinking a bit more water in the past couple of days, and made sure I got a couple hours extra sleep yesterday and this morning (but I did put up my Christmas lights last night in the nice 60-degree Iowa weather, while listening to my boy Kurt Warner and the Cards lose to Ely Manning and the Giants). I’m now ending the work day, and Operation Scratch is going away. Heck, I might even have a beer tonight.  But not more than one. Alcohol is an irritant to soft tissue (as in a soar throat) and a diuretic, meaning it saps your body of hydration and dries out your system.  You need to retain fluids during the cold season.

So far I’ve overcome this early-warning condition twice this season. Not to mention my allergy experience this year was an absolute success. It was like my hay-fever allergies went away entirely while pollen count in this area was heavy.  

I have a wife and twin daughters. One daughter is taking an EpiCor-containing supplement, and so far she’s doing great. Her twin sister, on the other hand, even with EpiCor, seems to be extra susceptible to the winter crud. She’s had 8 sick days from school this year, complete with 3 or 4 doctor visits and 4 rounds of antibiotics. I’ve since tried having her take a bovine colostrum supplement. Too early to tell yet if it is making a difference, so we’ll wait out the winter and spring and see how it goes. However, she did make it though her latest bout with the crud by sleeping an extra day and needing no doc or prescription. Both my girls are conscientious about their diet and they do pretty well on getting a good amount of sleep.