Pneumonia - foods & herb recommendations?

Got a moderate case of pneumonia this week, complete with cough, lung pain, low fever, headache, vomiting, all the regular unpleasant symptoms. The symptoms are serious enough that I'm doing the whole allopathic thing, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts of herbs or foods that might help speed recovery.


I can't promise I'll be able to keep anything down, but it would be nice to have an arsenal of healing things to eat and drink.


Edit to clarify: I am receiving treatment under the guidance of my family GP (medical doctor, aka allopathic). I won't hesitate to go to the ER if things get worse. I want to thank everyone who took the time to remind us how important and useful it is to seek modern medical advice, especially when dealing with something as vital as breathing.

I also believe strongly in the power of food as a healer.

My personal goal is to use both modern medicine and natural healing foods and herbs to speed my recovery.

Thank you again to everyone who has joined in the conversation.

I thought I had pneumonia once.

I tried absolutely everything before giving up in despair, weeks later, and taking myself to the emergency ward. It wasn't pneumonia at all. It was a massive double pulmonary embolism. No one in the hospital had ever seen blood clots that big in the lungs of anyone who had survived. They assured me that I couldn't have survived more than a few hours longer at most.

Please, please, please make sure of the diagnosis before getting yourself too tied up with foods and herbs.

Scary story. So glad you made it through. Thank you for sharing the cautionary tale.

I went to the doctor yesterday. I told her my history, that I thought I picked this up at a petri dish - hospital or old folks home, bla bla bla, all the symptoms fit pneumonia. The funny bit is where I told her where in my lung the infection has settled in. After the stethoscope, she was totally shocked that the 'crackle' was exactly where I told her it was - as if it's unusual to be able to know where the problem is in one's own body. Which I am beginning to suspect is unusual as the doctors are always shocked that I know exactly where the wrongness is and the quality of how it's wrong - if not exactly why it's wrong.

Given history, it looks like bacterial infection - thankfully not viral. The afternoon was running around town seeking a pharmacist that had strong enough antibiotics on hand. Then it's voluntary isolation, plenty of rest, fluids, and strict instructions on what symptoms to call an ambulance if things change.


I have almost no desire to eat right now. Everything I put in my mouth tastes like city tap water (horrible and insipid with a slight aftertaste of bleach). The foods I am craving include wasabi, chili peppers, garlic, seaweed, fish and salt. Oh, and this really weird craving for warm, flat beer. I'm not certain how to translate these food cravings into something I can eat and keep down. Any thoughts?

The other thing I need to find out is how to schedule my live-culture foods. If I take kiefer at the same time as the antibiotics, will they nullify each other? How do I keep my gut happy? I'm worried about such strong antibiotics and loosing all the happy invisible beasties in my gut. But breathing is more urgent than having a happy gut...I don't know. Too tired to think right now.



That got away from me a bit. Basically: Saw the doctor. Doing the allopathic treatment which includes some heavy dose of antibiotics. Would like some more food and herb based suggestions on how to make my system stronger and symptoms less.

A tea made of mullien leaves helps out our coughs here. My honey had walking pnemonia, the tea worked as well as otc guafenesin.
I tear up 4 or 5 large leaves, steep in a quart of water for 30 mins, with Tbl of a dry mint, good for the tummy and taste buds. To avoid an itchy throat, strain it! Add another quart of water, 1/4 cup sugar or honey, and drink as an ice tea. I sometimes make it 'cause I like it.
Your winter hasn't arrived yet, right? Our mullien is available but for 5 weeks or so in a 'harsh' winter. To describe our harshness, our well guy (he's antique) says the freeze depth was 13 inches when he was a boy, now it is 3 inches...

To ID it
http://www.weedalogue.com/commonmullein/

An expert dosage
http://www.christopherhobbs.com/database/?details&type=herbs&name=Mullein

Perhaps it is too much work for how you feel today, but here goes...
I have a friend who makes this for her large family as soon as she sees sniffles. It is VERY spicey and needs the topping to cool it down to just shy of burning your tounge off. I reduce the amount of jalepeno to half.
I have been known to make the full rice recipe, and freeze half for the next round of illness. The topping is made fresh each time.

Spicy Rice
2 chopped onions
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalepeno per cup of cooked rice
Saute above ingredients. Add to below while cooking rice.
Cook 4 c brown rice in...
4c chicken stock + 4 c water
3T lemon juice
2T cinnamon
2 bay leaves (remove after cooking)
1/2 t cumin
1 star anise (remove after cooking? I used 1T anise seed and haven't made it scince finding star anise)


Topping
1 part sour cream to 2 parts yogurt
Stir in 'cooling' raw copped vegies such as... tomato, onion, cucumber, etc

I have added some diced chicken with the rice for those not yet sick.

Oh, that sounds yummy.

Thank you for the wonderful suggestions. Even if I can't use them this time, I'll keep them for the next time.

Black tea - no milk, it causes phlegm.

I didn't read all responses thoroughly, but did anyone mention Yerba Santa? It grows incessantly were I live and I'm trying to learn some about it. I've read that it treats pulmonary issues.

Elderberry has several studies behind it as an effective medicine for cold and flu virii. No, the studies didn't come out of the US because our system is based on pharmaceutical profits, not the people's health. They came out of Germany. Also it is part of Chinese tradition. I use it and it works. We have been making and using elderberry for more than a decade. It's a wild native plant here. We gather it and make it for free.
John S
PDX OR

I've read more than once that you can cut an onion and leave it on the nightstand to "soak up" all the bad juju and help you heal faster. I've never tried. One of my very favorites for any kind of winter illness is a cup of tea made from a teaspoon or so of (your choice) manuka honey, local honey, or raw honey with a few lemon slices and fresh ginger if you have it. It's soothing and warming. Sometimes I even add elderberry syrup to that. Rosemary Gladstar has a great recipe for Fire Cider. It's pretty strong stuff but that probably means it's powerful. Good luck to you! Hope you're feeling a lot better soon!

The fastest thing is to cleanse your colon. I have given an enema that reversed serious lung and bronchial infections overnight. It is magic.

Have not posted here for long time but saw this thread linked in Paul's latest email. I was an acupuncturist/clinical herbalist for over 25 years and an herbal user/studier for many years before that. Also have had pneumonia and I know it is a beeeeatch! I long ago came to the decision that deep, bacterial infections are best treated w/ the big guns i.e. modern antibiotics. Viral infections- there are some specific ones that have good meds for but otherwise, herbs all the way. Actually a big part of making that decision about antibiotics was my pneumonia experience.

Must admit as a "side bar" that the codeine cough medicine was quite a revelation; I can easily see how junkies get hooked Downside of course is that each dose is much less effective than the previous one. Not to mention expense and overall toll you your body. Oh well, still Mr Clean.

Elderberry has several studies behind it as an effective medicine for cold and flu virii.

Sadly, though excellent vs influenza virus, totally ineffective against colds. Can't remember off hand but one is a virus w/ a capsule, the other without, two different families of virus. Elderberry only works agains the one family but not the other.

Best you can do w/ the cultured foods is take as far away in time from the antibiotics as you can and eat lots of them. Continually putting in/replacing the good bacteria may speed healing and will definitely help prevent later back lash from the drugs.

Wish you a speedy and smooth recovery!

Pneumonia is not something to mess around with. That said one of the best ways to get rid of it is with colloidal silver in a nebulizer. It has to be high quality colloidal silver to be effective and I've found the Silver Lungs company to be very good in what they offer for you to make your own. Not cheap but good none the less.

As long as I'm not prescribing medicine... There is a lot of info on the web about using colloidal silver. Using a nebulizer to inhale it directly into the lungs delivers it directly where it counts. I like getting my info from SilverLungs.com. A friend of mine uses DoTerra essential oils and swears by them for her own, and her clients health. There is a product that uses a blend of three oils that are anti-viral, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, etc.

There are several herbs that will help.....just google herbal remedies for pneumonia. That being said I use to get bronchitis a few times every year and it would ultimately would lead to walking pneumonia every few years. I finally got some helpful info from a an individual in a health store. Echinacea supreme made by Gaia is absolutely a miracle herb. It is good for colds and more complicated lung problems. It deeply penetrates the lung tissues and helps rebuild the problems colds, bronchitis, and pneumonia cause. Everyone I have ever given this info to has been impressed by this herbal remedy. Also grapefruit extract is very helpful on many of these issues...........they are BOTH quite strong so start out slowly.......perhaps 1/3 dropper......moving toward 1/2 dropper. and starting with perhaps 5 drops of grapefruit extract moving toward 10. herbal pharm also makes a product called super echinacea which is also a very good product. hope that helps

Very good suggestions and please keep us updated on your progress. Saying that, could'nt help notice you are from Canada. No shame in a doctor visit or even the E R. They do have some really cool technology to make sure you dont get into too much trouble. The gentleman who had misdiagnosed himself made a very good point. You can use all of these recomendations along with medical care. God Speed!

Elecampane is useful for helping you cough stuff up out of your lungs.

As for the probiotics, you can take marshmallow (the herb) with them and it will help make the lining of your gut friendlier to the good little beasties.

Antibiotics saved me from pneumonia several years ago. The herbs I had in my arsenal at the time (osha root, usnea, echinachea) didn't touch it. Stephen Harrod Buhner has a book on herbal antibiotics. That's what I would reference now if I was in your shoes again.

I forgot to ad I have been taking Echinacea supreme since 1995 whenever I feel any kind of cold coming on......in General it stops it cold (pun intended). I have not had brochitis or pneumonia since I started taking it. I suspect my lungs were always week because I had whooping cough at 1 week old and almost died. So it seems I was suseptible to such things as bronchitis....etc. So its quite a testimonial of what it can do.

Thanks for the good thoughts and recommendation.

Today is the first day in a fortnight that I don't feel worse at the end of the day than I did at the beginning. I still feel terrible, like someone is chopping onions in my chest every time I exhale, but not worse than this morning. I don't want to get my hopes up just yet as nights seem to be much worse than day, but maybe the antibiotics are starting to work.

Today, I managed to keep down some garlic pasta (organic egg pasta, organic butter, and organic garlic), some nori (seaweed), squash and salmon. Not a lot of any one food, and not all at once, but I think I've managed about 500 calories which is incredible considering how rotten I feel. Everything tastes so weird. There's no salt or sweet taste any more, just texture... which to be honest is very unappetizing.

I'm very grateful for our medical system. No charge for the doctor visit or the drugs. There won't be a fee for the x-ray or ER visit if it comes to that. Personally, I don't like the ER unless it's absolutely urgent because they are always so busy there. The local health authority has this really amazing service called 811 for non emergency health problems. I find it is really useful for assessing if what's wrong needs immediate medical aid, or can wait till the doctor's office is open tomorrow.

See how I feel tomorrow. If I can, I'll have a slow walk around the farm and see what herbs I can scare up. For some reason, my body is saying Oregon grape and fennel seeds... body says weird things when sick. In the mean time, I made some herbal bitters a while back with Oregon grape, burdock, orange peal and teasel. I've been putting this in with some hot water and it seems to go down well.

I haven't seen mullein around for a couple of years, but I know a few hiding places it may be growing still. I'm still suppose to stay in isolation so can't go to the shops for the other good stuff, but plan to check it out when I recover enough.


Sorry, I know my sentence structure is off tonight. Blame the fever for aggregating the dyslexia.

Sorry to hear you were throwing up in the midst of all the rest of the nastiness of pneumonia. It makes keeping suggested remedies down problematic. However, if you are able I would suggest garlic, garlic, and. . . did I say garlic? Years ago I was struggling with a compromised immune system from Epstein-Barre and frequently had colds that twice a year would go into bronchitis or pneumonia. One year I was away from home and could feel pneumonia beginning to set in from a cold. I told my host I needed to go home because my remedies (goldenseal at the time) were at home and I needed to shut down the progression before I ended up on regular antibiotics. She felt I needed to stay. Then I discovered someone had minced a gallon size freezer bag of fresh garlic and given it to her. I also had some powdered vitamin C that I began taking in high doses. I consumed 1 tablespoon of garlic about five times a day for the next couple days, took two grams of vitamin C (buffered or it would have eaten a hole in my stomach!) a day, soaked in a bath as hot as I could stand it, used a combination herbal oil rub on my chest and back (not sure what was in it, though it smelled like a combo of peppermint, eucalyptus, pine, rosemary, oregano, lavender and who knows what else!) and put some on a cloth to breathe into throughout the night.

The final touch. . . my host prayed for me. Within two days the virus was gone along with all symptoms of the pneumonia trying to set in.

I've heard garlic referred to as "the poor man's antibiotic" and it was commonly used in Russia.

Another word about garlic. . . Several years ago I planned several backpacking trips with my younger son and, once again, began having symptoms of Epstein-Barre. (Mostly fevers that would come and go.) I was determined to do the trips anyway as I didn't know how much longer he'd be around to hike with. I began consuming a lot of garlic once again until everything that came out of me smelled like it. I wanted to use it as a natural mosquito control as the little blood suckers generally love me. By the time we left for our trip a week and a half later the fevers had disappeared and never came back. I figured it must have been the garlic and that it must be an antiviral as well as antibacterial.

immune system boosting is always number one
i read and studied "linus pauling's" huge thick book on vitamin C
definitely include that in your regimen (vitamin C)

i use emergency packets 2000 mils in oj or ruby red grape fruit (fast acting)
definitely start taking echinacea herb ( proven in Germany)
garlic bread strong made with chopped garlic golden light fried in butter
phlegm is concurred with slippery elm throat lozenges- sends it out the south end
chicken broth helps allot to regain your strength
spices will double the power of your immune system (read that book too)
i try and eat some of the white stuff in between large naval oranges as it contains bioflavenoids
that makes vitamin C work even better
Cayenne pepper helps to heat the body and increase circulation (keep a salt shaker of it handy)

Hi,
I am really into staying healthy through food etc.
Here are the things, that helped me heal from walking pneumonia (given to me by a nurse into natural healing):
Stop eating any wheat or dairy products.
Buy some chaparral (herb) either as a liquid herbal extract or in capsule form.
Take about 2-3 of these 5 times a day, along with some Vit C 1000mg capsules or powdered form.
Linus Pauling said Vitamin C will heal everything, you want to take at least 1 Vitamin C capsule an hour.
I got walking Pneumonia and the nurse told me, to do this exactly and that within 4-5 days, my body would
be dry as a sieve. Just as she had predicted, all the congestion went away.

I am also going to add, one more item: get some organic burdock root.
Take one heaping Tablespoon and put it in 5 cups of water, bring it to a boil and then lower it to a gentle boil for 60 minutes.
Drink 1/2 cup of this a day, it builds the immune system, to fight disease.
You do not want to drink this everyday but when you are sick, it will help.

One more thing, health begins in the gut: take some good strong acidophilus.
Whenever, I feel, I am getting sick, I go straight for the acidophilus, Vit C and burdock tea.
It usually nips it, in the bud.

Regarding taking care of the lungs: in macrobiotic cooking, Lotus Root, heals and maintains the lungs. So, you might want to look into getting some organic lotus root: dry or fresh and add it to a soup etc.

I am going to share a story, so you know, where I am coming from:
My mom, got lung cancer; she smoked 2 packs of cigarette's a day, since she was a young woman.
At 76 years of age, we found out, she had lung cancer; after she went to get her yearly flu shot (if you are a senior and you think you may have cancer, do not get a flu shot, it brings the cancer on. Found this out from her chemo doctor).
I am into staying healthy naturally and started to research, what caused my Mom's cancer and how to cure it.
I found so many products that contribute to cancer: plastic bottles, pesticides, EMF's, man made chemicals etc.
I called the Kushi Institute (macrobiotic nutrition) and asked if they had any research of healing the kind of lung cancer, my Mom had and they did. At one time, the Kushi Institute was working with the government, they were getting funding, to see how affective a whole food macrobiotic diet was in healing and preventing cancer (they are no longer working the government) and they sent me information on a Nurse, who had the same exact cancer as my Mom. Her cancer, was worse, it had gone into her liver and was on her death bed, when her family, had a macrobiotic counselor come and give her a consultation: they do a pulse reading, face reading etc and ask some questions. The Macrobiotic counselor tweaked the macrobiotic diet for her body's needs at that time. Her family cooked the meals for her and she ate, what she could. To make a long story short, 7 years after being told she had cancer, she was still alive and was cured. She didn't have any cancer in her body!!!

I brought this information to my Mom and she told me, she wasn't interested.
She believed in traditional medicine and didn't give me any other explanation.
I was her care giver and I needed to keep my energy up, so I decided to make a pot of bean soup and just put all the healing macrobiotic foods in it. So, I could just eat it etc. Then I had a thought, just bring my Mom a bowl of this soup to her for dinner.
When I walked into her place, she grabbed the soup out of my hands, and ate it over the sink, like an animal and afterwards said: that was exactly what I needed. In the morning, I check on my Mom, to see how she was doing and she had a big smile on her face. She said, I had the best night sleep in a long time. No night sweats, no pain and a nice deep sleep. My Mom, at this stage of the cancer, was in pain, was sweating like a pig and couldn't get a good night sleep, kept waking up etc.

She had such a positive result, I brought her for supper a soup, with the healing macrobiotic foods in it and each morning, she had the same positive results: no night sweats, no pain and a good night sleep. On the 4th morning, I told my Mom, the soups, she was eating had macrobiotic foods in it and she was having good results and would she like to look into, going on a macrobiotic diet? She said: Stop cooking for me. It was one of the hardest lessons to learn, everyone has the right, to choose how they want to leave this earth. My Mom passed away in 9 months, of finding out she had lung cancer.

Then to make my story short, i found out, I had a basal cell carcinoma on the left cheek of my face. I found, a macrobiotic counselor who had healed herself of a very intense cancer about 20-25 years ago. She gave me a consultation and a diet tweaked to my body's needs at that time. I went on the diet and after 4 months, I asked her to tweak it for me, so I could live with it. She had me cooking and doing so many things, I only had 3 hours in a day, to run my business. She refused and I thought, my Mom, had such positive results, just getting those healing foods into her body, I would just go ahead and tweak my diet, so I could live with it. It took another 17 months but I healed that basal cell naturally, with out having to have moll surgery, which would have disfigured my face.

Then the economy changed, my business dried up, moved and needed to find work. I posted an ad on craiglist: that I was a vegan cook with macrobiotic tendencies. Within 24 hours, I was contacted for an interview. We meet outside Wholefoods market and they hired me on the spot. They had seen "Fork over knives" movie and wanted to change their diet and had heard, macrobiotic's had healed people's cancer and wanted to give it a try. His wife, was told she had some form of cancer but they didn't know, what kind etc.
She was throwing up, had night sweats, had some pain and was really exhausted. As we walked through Wholefoods and I was getting all the foods, they were going to need, her body, couldn't keep up with just shopping etc.
I started cooking for them, that day: making them a miso soup, rice and veggies.
She and her husband, ate the food I cooked for them, everyday.
Within 3 days, her nausea went away.
By the 6th day, her night sweats went away.
By the 3rd week, she had energy and wanted to go out shopping, eating and going out to the movies, with her friends.
We found out she had a weird form of melanoma and it was through out her internal organs.
(about 17 years prior, she got a basal cell on her tummy, which they removed, then she got a melanoma on her tummy and they removed it but back then, their protocol was, not to have a doctor, looking at the tissue they removed until, they no longer saw any cancer cells, so they had left cancer cells on her and slowly, the melanoma spread internally, so much so, they could not operate to remove it all).
Now, she was doing just fine by the 3rd week but the Doctors put the fear of God in her and told her, she had 9 months to live but if she went into this study, in Texas and if it was successful, she would get another 10 years.
She decided to go, into the study and she also told me, the macrobiotic diet was too restrictive, she wanted to eat some flesh food and some sweets.
I didn't tell her, death was the most restrictive thing but gave her this advice: If you want to heat flesh food: keep it below 20% of your diet. Dr T. Colin Campbell, found out about the China study and did research and found, if you eat meat above 20% of your diet, it turns on the cancer gene and if you lower flesh food, below 20%, you turn off the cancer gene.
There is a new movement, where doctors are learning about nutrition and are recommending to stay healthy, to eat a vegan plant based diet.
You can learn about it at:
http://www.pcrm.org/health/cancer-resources/diet-cancer/facts/meat-consumption-and-cancer-risk.
There is another wonderful doctor on the cutting edge of nutrition: Dr. Greger at nutritonfacts.org or just Utube him.
All he does, is read current published medical research and then consolidates it into a short utube video or does an hour video for the year on current research. This is all he does, read, post and some lecturing. This is a great service for humanity. Usually this knowledge takes 30 years to get out to the permies. My Mom, used to read medical journals etc. because she wanted to be a doctor but back then, they wouldn't let her go into medical school at 27 years of age.

Just to let you know, when I was on a strict macrobiotic diet for 4 months, I looked and felt great!!! My friends, said my hair was darker and asked it I had dyed my hair. All my wrinkles went away and my skin, tightened, I lost that last 20 pounds and I had a lot of energy. I now eat a vegan plant based diet with macrobiotic influences.
I still have the healing recipes and eat them, when I feel, I need too but basically, I make up a pot of rice or millet and some beans with the healing foods in it and just grab a grain and bean and then steam up some veggies etc. I make sure to eat daily: 3 year old Barley Miso from South River Miso (this kills cancer in the body). Here is an article about it:
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/miso-protects-against-radiation-cancer-and-hypertension

You want to eat the 3 year old miso: it is medicinal after 3 years and Barley, helps reduce tumors.

You also want to eat fermented foods: like homemade Sauerkraut, pickles etc.

There are other healing foods, just pick up a macrobiotic cookbook and you will find out about healing foods.
Specifically: The Cancer Prevention Diet by Michio Kushi and Alex Jack

If you just add some of these healing foods: Miso, Shiitake Mushrooms etc to a vegan plant based diet and eat according to Dr. Greger's and PCRM, you will stay healthy and prevent or reverse disease.
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/miso-protects-against-radiation-cancer-and-hypertension

Wishing you the best,
Rachel

I'm sorry you have been hit with this nasty bug. My daughter is also fighting it off. I have been drowning her cooties in echinacea and ......teas.
Echinacea & Goldenseal root
Echinacea & Ginger root
Echinacea & Turmeric root. This had been doing really well when her pre-pneumonia illness started. I left for two days & she cut down on how much she'd been drinking the teas, plus really overworked herself hand scrubbing the carpet. Now it has blown up on her. We're doing the conventional doctor tomorrow for pharmaceuticals. Now we bring out The Big Guns:
Dr. Drugs, eating a raw garlic clove (sliced thin & nose held) every hour for 12 hrs, more echinacea-and-everything teas, & liquid probiotics in AM & just before bed.
Her conventional doc is now trying the raw garlic because she has watched my daughter heal in 2/3 the expected time. Taking over the world one person at a time.
BTW: the raw WHITE or YELLOW onion trick seems to work for us. I couldn't do it where I stayed for those 2 days I was gone, and I am now starting to get sick. Was great while the onion 1/2s were around & now my body has succumbed to her pre-pneumonia cooties. Echinacea, ginger, goldenseal, garlic, turmeric are my new besties. I should have been pounding the teas more, now I can blame none but myself for getting cooties.

Marko Robec wrote:http://www.rawfigs.com/?s=pneumonia®=0

Thank you Marko, for posting this wonderful video of Dr. Greger's talk on Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death.

Rachel

please please, don't mess around with lung problems. go and get assessed by your dr, it may not be what you think it is. If it is pneumonia then modern meds are the best answer ,you don't want to screw this one up. It could also be many other things even fungal infections ,blood clots, lung cancer or even a collapsed lung. Take it from some one who has been there lung surgery sucks big time and chest tubes are not fun. Not being able to breath is a bad thing.

I've used essential oil of peppermint, a few drops into a cup of elderberry juice, given in tbsp. doses 3 x a day to myself or to my livestock for pneumonia. Works great and usually within 36 hours all symptoms are abated except the fluid in the lungs. That can be remedied with a good expectorant, like eucalyptus, elecampane, hyssop, or mullein. Bedding the animal down in pine branches will disinfect the air and can help prevent contagious pneumonia from spreading. Bring into a patient's room and it also will do the same. This is standard procedure taught in Naturopathic medicine. Remember also, that pneumonia can be viral or bacterial.
Might be a good idea in winter to have pine branches in the room one is sleeping in, changed frequently so they are fresh, if one is prone to get pneumonia easily.
With pneumonia, there will always be a gurgling, cracking in the lungs. Don't let it go on, it can be fatal, get proper medical treatment from your health care provider.

Dr. Red Cloud

Cod liver oil/butter oil combination is something to try, coconut oil in the diet, good broth is also a must, apple cider vinegar, all good healing foods that wont hurt (if you can get them in and keep them down!)

I asked a friend. We use supplements from wellnessresources.com
Quercetin can be found in vegetables, so each your veggies. Also chicken and hen of the woods natural mushrooms.

Here's what Dave says:
Quercetin is very good for the lungs - activates the SIRT1 gene (longevity gene).

NAC is also very good for the lungs - it might do autophage for them (self-cleaning).

I started taking more of byron's liver supplement lately & I think my athletic
asthma has improved. It does have NAC & R-alpha lipoic acid in it.

Oh, there is a supplement that allows the lungs to heal properly - proven to help fight
the growth of the random material in them.

Vitamin D has to be good for it.

For some reason, tocotrienol E is sticking in my mind, I don't know why.

A friend just introduced me to "Master Tonic" - basically equally parts of garlic, ginger, hot peppers, onion, horseradish root (and sometimes turmeric root) - chopped, covered with raw apply cider vinegar to be done on the new moon, kept in a dark place where you shake twice daily, and strain for use on the next full moon - she has found it to be amazingly helpful and what a powerhouse of medicinal ingredients! Good luck. If you are curious just search "master tonic" and find answers...

Some good suggestions here...please keep in mind that herbalists cannot 'diagnose' but there are some good ideas in this thread to help with your symptoms. Your body seems to be craving anti-inflammatory expectorants and minerals...so I would listen to it. An awesome tea for now that is anti-inflammatory, somewhat antimicrobial and expectorant is ginger lemon honey tea. And your belly will probably accept it. Cut about an inch of ginger root into chunks and steep in freshly boiled water, covered, for about 15 minutes. Add juice of about a half a lemon or less, fresh squeezed. Add raw honey to taste. For minerals you could try nettles, oat straw or red clover infusions. 1 oz per quart of boiled water, steep covered 2-4 hours and strain off. Drink hot or cold within 48 hours. Be well!

I read this, because my husband has COPD and almost every year he spends some time in the hospital with a pneumonia (bacterial infection in the lungs).
Many advices are herbs helping against coughs or colds. But COPD and a bacterial infection is something different.
To cough is needed, to get rid of the fluid in the lungs! Herbs for COPD help the lungs get that fluid out, maybe soften the fluid. I think eucalyptus is, the best for drinking and inhaling. Or an onion, cut into pieces, at some place nearby (where you can really smell it all of the time, that is like inhaling).

The other part is the infection. My husband uses 'sentebibu', that's the name in his native language for aloe vera. One whole leaf of an aloe vera plant (only cut of the spines at the sides) in a blender together with one pot of honey, blended until it's a very smooth mixture. Keep it in the fridge, use only a teaspoon of this mixture twice a day. They say this acts as a 'natural antibiotic', but without killing the good bacteriae. I don't know if that's true.
I think it's better to prevent, to eat as healthy as possible so you have good resistance against bacteriae. Someone here mentioned it: no dairy products, wheat products and refined products in general (they call it 'paleo diet' nowadays), that's my opinion too. That's why I do my best to keep my husband and myself on that 'paleo diet'.

May old herbalism books swear by garlic for the lungs,3 cloves crushed & swallowed with a large glass of water 3x a day & for the fever, if there is one, elderflower & mint tea every hour.
You can swallow the garlic, but if you can not tolerate that you may also crush a larger amount of it & sleep with this wrapped to the sloes of your feet with gauze & covered with socks, it will be absorbed into you body through the soles of your feet.

Thank you for all the super suggestions.


Cough is starting to feel better. The sensation in the lunge is still there, but less concentrated and hot, more flat and spread, feels like the colour blue instead of the colour brown/red it felt like before... not that that makes sense, but that's how it feels.

The main problem now is the vomiting. Anything I take to stimulate digestion (mint, fennel, ginger, &c) makes the stomach hurt and vomit. Any suggestions on foods or herbs that calm the stomach?

Hi R,

You might just have to bite the bullet and see an MD.
My Mom had pheumonia and they had her breath in, this disgusting smelling thing to combat full blown pneumonia.
You have got a lot of suggestions to use in the future, to protect yourself from getting sick but please consider, seeing an MD
and get yourself taken care of.
Then use the above suggestions to stay healthy etc.

Wishing you the best,

Rachel

I'm concerned about you R Ranson,

as others have said lung infections can be very serious even life threatening & leave you with permanent lung damage. Please be careful with your health & seek professional help when needed. If your vomiting fails to go away please let your health care professional know.

Some people can not tolerate the strong oral antibiotics & if you can not keep them down your care giver needs to know that, because it means you are not getting the meds into your blood stream. When this happened to me they changed my treatment.

As for helping your digestive issues, ask them about taking pro-biotic supplements & once you stop vomiting perhaps even an enzyme supplement just until you are back to normal, these are what helped me.

Rachel Hart wrote:Hi R,

You might just have to bite the bullet and see an MD.
My Mom had pheumonia and they had her breath in, this disgusting smelling thing to combat full blown pneumonia.
You have got a lot of suggestions to use in the future, to protect yourself from getting sick but please consider, seeing an MD
and get yourself taken care of.
Then use the above suggestions to stay healthy etc.

Wishing you the best,

Rachel

Thank you Rachel
Always good advise to see a doctor for any health concerns.

I am working with my family doctor to get better, including a rather strong antibiotic treatment. I'm also a firm believer in the power of food to heal.

I figure the best way to get better is to use all the tools available to me: food and modern medicine.

It's been very helpful and I've learned a lot about the natural side of healing pneumonia from the suggestions on this thread. Thank you all for joining the conversation.

Maybe oatmeal cooked with 2X usual water? "Oatmeal water" (cook oatmeal, drain, drink water) is recommended for diareah. Yes, i know that is not what you have, but I find the watery oatmeal itself to be a gentle meal when I have the flu. Perhaps add a little extra salt to aid fluid retention. But not so much that you can't eat it.

Um.. did I mention mullien tea?
"Mullein relieves digestive disorders, such as diarrhea and stomach pains. Its anti-spasmodic properties relieve stomach cramps."
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/033990_mullein_medicinal_herbs.html#ixzz3o5wuzQdw

Also for soothing inflamed tissues.
"A nice anti-inflammatory, externally and internally."
http://www.henriettes-herb.com/blog/hotw-mullein.html

I am glad you are improving.
Joy

Oatmeal water sounds delicious. Definitely in agreement with my body's cravings.

So far, the antibiotics are about the only thing I am keeping down. I always associate the amoxicillin liquid taste with healing, only now they went and added berry flavour to it which is disgusting. I liked it better when it was banana. The fact that I can taste it this morning is definitely a sign of healing. Less coughing, more ability to taste food - I'm taking this as a good sign.

Thanks again for all the warm wishes.