First thing’s first. I need to make a very important point about taking herbs as a way to help your immune system. I want to make this as plain and simple as I can. Herbs are not going to cure you from a severe infection. Herbs are extremely good for mild to moderate cases of colds and flu like symptoms when you catch them early but if the symptoms last for more than a couple of days and are not getting better, you need to see a medical professional. Also, never neglect the importance of things like sleep, nutrition and common practices like staying out of crowded places if something is “going around” and if you can’t stay out of those places, you can absolutely wear a mask. None of these measures, the herbs, the social distancing, the keeping yourself reasonably healthy will on their own be a perfect way to avoid getting sick. But combined, they can absolutely make a difference.
We now return you to our previously scheduled programming.
We here at Team Herbalogic have created an herbal system of immune boosters. We named the second formula Support System Booster Defend. But his friends just call him Defend.
Defend is based on a traditional formula called Yin Qiao San (honeysuckle and forsythia powder). This particular formula is one you would likely find at the homes of most acupuncturists or anyone trained in Chinese herbalism because it is so useful and well regarded.
In fact, this formula is so well regarded here at Herbalogic that we decided that instead of modifying the herbal formula that we would just leave it as it was originally written in the late 1700s. The only addition we made was to add Vitamins C and D3, and the mineral Zinc.
In quite a few formulas we create them by taking an existing classic formula and modifying it so that it is more suited to what we want to use it for. When we do that we generally rely on some research into the constituent compounds that we extract from the herbs we plan on adding. In this case, since we aren’t adding anything but the vitamins and minerals, we rely more heavily on explaining the formula through the lens of Traditional Chinese Medicine which can be a bit opaque but delightfully poetic.
Since TCM was developed a long time before germ theory, bacteria and viruses were understood as either pathogenic influences classified as heat or cold. It would be easy to see how someone could understand a collection of symptoms like slight fever, sore throat, thirst, and a red tongue as belonging to heat. If you look at the classic indications of the herbs used to make this formula it is all about clearing heat and pushing it back to the surface. The most important part of this idea is that this formula is for when the “heat” is only at the outer layer. This means that this formula is mainly for mild symptoms.
When to take Defend
Most people have had the experience of, “coming down with something” and this is the time to start this formula and when you look at the dosage for this formula it is significantly higher than our other formulas. At the earliest onset of symptoms we recommend taking 2 capsules, 4 times a day and resting.
In the first part of this series, I made an analogy about you being a mediaeval castle and there being marauders in the area. Well, if we keep to this analogy, there is an exploratory gang of marauders starting to set up camp outside your castle walls and if you respond forcefully enough they won’t be able to get set up for a proper invasion. That is the idea behind this formula, strike immediately and forcefully and you should start feeling better sooner.