Treating the Flu with Simple Home Remedies and Natural Ingredients Available at Home. This allows patients to avoid antibiotics, which can have negative side effects on health. Experiencing the flu during cold weather or seasonal changes can be quite uncomfortable.
Let’s explore some home remedies for treating the flu without the need for antibiotics below.
Common Mistakes When Treating the Flu at Home
Antibiotics are prescription medications directed by doctors. However, treating the flu by overusing antibiotics can lead to antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Patients often have to use stronger antibiotics if their illness does not completely resolve.
A recent report from the UK government states that one in seven people taking antibiotics do not see any effect. The government has urged citizens not to take antibiotics if they have a cough or cold lasting less than five days.
The flu makes patients feel exhausted.
According to the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) in the United States, antibiotics are effective only against bacteria and cannot fight viral illnesses such as colds, flu, sore throats, bronchitis, sinus infections, and ear infections.
Using antibiotics in these cases can lead to additional side effects (such as rashes, nausea, fatigue, anaphylactic shock) and eliminate beneficial bacteria essential for health. In a recommendation in 2014, this organization advised that alleviating symptoms is a better treatment choice when infected with a virus.
Patients should rest as much as possible and reduce unnecessary activities to help their bodies recover quickly. It is advisable to drink plenty of water, eat hot soup or porridge to maintain hydration. Viral infections typically require a week or more to recover. Therefore, patients may use some natural remedies below that can help prevent and support the treatment of flu, cough, and mild fever.
Families should not hoard medications, especially Tamiflu. This medication is prescribed for high-risk groups such as people with chronic heart, lung, or kidney diseases, or those who may develop pneumonia. According to Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Tien Dung, former head of the Pediatrics Department at Bach Mai Hospital, if suffering from a common flu, there is no need for Tamiflu, as this would be wasteful. Overusing Tamiflu can also lead to future drug resistance.
Never use herbal remedies of unclear origin to treat the flu, as they can lead to complications.
Doctors recommend not to close windows and wrap oneself in blankets to sweat excessively, as this can lead to dehydration and exhaustion, weakening the immune system and worsening the illness. Sick individuals should maintain their health in the first few days, limit outdoor activities to allow full recovery, exercise moderately, and consume nutrient-rich foods and vitamins…
Always ensure personal hygiene and cover your mouth when sneezing. Wash hands frequently with soap and clean water; clean the nose and throat daily with saline water. Keep warm and eat a balanced diet to enhance physical condition. Limit contact with flu patients or suspected cases when unnecessary.
Simple Home Remedies for Treating the Flu
Treating the Flu with Perilla Leaves
According to traditional medicine, perilla leaves are bitter, spicy, fragrant, and warm in nature. They help reduce fever, relieve pain, and are used to treat colds, fevers without sweating, and body aches. Pick fresh leaves and young stems, wash them clean, then boil to make tea or use for steaming. Sweating profusely after drinking indicates effectiveness, or you can use 8-16 grams in pill form or powdered.
For patients with fever and no sweating, and headache, you can take 20 grams of fresh perilla leaves, 10 grams of lemongrass, and 10 grams of lime leaves, boil with water, and drink while hot. Add more water to the residue, boil, and use for steaming to induce sweating and reduce fever.
Treating the Flu with Shiso Leaves
If you have a cold or flu without sweating, chest tightness, and nausea, you should use 20 grams of fresh shiso leaves, mash them with hot water, mix well and strain for hot tea; or use 10 leaves chopped finely mixed with hot rice porridge, eat, and then rest to induce sweating. Additionally, you can add 5 grams of crushed raw onion, three slices of fresh ginger, and enough salt to cook porridge to relieve the flu.
In cases of flu due to rain and wind, with body aches, headache, runny nose, and nausea, you can take 15 grams of shiso leaves, 10 grams of dried tangerine peel, 10 grams of ginger, and 10 grams of white onion, and drink while hot.
For patients with flu symptoms without sweating, use shiso, lime leaves, mint, and lemongrass, one handful of each to boil water for steaming. For flu symptoms throughout the year, use three cups of water with shiso, perilla, kudzu root, mint, turmeric, and bupleurum (all dried) and fresh ginger to make one cup of hot tea, then cover with a blanket to induce sweating.
Eating shiso with fresh vegetables, washed thoroughly, also helps reduce coughing, relieve pain, and detoxify. However, do not eat carp with shiso, as it can lead to toxicity and boils.
Treating the Flu with Grapefruit Peel and Leaves
The outer peel of grapefruit contains essential oils that are spicy, bitter, and sweet, warm in nature, effective for treating coughs and relieving flu. You can steam with fresh grapefruit leaves combined with some fragrant leaves like lime leaves and lemongrass.
If you have a cough with phlegm, take the grapefruit peel, cut it into pieces, boil in hot water for a bit, then squeeze the juice, and soak in sugar for a week. Drink the soaked water bit by bit for five days to alleviate the illness.
Treating the Flu with Purple Garlic
Purple garlic is a traditional herb that can effectively prevent and support the treatment of flu, cough, and mild fever. According to traditional Chinese medicine, garlic has a spicy taste, is warm in nature, and is associated with the liver and stomach meridians. It helps clear heat, detoxify, disinfect, treat bloody dysentery, eliminate abscesses and lung nodules, expel phlegm, and reduce cough.
Modern medicine states that the main active compound in garlic is Allicin (the sulfur-containing compound that gives garlic its distinctive smell and taste), which strongly stimulates respiration, clears airways, enhances gas exchange in the lungs, and has the ability to kill viruses without resistance. Additionally, this plant reduces blood fat, fat in the liver, has strong antioxidant properties, stimulates digestion, and prevents stomach pain due to cold infections. Regular consumption of garlic can reduce the risk of catching a cold during seasonal changes.
Although garlic has many medicinal benefits, patients often do not know how to use it effectively. Habits such as frying, roasting, cooking garlic, grinding it into powder, and drying it to make pills (garlic powder capsules), or fermenting it into black garlic can reduce or eliminate garlic’s effectiveness.
To treat the flu with garlic, patients should crush garlic and inhale several times (steam the nose and throat) or crush garlic to drink with water. However, eating raw purple garlic is often ineffective because the precursor Alliin only works when transformed by enzymes within the garlic cloves. Furthermore, the smell of raw garlic can irritate the stomach, and prolonged use may lead to reduced eyesight. Instead, patients can slice garlic, soak it in vinegar for 30 days, and gargle for 10 to 15 minutes each day. For optimal results, flu patients can use products extracted from the biological components found in garlic cloves and take them before bed to avoid unpleasant tastes and respiratory stimulation while sleeping.
Treating the Flu by Drinking Hot Ginger Water
Add a few slices of ginger to boiling water with a bit of rock sugar or honey to drink. Consuming this three times a day will help you quickly alleviate flu symptoms without resorting to antibiotics.
Treating Colds with Shallots
This dish is known for its strong antibacterial properties, making it an effective remedy for colds. Shallots are also considered a medicinal ingredient that can help prevent miscarriage (Boil 60g of fresh shallots with a bowl of water, strain out the residue, and drink the liquid).
The simplest remedy for a cold using shallots is to cook plain rice porridge, adding plenty of shallots. Eat it while it’s hot, then cover yourself with a warm blanket to induce sweating. You can also add shallots to egg porridge and combine it with remedies made from Vietnamese coriander and perilla leaves mentioned earlier.
