This allows them to get nutrients because they're basically getting the stuff that's in your body like nutrients in your blood.  The immune system responds by producing mucus, and that's why you get all these symptoms. It also responds with fever and higher temperatures.  All of the symptoms that you get when you're sick are related to what the immune system is doing to get rid of the bugs.  

Back to the bugs, they clinging on to the mucus membranes.   This is important because the main thing that I think of as how to prevent a cold before it starts is using lots of saltwater gargling.  You should gargle multiple times a day, three or possibly even four times per day .  When you do this,  make sure it's concentrated, so it should taste really salty. Warm is better especially if you have a sore throat. This helps soothe this sore throat.  Don't swallow it, just gargle and spit it out.

If you are already sick, and you are on day three or four of the sickness, this can help speed up the recovery. You have to remember that the body is trying to overcome that viruses ability to replicate.  The immune system is trying to replicate faster to attack and overcome that virus.  So you can give it a little bit of help by dousing your throat or the mucous membranes, with salt, where the bugs.  You can also get the nasal passages this a neti pot through your nose.  That's very helpful especially if are having sinusitis.  There's also some salt water squirt sprays you can use instead of the net pot. 

Prevent A Cold Before It Starts With Mushrooms

The other thing we like to use as a medicine or herbal tincture are mushrooms.  The specific types of mushrooms that we use is called Mycommunity and this is blend of different mushroom to specifically help optimize the immune system ability to kill pathogens.

• A blend of 17 potent mushroom species
• The most comprehensive immune support formula in the Host Defense line
• Encourages resistance to cellular assaults
• Unique combination of mushroom mycelium and fruitbodies, providing a diverse range of constituents to help balance the immune system 

The dose to use is pretty high.  I'm not going to give you specific instructions since I am not doing an evaluation and treating you.  You can get an idea by looking at the instructions on the back of the bottle (take this as the minumum). This is something that I personally use and recommend often.  Mushrooms are one of the only natural remedies that consistently show positive affects in the immune system when research is done. 

Another note on food and diet is you should be thinking about avoiding foods that create more mucus such as dairy products. You don't want any of those in your diet, if you want to prevent a cold before it starts.  Also avoid foods that suppress the immune system such as alcohol and sugary foods.

Prevent A Cold Before It Starts With Vitamins

Optimizing the function of all the cells in your body can be helpful to prevent a cold as well.  With this purpose in mind we will sometimes use specific nutrients to balance out deficiencies or boost immune function.  For instance, in many cases we will administer an intravenous vitamin bag with high dose of vitamin C.  This can be very helpful just to replenish the body with fluids and nutrients.  The vitamin C can actually help the immune system's defenses workbetter as well.   There are also a few other immune support things that we can add to the IV bag as well.   You can definitely try that if you are in the Phoenix area.

Otherwise you can also take oral nutrients like vitamin C.  If you are deficient in vitamin D, make sure you get your vitamin D supplement that day and the following days.  So these are some of the things that I think about doing when someone is trying to prevent a cold before it starts, or at the first signs of cold or flu.

These things should give you a unique and better idea of how you can prevent a cold before it starts.  Many people forget or underestimate the power of gargling with lots of salt water.  

For general prevention, you can take the mushroom extract and as preventative, if you tend to get sick a lot.  For this just use smaller doses daily throughout the cold and flu season.  Diet changes can also help for those that are chronically sick or have a higher tendency to get sick.  The idea is to find out what is triggering your immune system on a daily basis that is making it weaker.  Make sure your vitamin D is balanced by getting your levels checked and adjusted regularly (more is not always better).  

SOURCE:swintegrativemedicine.com