RAPID CITY, S.D. — Winter has finally made its way into the Black Hills, and that means viral infections are on the rise. If you become victim to this year’s cold and flu season, it is time to figure out how you can return to your routine as soon as possible.
There are symptom similarities between the common cold and the influenza virus. Both will usually leave you feeling drained and miserable, but there are easy-to-spot differences.
If it feels like the sickness came on quick and hit you like a truck, you likely came down with a flu infection. The good news is that the sudden onset of a sore throat, fever, headache, muscle ache, congestion and cough will usually calm down after two to five days. A flu infection can carry additional medical risks, such as pneumonia.
A cold may share many of the same symptoms, but they seem to last forever. A cold will usually hit you slowly, and can last for over a week.
Nic Yost, a nurse practitioner who owns and operates BeautyMed a medical spa in Rapid City has a variety of supplement “cocktails” that can help get you feeling like your old self. By discussing your needs, Yost will be able to recommend the right mix of vitamins and/or supplements that can get you back on your feet.
Yost offers these supplements as either an injection or an IV drip. Compared to an oral supplement, Yost says that an injection or IV will be much easier for your body to absorb and efficiently use.
“We don’t absorb a lot of things through our gut and you’re starting to hear a lot of that now in medicine,” Yost says. “We all have that gut microbiome that alters a lot of things, even food that we don’t necessarily absorb.”
Another benefit to taking a supplement with an IV drip is hydration. Yost explains that in our day to day life many of us are dehydrated, “and so if you can hydrate someone and replace a little bit of vitamins, it’s just such a boost to your health, and functional medicine uses it all the time.” After a cold or flu infection leaves you drained, it can take some time to recover without aid.
If you are looking to defend yourself from an infection, Yost has an injection that can prepare your immune system for the fight ahead. As the name suggests, the Immune Boost injection will restore and recharge your body’s immune system, helping you remain healthy through the rest of the cold and flu season. It contains three supplements, a B complex, vitamin C and glutathione.
Glutathione is a supplement that has recently gained popularity. Found in every cell in our body, Yost says that glutathione acts as a full-body detoxer that gradually decreases in our bodies as we age, when we are ill and even when we are stressed. When taking glutathione it is important to use an injection or IV drip, because our bodies are not able to absorb the supplement when taken orally.
The Flu Recovery Vitamin Drip offered by Yost is a mix of vitamin C, a B complex, B-12, a multi-vitamin and glutathione. All of these ingredients help restore your body and restart your immune system after it spent days or weeks fighting off an infection.
Yost stresses the importance of taking supplements in a way that your body can actually use. “A lot of us take all these supplements,” she says, “but do we really know that we’re absorbing them or that they’re doing any good until we start injecting them, and then we feel so much better.”