I am a chronic sufferer of bacterial sinus infection. Ask me why, and I can give you some long winded explanation about a slightly deviated septum and sinus design, and a slew of other stuff that I've read and heard from my doctor. Bottom line, both you and I don't care the reasoning, but rather, preventative care. I can tell you that these Elderberry capsules help. If I get "that feeling" like a sinus infection is impending, I'll start popping two of these twice a day. 9 times out of 10, I can stave off the infection from grabbing a foothold in my sinuses long enough to let my immune system kick it completely out (without antibiotics and/or steroids).
Does it help get rid of a sinus infection already in place?: inconclusive from my experience. Once I have a sinus infection, it takes about the same amount of time to get rid of it whether or not I'm taking it. Maybe I get rid of it a day soon, but statistically that's probably considered to be "noise in the data".
Does it work for flu and other viral colds? I can't tell you that. I know that bacterial sinus infections can be precipitated by viral infections, but excluding bacterial sinus infection, I don't get sick. I've had the flu maybe twice in the last 20 years. Bottom line I have no experience with regard to using this to fight flu. Can't hurt to try though (I don't think you can OD on berries easily, could be wrong though).
Does it have any other benefits? I don't know, maybe. Again I can only speak from experience. I take them, it staves off a sinus infection. I get that there are a lot of other beneficial claims about elderberry, but I have personally never noticed/experienced them.
Is this just another homeopathic snake oil? No. While I agree that there are a lot of homeopathic "remedies" out there that don't work and are probably just a placebo effect, there are also ones out there that work. Heck, I've experienced allergic reactions to homeopathic remedies that landed me in worse trouble than before. Elderberry is a homeopathic remedy that works for me. Will it work for you? Maybe, maybe not, every body is different, and it could be that my body utilizes it due to a deficiency of something that elderberry has.
Summary (tl;dr): Get it and try the bottle once. You can take it all the time, but I find it sufficient to take them when I feel a sinus infection coming on (I mean, who *wants* to take a bunch of pills at breakfast). Berry form is probably preferable, but the capsules are convenient and store for long periods of time without getting mildew-y. The price is right, it staves off sinus infections, and probably works for staving off other colds as well. Can't hurt to find out if your body responds to it
Read More...16 persons found it helpful
