Dr Eric Berg warned against common mistakes we make when treating viruses (Image: YouTube/Dr Eric Berg)
It is now the season for viral infections, which brings with it increased cases of illnesses such as the common cold, flu, Covid and norovirus.
Many people will spend their recovery from these illnesses at home.
However, a doctor has warned against some common methods we might apply when treating these infections.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Doctor Eric Berg shared six specific mistakes that could actually make you more unwell.
Stopping a fever too quickly
A fever is classed as a high temperature of 38C or more.
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It’s part of the immune system’s natural response to an infection and therefore trying to cut it short could prevent it from working.
Dr Berg explained: “There’s this impulse to want to get rid of your fever, especially if a child has fever.
“Well, did you realise that by getting rid of the fever you’re going to prolong the duration of the infection?
“You have to realise what that fever is there for. It’s very, very important, It is there to help reduce the spreading of the virus.”
Instead he advised “enhancing” the fever.
“In fact, when you start getting a fever, I would recommend things to keep really, really warm to help enhance that fever,” he recommended.
“You know, when you’re actually sleeping, just wear more clothes, have more blankets. Take a hot bath, take a hot shower. Stay really, really warm. Viruses hate heat.”
Antibiotics
Antibiotics should only be taken for bacterial infections.
You should let the fever play out rather than trying to suppress it, he said (Image: Getty)
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“It doesn’t work,” Dr Berg said. “Antibiotics only work for bacterial infections, not viruses, not fungal infections, not candida only for bacterial infections.
“You know, when you take an antibiotic, you are not going to fully kill off everything right?
“Those microbes that survive become stronger, they start resisting. They learn from that stress.
“And now, the next time you use an antibiotic, it doesn’t work anymore and then you get sick and you have another infection, another infection. So over time, these antibiotics become less and less effective. Not to mention all the other side effects.”
Over sanitation
Dr Berg warned that living in a “super clean” environment could have the opposite effect to what you want.
He said: “They [children living in these conditions] tend to get sick more often simply because they don’t develop an immune system.
“You have to realise that especially early on when you get an infection as a child, that’s the training of your immune system.”
Antibiotics should not be taken for a viral infection (Image: Getty)
Dr Berg also advised against constantly sanitising your hands. “If you are sanitising your hands or your skin, you actually are wiping off all the good bacteria that live on your skin as well,” he said.
Detoxing
Dr Berg shared how he went on a detox himself while healthy and actually ended up with an infection.
“You don’t want to take things that detoxify you because that’s going to weaken your system,” he said.
“You’re going to actually probably even get sick. Just from that I think completely, you know without symptoms, right?
“I had no infections and then I took some remedy to detoxify myself and I ended up with a full blown infection.
“Now, what is going on with that? When you detox sometimes incorrectly, you release a lot of crud and stuff and it creates an immune reaction and you can even be sick just from that.
“Not to mention you can weaken the immune system and activate latent viruses that are dormant.”
The shotgun effect
Dr Berg referred to trying every single possible remedy as the “shotgun effect”.
“Taking every single known remedy to man for an infection, just tons of stuff, you’re going to overdo it. You don’t need to do that.”
If you do want to try natural remedies for an infection he recommended zinc, natural forms of vitamin C and D and apple cider vinegar.
Suppressing the immune system
“I’ve seen this mistake quite frequently, it’s just trying to suppress the immune system when it’s trying to work right away,” Dr Berg said.
“So there’s a lot of medications that suppress a cough or suppress mucus right? The cough and the mucus is there to get rid of the virus.
“So you start suppressing things, you push them deeper into the tissues and now you have the infection longer.”
Instead he recommended: “So anything that can actually help get rid of mucus and help it drain, or even improve a productive cough, would be a good thing.”
Overall, if you are experiencing an infection his advice was to keep your stress to a minimum, get plenty of rest, take hot baths and nurture your body.