Will taking Vitamin C help make me feel better? I am sick.

It wont make you feel worse, although to much vitamin C can cause tummy upsets but 2000 I don’t think is to much – Elderberry is quite good for when you are sickly as well – just remember to drink lots of water and eat well, it will pass, just look after your self!

Might do, not a guarantee. Zinc is also a good one to take. Depends how you are sick though…

Vitamin C and Zinc will help you get better but wont help you feel better.

To feel better get rest and hydrate and have a good chicken broth or vegetable broth based soup with some spiciness to it. I like Hot and Sour soup from my local Szechaun restaurant, or a Tom Yum from a Thai food place.

If you can, get Emergen-C. It has electrolytes that give you a boost right after taking it.

Vit C is more a preventative than a cure. It might stop you getting colds as often, but if you’ve got one, vit C won’t do anything to make it go away.

My favourite thing for “feeling better” when I have a cold is hot black tea with honey, lemon and ginger.

ONe generally gets sick if his or her immune system is weakened.

Perhaps you are not eating properly

Vis; this question about your new juicing diet

Nope. But they sure are tasty.

No. There was a guy a long time ago who did a study who said vitamin C cures colds. Many scientists have tried to repeat it with good controls on the study and they have never produced any evidence vitamin C does anything for a cold.

If you are congested get an antihistamine decongestant take two advil, and in an hour you will feel better.

Also, that much C might make your stomach queasy.

I agree with @downtide Vitamin C is more preventive than curing. I haven’t had a cold in years by doing this. Pay attention to coughs and sneezes around around you (someone sitting near you coughing or sneezing) I usually ask, “Allergies or cold?” If it’s cold, I take an initial dose of 2000mg Vitamin C, followed by 1000mg Vitamin C twice a day for 3 days (the usual incubation period for a cold.) Works for me. When my husband was traveling a lot by air, he frequently got upper nasal respiratory infections. He finally was really tired of the colds and reluctantly tried my method of preventing them. Problem solved. Worth a try.
(Neither of us had stomach problems, but if you’re prone to upset stomachs . . .you decide)

when i was sick i just drank a ton of orange juice (like with every meal and snacks) and i felt better in like two days

Vitamin C is an anti-inflammatory. Might help if you have inflammation-related discomfort.

Zinc and vitamin C-are very good suggestions. Hydration, hydration, hydration! Drink water and your mucous membranes will remain well lubricated. Only drink as much as it takes to get your urine to be pale yellow-too much can pull too much of the good-for-you flora and minerals out. You still need some of that. Take decongestants in limited quantities and only within the parameters on the packaging. Plenty of fluids and vitamin heavy foods are the best. Rest-your body is telling to. Take anti-inflammatory meds only as long as you absolutely need them.

@JLeslie: “That guy a long time ago” who did studies
on Vit. C and cold prevention was the two-time Nobel prize winner, Linus Pauling.

Some tidbits (among several pages in Wikipedia )about a twentieth-century scientific giant:

“Linus Carl Pauling ( 1901 – 1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator….one of the most influential chemists in history and ranks among the most important scientists of the 20th century.. Pauling was among the first scientists to work in the fields of quantum chemistry and molecular biology.

Vit C research:

Pauling’s work on vitamin C in his later years generated much controversy. He was first introduced to the concept of high-dose vitamin C by biochemist Irwin Stone in 1966. After becoming convinced of its worth, Pauling took 3 grams of vitamin C every day to prevent colds. Excited by his own perceived results, he researched the clinical literature and published Vitamin C and the Common Cold in 1970.

He began a long clinical collaboration in
...1971 on the use of intravenous and oral vitamin C as cancer therapy for terminal patients..Pauling wrote… a popular book, Cancer and Vitamin C, that discussed their observations. Pauling made vitamin C popular with the public and eventually published two studies of a group of one hundred allegedly terminal patients that claimed vitamin C increased survival by as much as four times compared to untreated patients…

..Later clinical trials conducted by the Mayo Clinic (among many others – Gail’s comment} also found that high-dose (10,000 mg) vitamin C was no better than placebo at treating cancer and that there was no benefit to high-dose vitamin C…

@glut: A flu shot will not prevent one from catching a cold (or many colds) and will only inoculate against the particular flu-du jour.

@gailcalled Thanks, Now that you wrote that it triggered my memory on his background. So, where do you land? Do you think C is very beneficial? Do you believe Pauling was onto something? I have a similar idea about Rheumatoid arthritis and schleroderma. There have been small studies showing what seems to be cure or great reduction in symptoms with antibiotics, but it is not accepted as a treatment by the medical establishment. Doctors who are willing to try antibiotics say it is because those antibiotics are anti-inflammatory, which honestly just pisses me off. I actually don’t know if the researcher went any farther than when I read about it years ago.

I believe in daily D3 (2000 IU for me these days), 50mg of B12 since I am not eating meat, 81 mg aspirin, and Chinese red yeast rice and Co-0–10 for cholesterol.

I take sporadically some calcium/magnesium to prevent leg cramps, some omega-3 just because, and some new stuff that is supposed to help fibromyalgia and soft tissue pain. Too soon to tell;

MSM
Cat’s claw
Pycnogenol

@gailcalled Have you seen any relationship between your leg cramps and D level?

@JLeslie: No, but when I tried cutting back on the cal/mag. I had terrible leg cramps. The cause and effect was pretty clear.

@gailcalled That is very intesting. My magnesium has always been normal, but maybe I will take a little. I have room, my level was not up near the very high side of normal. I just bought some calcium to start taking again. I don’t think blood calcium really indicates how much calcium is in the bone? I watch to make sure my calcium does nt get high from the large doses of D, that scares me, so far they have stayed normal.

You spend more time with the numbers and details than I do.

Here’s what I take; usually only one tab daily even though the suggested amount is four. There is also some D3 in each pill.

PIoneer cal/mag

Ok, thanks.

Edible sources of calcium on a vegan diet.

Calcium (mg)

Blackstrap molasses 2 Tbsp 400
Collard greens, cooked 1 cup 357
Tofu, processed with
calcium sulfate* 4 ounces 200–330
Calcium-fortified orange juice 8 ounces 300
Soy or ricemilk, commercial,
calcium-fortified, plain 8 ounces 200–300
Commercial soy yogurt, plain 6 ounces 80–250
Turnip greens, cooked 1 cup 249
Tofu, processed with nigari* 4 ounces 80–230
Tempeh 1 cup 215
Kale, cooked 1 cup 179
Soybeans, cooked 1 cup 175
Okra, cooked 1 cup 172
Bok choy, cooked 1 cup 158
Mustard greens, cooked 1 cup 152
Tahini 2 Tbsp 128
Broccoli, cooked 1 cup 94
Almonds ¼ cup 89
Almond butter 2 Tbsp 86
Soy milk, commercial, plain 8 ounces 80

I’m making almond cookies on Monday, so that should be good for a weeks worth of calcium the way I eat those things. LOL.

Back to the C, C does help iron absorb, and if someone is low in iron it can make a person very weak, including their immunity. Possibly C helps other vitamins and minerals absorb? I don’t know. An acidic stomach is always going to absorb better than a tummy full of acid calming foods like milk. Some vitamins absorb best on an empty somach, some better with food.

(Just eat almond butter from the jar with a spoon.)

It depends on why you feel sick. If it’s flu stuff, then vit C should help.