When I signed up for the A. Vogel 30-day #BeatTheFlu challenge, I worried about not getting sick during that month. How could I review their Echinaforce products if I didn’t need to use them?
Well, I shouldn’t have worried. With two girls in school, and my husband and myself attending classes as well, we get a lot of chances to catch colds and flus.
I was provided with Echinaforce products to sample for this review; all opinions expressed are my own.
Mommy Catches a Cold
The day before my A. Vogel box arrived in the mail, I felt the familiar tickle of a sore throat—the way a cold always starts for me. I knew I was catching the cold in part because I was tired, which weakened my immune system.
Lately, that tickle of a sore throat has come to indicate I haven’t gotten enough sleep lately and it’s affecting more than just my mood. So I was very pleased to open my box and brew myself a cup of Echinaforce Extra Hot Drink.
Getting more sleep might have to wait a bit, but I could give my immune system a boost immediately.
Cold Remedies for Breastfeeding moms
I was excited to try the Echinaforce products for another reason. I’ve spent most of the last seven years (yikes!) either pregnant or breastfeeding, which means most over-the-counter cold and flu medications are off-limits. Most of the time, this doesn’t bother me; I grew up in a house where we kept aspirin around only for the dog who had arthritis.
My dad treated a cold by going to bed until it passed and a headache by drinking a tall glass of water. As a mom, I’ve also become more aware of the products I use and find myself looking for natural, healthy solutions.
However, as a mom… I don’t have time to be sick. I’ve got three little girls to take care of and if I’m sick because I haven’t been getting enough sleep lately, I can’t just send them off to play and jump back into bed to get the sleep I need. They still need Mommy around, whether I’m coughing and blowing my nose and have no energy to play or not.
So there have been times when I’ve been desperate enough to try anything to get rid of a cold… and then been disappointed when, say, choking down a soup of green vegetables doesn’t cure me. I want natural, healthy solutions, but I want products that actually help!
As I read the instructions on the Echinaforce Extra Hot Drink, I was pleased that it did NOT say “not for use by pregnant or breastfeeding women” as nearly everything else seems to say. HURRAH! I like having tea or coffee throughout the day, so I simply made myself three cups of Extra Hot Drink a day for the next week… and guess what? That cold stayed away! I felt GREAT.
I could tell that my body was fighting the cold still because I had the occasional cough and had to blow my nose once or twice, but I had my usual energy and I wasn’t turning into a runny-nosed Rudolph.
A. Vogel’s Echinaforce Works
Now I find myself telling all my friends about it. It’s cold season; most of my mom friends have kids in school and most of them are dealing with colds. I should just put a bottle of Echinaforce in my diaper bag to hand out to them because I am so impressed with it.
Echinaforce is okay for moms who are pregnant or nursing. It works. And it’s natural—it helps my immune system fight off the cold virus, instead of just treating the symptoms caused by the virus.
A. Vogel also sent me a bottle of Echinaforce to try. This is fresh organic Echinacea Purpurea mother tincture, to be added to water and taken 3-4 times per day. This bottle did say it was not to be taken by pregnant or breastfeeding women, so I only tried it once. It was also recommended that this be taken fifteen minutes before eating, and, well, anything that has to be timed before meals doesn’t work particularly well for me. I’m a busy mom grabbing food on the go.
At the same time, it would be good for those days when I don’t have time to sip three cups of hot drink, so I can see that both products would be handy. (Take note, cold virus: I am prepared to fight!)
How do you beat the flu? What crazy things have you tried to keep from getting sick?
9 Comments
I’ve heard of people who swear by this stuff. I’ll have to get some in the house for the next time!
Ok. I really need to go pick up some of this….like today! I am always on the lookout for all natural solutions for things like colds. And as you know, as soon as one person gets sick, it goes through the whole house, so if you can stop that one person from getting sick and spreading it around, it’s a total win! I am definitely going to pick up some of this…and thank you so much for your review! I love learning about new products like this! Angie xo
Yes, go get some today and feed it to everyone!!! 🙂 You’re right that if one person catches it then everyone will, so it’s great to boost the immune systems when you know a cold is going around. Thanks for dropping by! 🙂
As a nursing mama I have often just had to struggle with a cold – so excited that there is a product out there that is safe for pregnant and nursing moms!! Thanks 😀
I agree!!! It’s so frustrating to find a product and then read “you can’t use this while breastfeeding!” So I was also very happy to find something that works for mamas too. 🙂
Great post! We’re long-standing Vogel fans in this house. I’ve been using their products since I was a kid! Echinaforce would definitely be something to have handy this time of the year!
Awesome! Great to hear from another fan. 🙂
This looks exactly like something we would keep in our “medicine” cabinet. We too, are always on the hunt for natural remedies, and for some reason, it has always done the trick for us. I have never heard of Echinaforce, but we are no strangers to Echinacea. As soon as I feel a tickle – or even just a little rundown (EVERYDAY it seems!), we use colustrum (from cow’s milk). – in chewable tablet form. But part of “babying a cold” is that nice warm drink. I think Echinaforce would be exactly what I’d be looking for during the onset of a cold. ‘Course, I’m constantly hoping I never have to take any remedies at all – because it’s never fun to be sick!
My medicine cabinet is currently full of this… I’ve also used echinacea in other forms but I’ve found this to be the most effective and potent. It seriously kicked butt for my cold! 🙂 And I agree that hot drinks go really well with a cold. So I totally recommend it! 🙂