When you are dehydrated, do not have sufficient sleep or inadvertently caught a chill, your immune system comes down. You get a cold as a result. You experience symptoms such as headaches, body aches, fevers, coughing, a runny nose, and generally an overall weakness in your body. To fight the common cold, you can take an over the counter cold medication and wait it out. However, if you want to recover twice as fast, consider taking some herbal health supplements.

There are many herbal remedies that can help strengthen your immune system; thereby cutting short the healing process. Herbal remedies can be taken in the form of supplements in the required dosages to help you fight your cold. Here are some examples:

1. Echinacea Herbal Health Supplements. Echinacea have been used over the centuries as a cure for common cold and to treat other upper respiratory problems. Echinacea helps to boost the production of immune cells that help fight disease. It is recommended that Echinacea be taken in the form of a tincture or as a capsule or tablet. This is not an herb that you should take constantly though. Instead, take it at the first signs of illness, then for 1 or 2 weeks afterwards before you stop taking it for a while. Not following this regime can be harmful as it may cause your immune system to become depressed instead. When you do take this you should take approximately 175 to 225 milligrams of Echinacea 2 or 3 times a day.

2. Goldenseal Herbal Health Supplements. Goldenseal strengthens the immune system and can be used together with Echinacea whenever you first suspect that you may be coming down with a cold. Herbalists also advise taking 175 to 350 milligrams of goldenseal 3 or 4 times a day for 10 days after the first signs of a cold. Besides boosting the immune system, goldenseal is great for combating localized viruses.

3. Garlic Herbal Health Supplements. Traditional herbalists say that garlic is one of the most potent cold-fighters. Simply eat a clove of fresh garlic at the first indications of a cold and to boost up your garlic intake when a cold is already underway. If you cannot stand the pungent smell from garlic, then there are garlic capsules that you can take. These should contain between 300 to 500 milligrams of garlic and are best taken daily for the first week of your cold. Doing so will keep the symptoms of the common cold at bay.

While the above are recommended dosages in general, you need to make sure that the herbs in these supplements do not interact negatively with whatever medications that you are on. Hence, it is best that you check with your herbalist or doctor first before consuming them.

Author's Bio: 

Evelyn Lim is the writer and publisher of a free newsletter on herbal home remedies. In her newsletter, she shares about non-drug remedies to cure and treat common ailments. Lead a herbal life by checking out her site at http://www.HerbalRemedyTips.com.