Favorite cold remedies

[Bicyclette]

I feel a cold coming on - right now, it's just a sore throat ... but...

what are your best or favorite cold remedies?

[Geonz]

Gargling with salt water, Slurping down the oj, and the last time I was feeling that chilled and funky feeling, I'd just acquired a small space heater, and I plugged it in and blasted it and went to sleep, and woke up ALL BETTER. Makes me rethink the idea that "you don't catch a cold from being cold."

(yes, I did make sure my clutter was no-where near the heat element.)

[mlove]

Sage tea with honey and lemon (although hot water with brandy, honey and lemon is good too), chicken soup, Vicks VapoRub cream, warm socks when I go to bed

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Extra blankets and as much sleep as you can. Plus, drink lots of liquids.

[Kitsune06]

lots of layers, so I look like I'm about 3x my size (Michelin woman...) but enough to keep chill out, chicken soup, Day/Nyquil when I have to work...
If I have the day off, I wear lots of warm clothes, stay warm, have chicken soup with ginger in it, Gypsy Cold Care tea with honey, and probably around 5g of vitamin c, spaced through the day. (that's 5 Emer'gen-c packets or more) or a lot of pills... I prefer emergen-c- just about to the point of tolerance. I'm over it in a day or two, then.

[KnottedYet]

Zinc lozenges, vit C, chicken soup, Ricola cough drops.

Warm woolies and lots of sleep.

Damp washcloth over my face if I have to breathe through my mouth.

[tygab]

I have had several colds this year so obviously whatever I am doing isn't working . I am still sporadically coughing from my last one which started around labor day and has gone til now (though the major symptoms were winding down by 1.5 wks ago). Most have been after flying somewhere.



That said, I have tried Airborne & related knockoffs, tea, chicken soup, throat drops... pretty much all the standard options. Once I have a cold or noticeable imminent symptoms, there isn't much I can do. So preventing them seems to be the key. I think I need to try the Airborne before flying which is really how it's supposed to be used, and like a day or two before even.

If anyone else has suggestions on how to prevent them... I'm eager to hear them.

[RoadRaven]

Eat garlic often, and "overdose" on Vitimin C (tablets, fizz-bomb drinks and madarins, oranges and tangelos)...

[Kano]

Well, now, we're remedying colds, not preventing 'em -- that's a whole different issue, lots harder to deal with in my opinion!

When I feel one coming on, I'll wear a hooded sweatshirt to bed, hood on, and pile on the blankets. I even wrap my head. Oh -- and I sleep in my recliner, not laying down. All the stuff follows gravity instead of settling into my sinuses and such that way...

I figure that the keeping myself warm thing works a little like a fever. Our bodies get fevers because germs don't like a hot environment. They like our normal body temperature, so a fever, uncomfortable as it is, is designed to make us inhospitable. So, I sort of try to induce that inhospitable state!

Besides that, lots of liquid, extra vitamin C, and if it gets that far, decongestants to keep me breathing!

Karen in Boise

[KnottedYet]

Garlic and zinc I've heard help prevent viral replication. Zinc especially is s'posed to help the first 2 or 3 days of a cold. (The sulpher compounds in garlic are supposedly antibiotic, too. Garlic for everyone!) So you'll catch the little boogers but the garlic and zinc will help to slow them down and your immune system does the rest.

My first sign of a cold is tonsil grumpiness. That's when I start on the zinc. A couple days later the actual cold begins and I quit the zinc. I figure by then it's up to my immune system and I do what I can to support the immune system and treat my symptoms.

And I still want to believe that there are a limited number of cold viruses out there, and after you've had them all you won't catch anymore. Allow me to live in my happy fantasy world...

[Clare]

I have found this folk remedy to really help.

Take a large pan of water and into it place chopped onion(1) and garlic.(2-3 cloves). These amounts can be adjusted. Bring to boil and then lower temp. Let seep for about thirty minutes. Then drink as a tea with lots of honey. (sieve out the garlic and onion). It seems to work best if you try to drink as much of the concoction (sp?) as you can.

Clare

[wavedancer]

My favorite remedy for when you first get the scratchy throat that often starts the cold is an old Vermont country doctor trick: Make a dilute solution of apple cider vinegar and water, about one tablespoon to 1/2 to 1 cup of water. Gargle and swallow several times a day. I have been able to knock out the sore throat over night and prevent developing a full-blown cold.

Best prevention is compulsive hand washing whenever having contact with shared equipment or after being in public places, and avoid touching your face unless you have just washed your hands. Most cold viruses are transmitted to ourselves from our own hands.

Steam inhalation, saline nasal spray, and saline nasal irrigation help support the nasal mucosa and get the bad stuff out.

Stay healthy everyone!