I also use Vick’s vapor rub to relieve congestion and cough. I have a small steam machine that takes Vick’s-infused pads and that helps too in severe circumstances. Hot baths, gargling with warm salt water, drink lots of water. Sleep!
And avoiding colds — wash your hands frequently, and avoid touching your face, eyes, nose, mouth. Avoid proximity with sick people
Sounds like a plan. I always have this thought that a good run will have some effect on blowing out the pipes and help my breathing, but I can never tell if it does.
My particular quandary is not about physical pain though.
Mostly I have thought the OTC remedies have been useless, although the nighttime TheraFlu at least helped a little.
Please do pay heed to the warnings about paying close attention to the amount of acetaminophen that you’re getting. My doctor told me that many people have killed their liver by not realizing how much they’re getting from products they’re combining.
It’s too late for this time, but I feel I have successfully warded off colds by using a neti pot the minute I felt one brewing. I think it might wash out enough of the replicating cold virus to give your immune system a fighting chance. I don’t know if this is actually true but it seemed to work that way for me.
I seem to have settled into a rhythm; sleep for an hour or two, wake up and rush to the bathroom sink, ten minutes coughing up phlegm and blowing my nose, drink a glass of water, repeat. And I may be starting to feel better.
To recap, on Saturday morning I went to a clinic, got checked, was told it was just a cold. The instructions I got were to take Flonase and Mucinex, and if I wasn’t getting any better after a day the PA had called in a prescription for an antibiotic. I repeated the instructions back. I went to the drugstore, got the Mucinex and Flonase, and have been taking them for the last two days.
They have done fuck all.
So I prevailed on a friend for a ride to the drugstore. I wanted to get the antibiotic and ask if they had anything else I might try for the cough and sore throat. It would take them a few minutes to fill the antibiotic, they said, and did I want the other two prescriptions that were waiting for me?
There have been a prescription for the cough and a nasal spray waiting for me for two miserable days.
It occurs to me that I’m kinda back where I started; just took the first doses of stuff that’s supposed to make me feel better. The jury is still out on whether it works.
I’ve found that Claritin (loratidine) works really well for me so at the first sign of my nose getting runny I pop one of those things–advantage is they’re 24 hour and for me at least that’s absolutely accurate. Aches and fever I manage with Aleve (naproxen) at 440mg or two OTC pills. I usually just use something like Hall’s Soothers for scratchy throat and cough because dextromethorphan makes me robotrip balls and I don’t like it. I sleep as much as I can, drink gallons of liquids and eat anything that doesn’t make me feel queasy to think about–usually something bland and sweet or very savory like chikin broth with red pepper in it. This regimen for 4-5 days will usually see me through the end of the cold.
Pseudoephedrine - (the stuff you have to ask for) is a miracle cold drug in my opinion. When I take it, I have no cold symptoms at all. I even take it before bed and am able to sleep just fine. Ricola (honey and herb varieties) are the best cough drops - although coughing is probably the symptom that’s the hardest to combat. I usually get the dry coughing spells that go on and on until I feel like I’m going to choke. And it’s usually when I’m in a public place like church, a meeting, or a store :mad: I’ve had to run to the cough drop aisle and tear open a bag of Ricola’s. I usually keep a pocketful just in case.
Just so you are clear, colds are caused by a virus. The antibiotic does nothing for a virus (that would be an anti-viral). Likely the antibiotic was given to treat a possible sinus / ear infection, which would be an aftereffect from the trauma caused in your sinuses from the cold symptoms.