Is there some reason why you couldn’t conduct your study among people who have never tasted zinc lozenges?
I have found this homemade remedy very good to prevent an onset of cold from becoming a full blown case.
Take a bit of dry ginger , boil it in water like you will boil a cup of tea, add little sugar for taste and drink it. ( Here we can buy powdered dry ginger ).I have found it very effective,to prevent cold from getting worse, but not so good for a full blown case
Gargle with warm salt water every few hours, get a saline spray nasal inhaler (5 times a day), and take a couple of shots of apple cider vinegar, (cut with maple syrup, or grenedine, etc.).
The gargle will cure your sore throat very effectively, the nasal spray, (be sure to sterilize the nozzle after each use!), will keep things slippery in your sinus’ and help your body fight the infection, the apple cider will thin the mucus in your chest and sinus’ and they will drain, this being half the battle with any cold, your body will quickly get the upper hand, (bonus side effect; will quickly clear your sinus’!).
This isn’t a cold cure, your body does all the work, really. But these few simple things will effectively aid your body to achieve the results you seek more quickly. Good Luck!
Depending on how you feel, you may not have any germs in you at all. It could just be cold stress. The symptoms are just your body reacting to having been cold. It’s just like a runny nose while standing at the bus stop in winter. No germs are causing that, it’s just your body’s reaction. And yes, it can last for days.
So the best way to get that to go away is to warm up. Take a really hot shower, turn up the furnace, dress warmly, etc.
Of course, if you DO have some germ-induced illness like a cold or flu, none of that will help.
[Obligatory Joke Post] (Since the OP is feeling better anyway)
The “Two Hat Cure” for the common cold:
Wear your hat into your bedroom
Carry a bottle of Jack Daniels into the bedroom with you
Hang your hat on your bedpost
Lay down in your bed
Drink the Jack Daniels until you see two hats on your bedpost instead of one
You’re cured!
[/OJP]
The only way I have ever found to cut a cold in half is to catch a less severe cold. Honestly.
But I do find that if you really rest, you get over the symptoms a little faster - no working, playing, just sleep and watch movies.
Most of the time, however, I don’t have time to do this.
Take olive leaf. I’ve found that it can stop a cold while it’s still in the “on its way” phase of development. Anecdotal only of course, but try it!
Personally I find sleep is the only thing that genuinely makes me feel better when I have a cold. Everyone knows the advice is to get “rest” but whenever I have a cold and I try to sleep as much as possible, all day, I tend to start feeling better almost immediately. Plus studies have shown that getting less than 8 hours sleep makes it a lot more likely you’ll catch a cold in the first place.
I’ve heard that taking Vitamin C helps reduce the duration of colds, there was a study on it recently (it doesn’t stop you catching them in the first place, but it makes their duration shorter). There was also a study this year that concluded taking Vitamin D reduces your chances of catching a cold.
Unless you have family and friends flying in for Thursday, why not just postpone Thanksgiving a few days and have it on the weekend?
I remember a few years ago my family was all over the country and we just couldn’t get together for xmas. So we decided to have it the following weekend. We all got together and had dinner, opened presents, argued. It was the exact same experience just a week later. There’s nothing very special about the date a holiday falls on. It’s the gathering and observation that’s important.