Yesterday on the plane home, my throat started to hurt. I wrote it off then to the dry air and such. Today, I can no longer deny the obvious. I’m sick. [sup]*little whine[/sup]
At this point, it’s been almost 3 years since I had so much as a cold-I tend to be pretty dang healthy. So I don’t remember what works for me. I’ve been to Walmart and picked up some Advil Flu & Body Ache stuff, because it covered my symptoms without stuff for things I don’t have.
What do you do for summer colds? Give me your best remedy and I’ll try it out…as long as it doesn’t involve standing on my head at the intersection of 4 roads and sacrificing a frog. I don’t have the energy to find roads like that today.
Pretty much the same stuff you take for winter colds. Taylor the medicine to your symptoms. I know of nothing that will shorten the viral course (claims for zinc and vitamin C notwithstanding).
1)If the cough is so bad you can’t rest or be comfortable, take a cough medicine with dextromethorphan.
2)If the congestion is the problem, take something with pseudoephedrine in it, then take some steam and fluids.
3)For the aches and pains, take acetaminophen (tylenol), ibuprofen, or naproxen.
4)For sore throat, take the pain-killer along with a sore throat lozenge or spray. make sure you get a sore throat lozenge, and not a cough drop, for sore throat.
Expect symptoms to last 10-14 days, and to wax and wane. If they last longer than 3 weeks, or if you start running temperatures over 102, or get short of breath, consult a real-life doctor.
But, seriously, whatever you take for a cold, it will last about a week. Without treatment, it will last approximately seven days.
When I get a cold, I take a prescription anti-histamine to try to prevent ear infection (which I get easily otherwise). I used to take a different medicine, but it contained that PPA that was pulled off the market because dieting young women had bad side effects. I tried to tell the pharmacist that that I was not a dieting young woman, but it didn’t get me very far.
Anyway, I recommend you take two aspirin and post here in the morning.