What is your anti-cold magic?

In My Humble Opinion
1

This afternoon at work as I grabbed the last Kleenex out of a fairly recently bought box, the truth became apparent to me. Blowing nose much more often then common winter schedule, heavy stuffy head, vaguely fatigued and out of it feeling…

I am coming down with my first cold of the season. So as I am gearing up to feel sorry for myself. I begin my ritual for driving away the evil buggies. I generally try to do without actual medicine, as long as i can, out of a general thought that It will be more effective if i save it for when i really need it, so I try to fight it off with more mundane things first.

Steam humidifier by the bed, neti pot three times a day, Zinc cough drops every 2 hours, Vitamin C drops the hour between, hot shower twice a day, letting the bathroom really steam up on the hottest setting for 5-10 minutes first. Fake ho and sour soup*. And, as long as it’s a weekend, breaking my sleep into three hour segments.

I figured out a long time ago that head congestion is the key for me. Sleeping with out being able to breath through my nose, makes me breath through my mouth, which makes my throat insanely sore, and make my chest congest really bad. Then i get really sleep deprived, as I keep being barely in sleep, and get none of the rest I need to get healthy, but I just can’t sleep anymore even though it was useless when I did. But if I only sleep for three hours, then get up and move, and shower or neti pot, and get things nice a clear again for a couple hours, I can get another three hours of quality rest afterward.
What does everybody else do when they first feel it starting?

*I posted about this once before, why the hell doesn’t anybody make canned hot an sour soup? I don’t have any Chinese restaurants left that will deliver where I live, and I don’t have the stuff to make my own? So I just dump a bunch of peppers and rice Vinegar into chicken noodle soup, which kind of works.

2

[mod] Moved MPSIMS --> IMHO. [/mod]

[non-mod] Zinc, vitamin C, and echinacea at the first sign of a cold (which is that I can feel my sinuses). Gotta say, working from home helps enormously as well. [/non-mod]

3

I start eating super spicy foods. I wish my digestive system would allow me to scarf jalapeno slices like I used to. It seems to help but not as much as when I was younger. Also LOTS and lots of liquids as much as I can.

My super top secret neato frito trick? Hot ginger bath. Buy bulk ground ginger (it’s way too expensive in those little spice bottles), run a bath as hot as you can stand to be in for 10 minutes or so (please test ground ginger out on a small patch of skin first to make sure you don’t have a bad reaction)., dump in about 1/2 a cup to a cup of ground ginger and then soak in said hot bath as long as you can stand it. Soak a hand towel in the ginger water and put it on your chest.

When you’re finished, wrap up in towels and go to bed for a while, it raises your temperature a bit, so you’ll need the towels in case you sweat some. In addition to helping you feel better, it’s a natural skin softener and hair lightener. :smiley:

4

Hehe, I do this too. :stuck_out_tongue: But the new cure for me is pozole. Actually, that’s not true. I eat the pozole at work every time they make it, for breakfast, lunch, and then sometimes get some to bring home. And I pour SO MUCH GREEN ONION into it that people think they’re smelling tuna salad or something. Oh and tons of red peppers.

To be strictly honest, the one magic thing I do when I can’t breathe is use Afrin, or some generic equivalent. Nothing else works 1/3 as well, or as fast <instantly>, and nothing else has fewer side effects. No grogginess, no extra drugs, just…breathabilty.

Right now the entire valley is under the effects of something so wicked it’s beyond a cold. People are losing their voices, or parts of them, for months at a time, getting pneumonia and ear infections and sinus infections so bad that they go on for, literally, months, and the doctors are giving up and prescribing antibiotics as soon as someone comes in because, as they are saying, ‘Whatever this is, it ain’t just a cold’. My sweetie hasn’t slept in weeks, and finally went to the doc, got antibiotics and a thorough sinus/ear canal cleaning; hopefully that helps him.

Me…when the crap first starts inhibiting my breathing, the Afrin clears it up and avoids all the rest of the crap that comes from draining sinuses, so…I’m good.

Just feel like someone ran me over with a truck. :stuck_out_tongue: But I can breathe, and next to that, nothing else matters.

Doesn’t mean I won’t have extra pozole just in case. :wink:

5

First thing I do is gargle with warm salty water, a few times a day. Next, where you prefer a neti pot, I, having really awful sinii, prefer the gravity defying saline spray. In addition to these two, I take Apple Cider Vinegar, twice a day.

Yes, I know, you’ve been told it will cure cancer and bring world peace. It won’t. However, the surgeon who fixed my sinus, explained that it is fermented with the skins on, concentrating something that thins mucus. Shoot it like, tequila or mix it with maple syrup, or some such. (And brush your teeth after, vinegar is hard on tooth enamel!) This thins the mucus, making drainage, like when you’re sleeping, so much easier, that your body will largely get the upper hand much quicker. No drugs, no pills.

Additionally, I treat myself well, cancel any plans, don’t beat myself up over what I’m not getting done. And you have to eat well. No take out food, home cooking style food. Get lots of sleep, drink lots of liquids. I know, you’ve heard it before, but it’s amazing how many people are spending large on over the counter pharmaceuticals, taking them by the fistful, while failing to eat or sleep well. And then wonder why they can’t throw it.

This works for me. This past season, three different times, I was sure I was coming down with it, having been around people who had it, often. But I managed to dodge it every time. I felt somewhat cruddy for 24 -30 hours, knew I wasn’t 100%. And then, got over it and was fine. I’ll take that, over getting a full on cold, any day!

6

Suck zinc, use a neti pot.

Both are shown in legitimate scientific studies to be effective, the former in reducing severity and length of cold, the latter in reducing symptoms of nasal congestion.

Unfortunately, zinc needs to be sucked every 2 hours while awake for 5 days, and it tastes terrible.

Neti pots are fun, though.

7

Some form of guaifenesin (expectorant) and a lot of long, hot baths. (Keep a spittoon near by!)

8

Rinse sinus cavities with warm salt water from a clean glass. Just snort it up there.

Steam bath for face and sinuses at first sign of tender nose, mouth or throat. Several times a day.

Plenty of water.

Rest.

9

On-quarter teaspoon cayenne pepper in a tablespoon of blackstrap molassas, every hour for the first twelve hours, along with the zinc & neti pot mentioned above. If I can get it soon enough - very first sign, not a few hours later when I get home from work), I can knock it out very quickly. Hard on the stomach these days, but a Zantac will help me.

10

I used to work in an officewhere, at every single sink in the building, there was a big sign that said

HAND WASHING IS THE BEST WAY TO PREVENT INFECTIONS

and that is my big, super-secret method of not getting sick. I haven’t had a cold in almost 3 years.

11

In addition to what Alice said, I will share the personal anecdote that during the (all-too-brief) times of my life when I have made sure to get regular vigorous exercise, I haven’t ever been sick, or not sick enough to notice anyway.

12

I do a lot of hand washing, including once I’m sick, to help keep it from spreading to others. Sneeze into my shoulder/elbow, carry hand sanitizer with me since I use CTA and grocery stores and am generally exposed to the filthy masses at least twice a day, every day.

I swear I get fewer colds as well as prevent flu by getting my flu vaccine.

I also use a Neti pot when I’m sick. I’m spotty about my supplements, but make sure to take them (multi-vitamin and fish oil) if I think I’m getting sick or am sick, and add echinacea and garlic tablets to the mix during illness.

If I’m going to be at work, though, I never leave it at “natural” methods that take time out of my day and still increase exposure to my co-workers (through coughing/sneezing/touching things). If I need to get my butt to work, I take the real-deal Sudafed (pseudoephedrine) that you have to sign out for at the pharmacy counter. I’m all about suppressing my symptoms for others, as I expect them to do the same for me if we’re stuck with each other at work. If I can take a day or two off, I do.

13

That is one thing I learned the hard way, keep it up. My method has been very effective at knocking the symptoms and duration of them down to almost nothing most of the time. So much so that I used to think, “Haha beat this sucker totally in 36 hours flat, Now, to resume normal life”. And would go back to whatever strenuous things, or hard partying I felt like. Which would result in another 36 hours later being knocked on my ass by a full blown cold.

Never again. I will support my white blood cell troops until whatever viral Eagles Nest there is, has been burned to the ground.

14

Olbas oil for nasal congestion.

A hot toddy for all other symptoms.

15

For me, it’s keeping my sinuses clear and free-flowing with whatever combination of neti potting, decongestant spray and Claritin D I can get my hands on. If my sinuses get stopped up, it’s game over and off to the doc for antibiotics as I get upper respiratory infections all too easily.

16

I eat half a lemon and other alkaline-reacting foods. Bacteria and viruses don’t seem to exist well in a slightly alkaline environment.

17

Vick’s Vaporub. Clears up my sinuses (the worst part of a cold) and lets me sleep.
Breathe-Rite Strips. Lets me sleep.

That’s it. I haven’t had a bad cold in years.

18

Prevention. Wash hands frequently. Hand sanitizer frequently. Don’t touch your eyes, nose, or mouth until you’ve washed or sanitized your hands if you have touched anything that someone else has touched (e.g. doorknob, pen, common printer, handshake, money, etc.). Avoid being around people you know are sick. Unless you really must, don’t touch anything that has been around someone you know to be sick.

19

I exert my tremendous power of mind, employing positive thinking to stomp the cold virions into shapeless heaps of nucleic acids, so symptoms never have a chance to develop. Then I do a bunch of toxin cleanses and purges to protect my helpless bodily organs from the chemical onslaught and eat alkaline foods to prevent my colon from becoming an acidic waste dump.

Sorry, just channeling alt med enthusiasts there. In reality I go get a good night’s sleep and hope for the best.

20

rosehip tea
garlic in broth
lots more fluids
salt gargle
rest