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Cold and flu remedies

rakehell

15:34 / 12.03.08

I've been quite under the weather recently and as a habit I don't like to pop cold+flu tablets. I've been eating loads of garlic and vitamin C, but still feel the usual - weak, feverish, achy, tired, etc.

Happy to listen to any (drug free) suggestions for cold cures but reserve the right not to try any I find too strange.

Evil Scientist

15:43 / 12.03.08

Keep warm, drink fluids, keep up the garlic and Vit C. Let the bugger run it's course. If you're blocked up and stuffy then some olbas oil is helpful, and remember to put some vaseline round your nose to stop it getting red and sore.

Make sure you eat too, even if you're not hungry try to have something. You'll just feel worse if you don't.

I tend to just sleep through the bad ones, arising only to watch assorted dvd box sets. But I do personally prefer to ride it out with a few paracetamol upside my head.

Automatic

15:43 / 12.03.08

Lie in bed and watch Groundhog Day. Never fails.

Saint Keggers

16:35 / 12.03.08

Ginger is also supposed to be quite good for a cold. (Mary-Ann not so much)

Besides the vitamin c I find a hot mug of ginger beer and rum helps clear things up.

grant

17:26 / 12.03.08

ZINC! Two capsules a day. I'm convinced it's why Airborne works.

I've been using it and had people comment on how quickly I'm getting over colds now.

I think my caps are 50 mg, but I'm not sure. Bought 'em at the grocery store.

jentacular dreams

18:56 / 12.03.08

Ginger beer is TEH BEST. Always stops my nose from running.

Saint Keggers

18:59 / 12.03.08

Airborne you say?

Airborne settles lawsuit for $23.3 million

Mistoffelees

18:59 / 12.03.08

I think my caps are 50 mg, but I'm not sure. Bought 'em at the grocery store.

They better not be. You only need 15 mg a day. 100 mg is a risky overdose.

Hydra vs Leviathan

21:55 / 12.03.08

pretty good symptomatic relief for sore throats and/or blocked nose:

1 largish clove of garlic, grated, crushed or finely chopped
a similar-sized piece of ginger root, treated similarly
juice of half a lemon
about a dessertspoon of honey

put all in the bottom of a mug (about standard tea/coffee size, ie 1/2 pint or so), top up with boiling water, and sip slowly.

apparently, it works even better if you eat the garlic/ginger bits left at the bottom of the mug after you've dr(a?u?)nk it all, but i've never dared do that.

fun fact: if you leave the solid residue for a few hours after drinking it, it turns blue...

(no, i have no idea why)

Triplets

22:54 / 12.03.08

You only need 15 mg a day. 100 mg is a risky overdose.

You don't understand. Grant LOVES to zinc his sniffer.

pony

23:43 / 12.03.08

I fully endorse Hydra's recipe, with the addition of a heaping teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper. Also, I recommend steeping as long as possible (i put a saucer over the top of the mug and leave it alone for an hour, then microwave it 'til warm before drinking).

Alex's Grandma

03:35 / 13.03.08

Some olbas oil is helpful

I remember a time, perhaps a better time, when this was sound advice in a different set of circumstances.

Oh well.

In C21, the best cure for what ails you is a day, or two, off work. The thing to remember is that if you do go in there, raddled with germs, you're likely to infect the rest of your team, thus undermining productivity. So the responsible course of action, really, is to phone up the office and say you won't be able to make it in for a while.

There's nothing underhand about this; you're ill, after all.

(This assuming you get sick pay, which increasingly seems like a bit of an assumption)

grant

13:53 / 13.03.08

Yep, my zincs are 50mg.

I don't take 'em every day, just during a cold.

Airborne you say?

Airborne settles lawsuit for $23.3 million

Funny, I was wondering why that stuff had disappeared. It was getting some of the best word-of-mouth I'd ever seen. *Everyone* was using it. In my experience, it worked. I think because of the zinc and the fact that you had to drink fluid to take it.

I'm not sure if I'm taking gluconate or something - meaning, I'm not sure if the 50mg is a measure of straight zinc or whatever zinc-containing compound. I'm not that worried about overdosing because I only ever take it for four or five days running.

There's a fun page on overdosing here; I hadn't really thought about it before.

Kibblesmith

16:01 / 13.03.08

I take the generic brand of COLD-EZE with Zinc, which have surprisingly specific instructions about when to take them, eat, avoiding citrus, etc. I guess if you combine them with the old standby of a tall glass of vitamin-c infused orange juice, you disable the zinc somehow.

Vitamin C is clutch though, I usually take 1500mg a day when I'm feeling sniffled.

I also clean out my ears with a few drops of hydrogen peroxide, let it fizz until it stops, and then tilt my head and let it run out onto a tissue (it'll tickle a little, but don't swab it). This is something my Uncle taught me based on a German study from the '20s that suggested colds enter through the ear canal.

Could be a placebo, but it's wholesome, weird gooey fun.

rakehell

09:59 / 14.03.08

Zinc I did not think of but will go and buy. That sounds like a good suggestion.

Unfortunately I hate ginger so all those suggestions while quite nice in theory will never be put into practice.

I had to give in and take some paracetamol cause my fever got a bit out of hand and left me a shivery mess.

Alex's Grandma: That's what I figured too and it's what I did yesterday. I can't say that it's what made me better, but a day spent doing not much besides drinking juice and sleeping couldn't have hurt.

My next step will be finding out how to boost my immune system cause I've been sick on and off since moving to the UK and it's really giving me the shits!

Evil Scientist

11:24 / 14.03.08

I remember a time, perhaps a better time, when this was sound advice in a different set of circumstances.

Dinosaur repellant?

Mister Saturn

01:15 / 23.03.08

One of my favourite books is the Tao of Healing Foods - the best one that works for me so far is grated ginger in a mug with a cinnamon stick, and boiling water left it in for a few minutes - although it says not to drink more than three of those a day.

The next one is a pork-bone soup with pear (get some pork chops, throw in water with a few stock vegetables and simmer for a long time, then when the meat is about to fall off, throw in diced pear and boil for five minutes, and serve) - it's like chicken soup, but the pear "cools" your chest!

astrojax69

07:49 / 23.03.08

a world famous professor (though not a prof. of medicine, it must be said - though of creativity, so can't be wrong, can he?) for whom i worked told me the best way to rid oneself of a cold is to go naked into the blizzard outside. catch oneself pneumonia. for that can be cured! ; )

rest, hot hot showers and rum toddies do it for me. mainly rest is probably most efficacious, but any excuse for a rum toddy...

chicken soup is also great - pot of water, whole chook, carrot, celery, cinnamon stick, couple cloves, onion and a few cloves of garlic. boil about an hour. dole into bowl, sip while wering dressing gown, more rest, bath, rum toddy, bed. better.

astrojax69

07:54 / 23.03.08

also works 'wearing' dressing gown, but wering may do in a pinch. not sure is recommended for wolves but...

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