Cold Remedies?
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Steamy shower to clear the sinuses and get everything 'flowing'. Different things work well for different folks. For me Nyquil works well to 'knock me out' for a good night's sleep despite the cold. Doesn't work well for my sweetie. He puts Vicks on his upper lip below the nostrils to breathe and eats cough drops.
Vicks! Thanks for reminding me. I'll smear some on my chest before I go to bed (and feel like I'm six years old again).
@Flash wrote:
He puts Vicks on his upper lip below the nostrils to breathe and eats cough drops.
Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt
Ah yes, the pot of hot water and the Vicks in it to warm before schmearing it on. Then the sheet over the head draped also over the pot with Vicks bedside to smell that eucalyptus. Memories of childhood indeed.
I just had a cold too! Feel better soon, it's miserable to be 80% of your usual self: if you were more sick you'd take it easier, but you're just sick enough to make trying to do all your normal stuff exhausting. Hang in there!
I don't know why exactly, but I always drink gatorade when I'm sick. I never drink it any other time, and I don't really like it, but it's great at hydrating me, and I can usually drink it pretty fast. I get the low calorie kind, which is 80 calories for a 32 oz bottle. I drink one 32 oz bottle every day that I'm still blowing my nose. Of course, lots of water too, but the gatorade seems to help me - it's probably psychosomatic, but I'm not complaining.
I also do the vicks on my upper lip and around my nostrils (not inside!) where it gets red and raw from blowing your nose before bed. I agree with Flash's sweetie: Nyquil used to keep me up (probably the decongestant which they don't use anymore), but now it doesn't seem to do much for me at all. If I have to go to a business meeting or something, I take daytime cold and flu medicine, otherwise I power through and let my body fight it off. Feel better soon!
I don't know why exactly, but I always drink gatorade when I'm sick. I never drink it any other time, and I don't really like it, but it's great at hydrating me, and I can usually drink it pretty fast. I get the low calorie kind, which is 80 calories for a 32 oz bottle. I drink one 32 oz bottle every day that I'm still blowing my nose. Of course, lots of water too, but the gatorade seems to help me - it's probably psychosomatic, but I'm not complaining.
I also do the vicks on my upper lip and around my nostrils (not inside!) where it gets red and raw from blowing your nose before bed. I agree with Flash's sweetie: Nyquil used to keep me up (probably the decongestant which they don't use anymore), but now it doesn't seem to do much for me at all. If I have to go to a business meeting or something, I take daytime cold and flu medicine, otherwise I power through and let my body fight it off. Feel better soon!
Shopper in California's Bay Area
The Gatorade is not completely psychosomatic. It has electrolytes and when you are sweating with a fever can help keep you pretty much in balance. Certainly with a cold you are flushing fluids when you blow your nose as well. The chicken soup is good. I keep cherry preserves around to do the old Russian remedy of hot tea with cherry preserves stirred in. I don't know that it does much good beyond 'feeling loved'. And of course if the weather is cold and you have a cold, hot buttered rum or hot toddies make you 'feel loved' and you have enough of them you won't give much of a darn if you have a cold 
There's a mostly unknown product on the market named Alkalol which can be special ordered from the Walmart Pharmacy in our town for something like $4.00 for a 16 oz. bottle.
This will not cure your cold (will anything?) but you'll feel better. It's a nasal wash, mucus solvent and cleaner. I cut it 50/50 with water which I nuke five to ten seconds as it works better when its warm. Then I fill up a tablespoon and suck it up each nostril and get it up into the sinuses as far as possible. I also gargle it. The ingredients include purified water, Menthol, Eucalptol, Thymol, Camphor, Benzoin, Oil of Wintergreen, Spearmint, Pine, Cinnamon, and some stuff I don't recognize plus a little alcohol (2/100 of 1%). This product was recommended by a pharmacist to an older aunt who told me about it and I told the rest of the family. Now we all use this. We've discovered that if we start with this product at the first sign of a cold or sore throat we can often head it off. It is manufactured by the Alkalol Company, Box 273, Boston, MA 02133-9998. Phone 800-967-4904.
Disclaimer: I am not associated with the company and I do not own stock in the company.
This will not cure your cold (will anything?) but you'll feel better. It's a nasal wash, mucus solvent and cleaner. I cut it 50/50 with water which I nuke five to ten seconds as it works better when its warm. Then I fill up a tablespoon and suck it up each nostril and get it up into the sinuses as far as possible. I also gargle it. The ingredients include purified water, Menthol, Eucalptol, Thymol, Camphor, Benzoin, Oil of Wintergreen, Spearmint, Pine, Cinnamon, and some stuff I don't recognize plus a little alcohol (2/100 of 1%). This product was recommended by a pharmacist to an older aunt who told me about it and I told the rest of the family. Now we all use this. We've discovered that if we start with this product at the first sign of a cold or sore throat we can often head it off. It is manufactured by the Alkalol Company, Box 273, Boston, MA 02133-9998. Phone 800-967-4904.
Disclaimer: I am not associated with the company and I do not own stock in the company.
Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
I have found that Vick's Nyquil works well for me. The liquid (not capsule) green one works much better than the red (cherry flavored) one, and generics work just as well for me and cost much less. If you develop a cough, Delsym seems to have become the cough medicine of choice for many physicians, and I have been taking it for years since before it was easy to find. It has a patent on a unique method of delivery of the active ingredient (the active ingredient is suspended in an edible polymer) which permits time release which tied it up in court for years.
Disclaimer: I am not associated with the company and I do not own stock in either company. While I am a Ph.D. chemist, and understand the delivery mechanism of Delsym, the information above reflects my personal experience as a consumer and is not meant to replace professional medical advice.
Disclaimer: I am not associated with the company and I do not own stock in either company. While I am a Ph.D. chemist, and understand the delivery mechanism of Delsym, the information above reflects my personal experience as a consumer and is not meant to replace professional medical advice.
Shopping South Jersey, Southeast Pennsylvania, and Delaware above the canal since 2008
I take Alka-Seltzer Plus for colds and sometimes for when my allergies are really bad. That and steam are about all that works for me.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2015 05:49AM by goldilox.
"All we want are the facts." Sgt. Joe Friday
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2015 05:49AM by goldilox.
That's typically what I do, or I just take some of my antihistamines. I also have one friend who swears by water and jalapenos, but that's not for the faint of heart.@Flash wrote:
Steamy shower to clear the sinuses and get everything 'flowing'.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I slathered with Vicks and took a decongestant when I went to bed last night. Two hours later I woke up wired, and laid there listening to the crickets until it wore off. I won't do THAT again! I felt better most of the day, but now that it's getting into the evening I'm getting a cough (which I know based from past experience is what my body does before it gets better.
Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt
I know i'm unusual but I personally eat as much jalapeno's as I can get down and I generally feel better right away. I usually eat mine with biscuits and gravy, I can eat the maximum amount that way. I do it daily until I'm well. It's very unusual for one to last more than 3 days. However, since I've been juicing and just eating whole natural foods, I really hardly ever get a cold at all.
CoffeeQueen, do you eat your jalapenos pickled or fresh? I've been craving hot foods all week. DH made chili for dinner Sunday night (with leftovers yesterday and a 'start' on my lunch today). I was looking at recipes for dinner and without consciously thinking about it everything had a pepper kick.
I don't usually get colds either, and attribute it to my good diet. However, Youngest Son developed one early last week and I think accidentally picked up and used a cup he drank out of.
I don't usually get colds either, and attribute it to my good diet. However, Youngest Son developed one early last week and I think accidentally picked up and used a cup he drank out of.
@CoffeeQueen wrote:
I know i'm unusual but I personally eat as much jalapeno's as I can get down and I generally feel better right away. I usually eat mine with biscuits and gravy, I can eat the maximum amount that way. I do it daily until I'm well. It's very unusual for one to last more than 3 days. However, since I've been juicing and just eating whole natural foods, I really hardly ever get a cold at all.
Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt
I eat pickled only because I always have some in the pantry.
Not in MY state!
@Sybil2 wrote:
medical marijuana
Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt
Okay then try "medical" marijuana.@KathyG wrote:
Not in MY state!
@Sybil2 wrote:
medical marijuana
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