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Robitussin -- the type they make for congestion. Homemade chicken soup made with ginger-if you are too sick, all you have to do is throw a chicken breast into the slow cooker with water and a thumb sized piece of ginger. Ginger will warm you up. While it's cooking, go to bed. Wake up and drink a lot of it, turn up the heat, climb back into bed with a pile of blankets and SWEAT. That should cure your cold.
Theraflu. That hot lemon stuff, that will wipe it. I also took those pills, that seemed to help, some sort of homepathic med, it was right by cold meds. Can't remember the name. Has echinea in it.
At the very first sign of cold or flu i start with Echinacea / Goldenseal Compound by Herb-Pharm.
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I make a cup of tea (w/ hot water but not boiling) and at least 3 droppers of the compound and i do that every few hours and i do it until i'm over the cold or flu but usually (almost always) it doesn't become a full blown thing.
I take lots of vitamin C and if i'm feeling up to i take an extremely hot bath with sea salt and baking soda for as long as i can stand it and then i get out and wrap my body in flannel sheets and sweat it out and then when i star to feel a chill i then shower off the sweat and salt residue and get dressed quickly so as not to chill an then i go to bed.
The hot, hot bath remedy is probably not a good idea if you're not in reasonably good health and i imagine that people with heart conditions, high blood pressure, etc. shouldn't do it.
Also, lots of hot liquids (hot water with fresh lemon juice is great) during a cold is important.
Ginger tea with lemon is great too.
Last edited by SouthernBelleInUtah; 12-21-2011 at 10:40 PM..
I use breathe-right strips every night already - I swear by them for a deviated septum/collapsed nostril.
I like Dogmama50's suggestions the best, though personally I'd rather just have fresh citrus fruit and/or fresh-squeezed citrus juice, than taking an Emergen-C.
I'd also suggest a steam vaporizer (NOT a cold-air humidifier) to kill some of the germs in the air while loosening up the "stuff" in your sinuses. If you use the plastic bucket type that you don't have to add any salt, you can add 2 *drops* of pure essential oil of eucalyptus (not scented oil or perfume or room freshener oil!) to the water. Don't use synthetics of any kind, or diluted essential oil, because whatever they use to dilute it, or create the synthetics, will clog up the steamer and can damage the vaporizer.
Also bear in mind the "common cold" schedule: Three days in, three days on, three days out. Translation: it takes three days from the time you first catch a cold, til you're thoroughly miserable with it. You'll be miserable for the next three days. And it'll take three more days to finally go away.
That's without any medication at all, and it's also *usually* even if you take medication. The medication only alleviates some of the symptoms, and some of the meds -can- help strenghthen your immune system (which is compromised because you have a cold, doh), reducing (but not eliminating) the risk of ending up with bronchitis or pneumonia.
I also have used echinacea/goldenseal for a cold - like jaijai said, soon as you start feeling bad. I've taken the capsules though, only once per day - before bedtime, for no more than 4 days in a row. Some people get an upset stomach from echinacea/goldenseal, so you'll have to see if it helps to have a full stomach, or an empty stomach, or something inbetween. There's supposedly a "rule" about that but I've yet to figure out what it is. My stomach feels a little queazy no matter what my digestive condition is in, when I take them. The feeling goes away fairly quickly though.
Theraflu. That hot lemon stuff, that will wipe it. I also took those pills, that seemed to help, some sort of homepathic med, it was right by cold meds. Can't remember the name. Has echinea in it.
I like that "throat-coat" tea. Helps me.
Sleep. Toast, chicken broth. Get better soon.
the whole line of teas that throat coat comes from is good for colds, they have a bunch, my favorite was teh gypsy cold care, i think the brand name was traditional medicinals, but they are all really good and dont taste that bad... tho the throat coat is a bit syrupy, add a teaspoon of honey and it goes down like candy
also, vitamin c... dont care what the doctors say, when i get sick i start poppin vitamin c like candy and within a day or so im over whatever i have
I agree with jaijai about the echinacea. If I even have the slightest inkling I'm getting a cold I start with echinacea tea with a little honey added (I drink it all day), take 500 mgs of Vitamin C at least three times (morning, noon, night), and I take 2 aspirin before I go to bed. If I actually get full-blown cold symptoms after that (very rare) I keep up the regimen and add either the Theraflu® hot lemon drink Jasper12 recommended or Alka-Seltzer Plus® Cold & Flu. I get as much sleep as I can and eat chicken soup. No matter how congested you get stay away from nasal sprays. Personally I don't react well to Sudafed, so I never take that.
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