How to shift a cold

[Connie]

Ok folks I've got the mother of all colds, it's horrible!

I need to shift it pronto, any advice

I am dosed up on Vicks First Defeence (Pah, not working so far) and Lemsips Day and Night Flu and Cold Tablets

Help, I got a hot date coming up, need to get rid of this cold

[Terpsichorea]

Originally Posted by Connie

Ok folks I've got the mother of all colds, it's horrible!

I need to shift it pronto, any advice

I am dosed up on Vicks First Defeence (Pah, not working so far) and Lemsips Day and Night Flu and Cold Tablets

Help, I got a hot date coming up, need to get rid of this cold

Drink a lot of fresh Orange juice and then have a very hot bath, as hot as you can stand it. Usually works for me.

[Cruella]

Dunno why, but I find eating lots of garlic and onions works. Won't do much for the hot date though!

[Feelingpink]

Lots and lots of liquids to help your body flush out the germs (hot lemon juice, honey & grated fresh ginger in it taste nice), avoid dairy, rest & lots of vitamin C. Also took Potters Cough Remedy last time I had one ... was strong & seemed to do a fairly good job.

[David Bailey]

Originally Posted by Connie

Help, I got a hot date coming up

Ooh, tell us more

[Aleks]

You could also try alternating Thyme and Eyebright tinctures every other hour - one clears your lungs and strengthens your immune system, the other clears your ears and sinuses.

[Trouble]

if you want absolute releif from the snotty nose, use sudofed nasal spray, its a miracle worker. its as though you have not got a cold, trouble is, stop using it and your nose blocks up. So it takes me ages to wean myself off it when i use it. using it at moment actually as started to get a cold. Keeping it away so far !!

[Twirly]

I've never met Connie, but I have a strong suspicion we have the same cold! Mine started on Thursday last week, felt a bit cr@p on Friday but made it into work on Friday morning. This is my second day off work, and not even sure I'll be back to work tomorrow. I've got a horrendous cough, blocked sinuses, sore throat and have had hot and cold temperature fluctuations...

And I've been throwing everything at it, and nothing is making any difference! Vitamin C, echinacea, Potters cough cure (two different varieties), own weight in throat sweets, night nurse, lemsip, steaming, lavender, eucalyptus, rosemary and peppermint oils. And nothing works for more than half an hour!

And don't think you Scots are going to avoid this one... Beo was down at the weekend, and it seems I've exported it to Scotland now

[Barry Shnikov]

Originally Posted by Connie

Ok folks I've got the mother of all colds, it's horrible!

I need to shift it pronto, any advice

I am dosed up on Vicks First Defeence (Pah, not working so far) and Lemsips Day and Night Flu and Cold Tablets

Help, I got a hot date coming up, need to get rid of this cold

First Defence works for me, but it's important to understand how it works.

(If I can I'll post the reference to the New Scientist article later.)

The trouble with fighting viruses is that they are such simple organisms that disrupting them chemically is almost certain to disrupt ordinary bodily processes. So we have to fight them in other ways.

First Defence coats the viruses with a microgel, which doesn't disrupt the virus itself but interferes with its ability to affect human cells; a coated virus will simply be flushed out of the body. However, it has a statistical effect: not all the viruses will be coated. The trick, therefore, is to use the microgel when there are only a small number of viruses and prevent the infection taking hold. Once that happens it is ineffective.

So you take the First Defence the minute you detect cold-like symptoms - for me almost always an itching in the the back of the throat and feeling of discomfort in the trachea.

If you have a full blown cold then it's absolutely useless.

I realise it's no help to you this time round, but if you keep your First Defence in the bathroom cabinet it might kill your next cold stone dead before it gets started!

There is no treatment for cold infections, by the way. All you can do is take things which will alleviate the symptoms - pain killers, throat soothers, decongestants, and so forth. All those symptoms are actually caused by the body's reaction and its attempts to kill the virus. (I used to use Contac 400 but the makers had to take it off the market because - so I was told - people were taking it too much and inflicting themselves with long term respiratory problems.)

There are about 200 different cold viruses so you can't realistically innoculate. (My mother claims she's had at least 1000 colds, but you should become immune to each virus that affects you once the cold has worn off.)

Vitamin C will do nothing. It helps to prevent cold viruses from taking hold but has no effect once the body's defence mechanisms kick in.

[Crazy Shark]

I got rid of my cold 2 weeks ago i had beechams, lemsip and lots of tissue!! If you put a little bit of salt in water mix it then gargle it its appearently meant to help with a soar throat!! Unfortantly my cold has made a come back and just ruins my mood

[Vegetable]

Go into a suana and put vicks in the water and chuck it on the fire bit... and withstand it without crying

[Crazy Shark]

If only we could do that but sounds like a plan lol

[Beowulf]

I shifted Twirly's cold.. I shifted all the way to Aberdeen

I've tried everything and even my usual unusually quick immune system response I can't get rid of it.

At the moment I'm just steaming my head to open up my sinuses and taking cough mixture and throat sweets to ease some of the symptoms.

I do , however, have the deep husky voice I've always wanted..

[Crazy Shark]

The distance between Abdn and London isn't that far only 11 hrs apart LOL

Never have hall soothers they just don't work although i like the strawberry flavour!! My cold is getting the best of me!! I just wanna be healthy again!!

[angelblue]

Originally Posted by Connie

Ok folks I've got the mother of all colds, it's horrible!

I need to shift it pronto, any advice

I am dosed up on Vicks First Defeence (Pah, not working so far) and Lemsips Day and Night Flu and Cold Tablets

Help, I got a hot date coming up, need to get rid of this cold

i go for a run and sweat it out! then an early night and lots of water and fruit.

I havnt had a cold in years!!

[Achaeco]

Originally Posted by Trouble

if you want absolute releif from the snotty nose, use sudofed nasal spray, its a miracle worker. its as though you have not got a cold, trouble is, stop using it and your nose blocks up. So it takes me ages to wean myself off it when i use it. using it at moment actually as started to get a cold. Keeping it away so far !!

Must be aware that this product contains a steriod, i tried it and shat myself, turns out a have an allergie.

[Yliander]

sinutab does the trick for me when my sinus's are blocked up by a cold - but once again - due to the body's reaction when you come off it - only used it when in dire need

[Beowulf]

At the moment I'm trying to find some solution that will produce a cessation in my excessive sternutation ... ...

Or in English.. How do I stop sneezing ? My cold is passing now.. apart from the sneezing. I'm slowly being swamped by a sea of soggy tissues, and the edge of my nose is red raw, cracked and bloody

Worst thing about the continual sneezing is I just get rid of my headache.. then I sneeze and bingo up pops the headache again .. I just want to get better

[Paulthetrainer]

Alternatively, spend millions of pounds and recruit the worlds top scientists and have them make history by developing a cure. You may have to take a half days annual leave to do the phoning round though. Obviously you're going to be a little bunged up, so be sure to make the extra effort to speak clearly. There's no point getting a cure developed for an illness you don't actually have - and you'll just end up feeling silly.

Paul

[Clueless]

the best cure is:

Juice and pith of half a lemon
2 x Paracetamol*
1 x Sudafed*
2 x Tsps of Sugar (Change according to taste)
1 x tsp of Honey
1 x Shot of Whiskey

put in the Mirowave for 30 sec on medium setting

and top up with hot water

once you drink it go to bed, You have a mentally deep sleep, you may wake up sweating but this is normal and in the morning you'll fell a lot better.

It tastes foul but it does you good!

*Either Capsules and open for just the powder, or ground tabels to a fine powder