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[Esna Pitoojee]

In case it hasn't been said enough: Zinc and Vitamin C. If I take them when I first feel the cold coming on, I can usually avoid the worst of the plugged-up ickyness. Dunno if that'll help now, but it's good to know for the future.

If you can tolerate it in the Summer, blastingly hot sauna-showers do help as well.

[Silas Vitalia]

Only those weak in faith are cursed with physical ailments.

MORE SCRIPTURES FOR YOU.


Physically: Lots and lots of zinc has been shown to reduce your cold by about 1/2 duration.  Lots of water, juice, and soup.

Mentally: Distraction is the name of the game.  Long, engrossing movies, or video-games that demand your attention.  Stick in an extended cut of the lord of the rings for 4.5 hours and you won't even remember you are sick you'll be too busy crying over Frodo and Gandalf.

[lallara zhuul]

Honey and ginger in hot water is good for a sore throat.

Ginger also makes you sweat, so getting your body temperature high enough to kill the bacteria is a good idea.

So don't take any meds that would lower your fever.

Usually I go to sauna at one point or another when I am sick, it acts as kind of a catalyzer for the thing, whatever doesn't kill you makes you only stronger.

Also fuck sports, if you have a virus and it migrates to your heart, you're thoroughly fucked.

Sleep, loads of it, and a lot of food.

You need the energy to fight the illness.

Some swear by garlic, it is anti-bacterial (like honey) so just stick it into whatever you are eating.

Stay the hell away from anything with too much sugar, nicotine, caffeine, taurine, those will just keep you awake.

[Stitcher]

You can buy lemon and ginger herbal tea. sweeten that with a teaspoon of set honey. Drink hot with some paracetamol. Get on with your day.

If it's an especially nasty cold, paracetamol can be safely taken at the same time as ibuprofen, as they go down different pharmaceutical channels. For best results, stagger the two drugs by two-hour intervals. Don't exceed the maximum daily dosage for either, and it's not a good idea to take Ibuprofen on an empty stomach.

And keep busy. If you let the cold drive you to curl up on your couch with a blanket you'll feel worse than if you just HTFU and get on with your day like a boss.

[Makkal]

18 hours couch naps have always made me feel better than 'hardening up' when it comes to being sick. They're also less likely to get someone else sick.

One thing I'll point out doesn't work for congestion: eating spicy foods.

Your sinuses will expand for a bit, giving you clear breathing for a few minutes, but then you'll produce more mucus and end up even more clogged than before.

[Morwen Lagann]

Sniffing peppermint extract has worked for me in the past for clearing sinuses. >_>

[Nicoletta Mithra]

Did someone already recommend chicken soup? I works, scientifically proven.

[Stitcher]

18 hours couch naps have always made me feel better than 'hardening up' when it comes to being sick. They're also less likely to get someone else sick.

Fair enough, not spreading it is important. I'm letting my "I drive my own car to work, have my own office and don't have much face-to-face contact during the working day" show. I guess if I was carpooling or commuting on public transport or sharing an office with a couple other people I'd be more likely to call in sick... or wear a face mask.

But seriously, I've always found that I beat a cold best by distracting myself with doing things. If a cold stops me from going to work, that means I'm in bed hallucinating my balls off and physically incapable of moving beyond maybe staggering to the bathroom in my more lucid moments.

[Korsavius]

I thought I read somewhere in AP Bio that medicine doesn't actually help you get better, it just helps alleviate the symptoms. :-p

[hellgremlin]

There are a few Polish folksy cold remedies you can try.

1. Mug of piping-hot milk mixed with at least a tablespoon of honey, and a dollop of butter. Really helps with horking up lung-horrors.
2. Garlic sandwich. Take slice of brown rye bread. Crush the fuck out of 2-3 garlic cloves, smear liberally on sandwich as spread. Eat. Trust. Just eat.
3. Vodka. Get really drunk on vodka. There is considerable value in the approach of rendering your body too toxic for diseases to survive in. I myself have a case of the snifflycoughy tonight, and plan to embark on this treatment plan. Have I ever told you all that I love you all? No? FUCK YOU ALL THEN.

[Vikarion]

I tend to subscribe to four things.

1. Stay moderately physically active during the day. Your lymph system doesn't have a pump - it relies on your body moving. Also, moving around helps my sinuses stay clearer.

2. Lemon juice in hot water. I like sour stuff, and it's good for you.

3. Chicken soup. It's better if it isn't canned.

4. 2-4 shots of a reasonably good hard alcohol before bed, along with a cup of tea or two. Adjust alcohol to body weight.

[Havohej]

Frodo was a bitch... Wasn't so bad in the books.

I did cry when Gandalf the grey died in the book, though.  Not in the movie, because I already knew that Gandalf the white was on his way.

[Vincent Pryce]

Spirits mixed in hot camomille tea and honey. Works every time.

[Aelisha Montenagre]

NO antibiotics whatsoever - as they do jack poop to viral strains - Maybe taken if I have a particularly persistent lung infection after the fact. 

Painkillers if I must.

Otherwise the top hits from above - get comfortable (or at least distracted by work) and hammer juice, heated vitamin C rich drinks such as Ribena, and foods along the same lines. 

I can't stress enough that antibiotics are not used for colds - best case nothing happens, worst case you half-dose it with some different, bacterial, nasty in your system and contribute to the rapid decline in the effectiveness of key antibiotics.

[BloodBird]

Whilst still being sick, I figured I'd ask you all what your own cold remedies are. I picked myself up some prescription meds to kill this thing, so I'll hopefully be on the road to recovery quick.

But aside from meds, what do you all do to violently murder that unwanted illness?

Never been a fan of drugs, even genuine medicine I'm told to take for any illness (I don't like the idea of adding any chemical compound to my system that I don't know what is, and I am not much of a biologist...) so I just try to ride out any illness I'm inflicted with and don't do any druge unless specifically told to do so.

So I asked someone I respect that I met on a forum once. She gave me some advice.

"Anti-Cold Drink.

Hot water, mixed with the joice of half a lime and about a big teaspoon of honey. A real vitamin bomb. Good for when you're sick and have a sore throat."

Quoted exactly as posted on said forum years ago. I have not tried it myself so I don't know exactly if it work or how well. Nor am I sure if it will help cure what your suffering from.

If you try it out, let me know if/how well it works.

Oh and, I will accept no liability of you die horribly from food-poisoning