starve a cold

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:40 am

My nose is all stuffed up, and it's making me grouchy. And groggy. Any suggestions for relief? I've been popping chewable C's like candy (they taste like candy) and drinking tea from the health food store. Does working out help or hurt?

Copenhagen Fan · Post by **Copenhagen Fan** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:46 am

Miss BA..if you go to the gym and ride the bike and sweat that might help..OR Theraflu!! That stuff will straighten you right out...trust me.

verbal gymnastics · Post by **verbal gymnastics** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:46 am

miss buenos aires wrote:Does working out help or hurt?

I find that working out is a kill or cure. It usually cures me.

Apart from that isn't steam supposed to work? You heat up a bowl and then place your head over it with a towel and inhale. I've never actually tried this but then (touching every bit of wood in sight) I don't really tend to suffer from colds.

Copenhagen Fan · Post by **Copenhagen Fan** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:48 am

Verbal..she asked about how to cure a cold..not smoke crack???

A rope leash · Post by **A rope leash** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:50 am

Believe it or not, an orgasm will clear your head.

However, the relief is temporary.

So, you have to keep having...

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:52 am

I hate to follow my idea behind Rope's suggestion, but a nice steamy shower might help. Of course, not during the work day - when you get home.

Feel better, Miss BA.

Gillibeanz · Post by **Gillibeanz** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 11:55 am

Dunno if you get this product over there but Vicks sinex nasal spry works like magic! A couple of squirts up each nostril clears your nose and head for a whole 8 hours!

We too all have nasty cold/flu like symptoms here - banging headache, fuzzy head, blocked nose, aching limbs and massive sneezing attacks. I actually took the day off work today cos I feel so yucky so I must be ill!

oily slick · Post by **oily slick** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 12:52 pm

hey, i just got back from the doc and my almost 3 year old has pneumonia. running pneumonia i might note as the only symptom is a nasty cough. this cough started the minute ms slick ran out the door to fool around in hilton head for 4 days. and continuing with the self-pity, i had a meeting all last evening and this afternoon, 73 year-old me gets to go have a teacher conference for my kindergartner. feel any better miss ba? other than that, throw away the vitamin c, that's a joke. overdose on decongestants and yes, work out. mind over matter. deny it and keep moving.

Post by **spooky girlfriend** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 12:56 pm

Poor oily. We'll start a new thread to give you more pity.

RedShoes · Post by **RedShoes** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 12:57 pm

oily slick wrote: deny it and keep moving.

Yes, keep moving, but make sure you get lots of sleep! For me at least, lack of sleep is when I get colds and as soon as I start getting what I need again, I clear up pretty quick. Then again, I tend to need a ridulous amount of sleep so maybe I'm an exception here

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 1:22 pm

I hate to differ from the majority here, but I'd say that -- especially if you have a fever or feel one coming on, you should delay the work out, or at least take it slightly easier than usual. Exercise does lots of good things for you, but it can lower your resistance to viruses. If you have a full on fever and feel tired, I would actually consider acting like a sick person and staying in, sleeping a lot, etc. (Though women are so much tougher than men about this sort of thing, so who knows.)

Also, Echinacea is a lot more effective for nipping colds in the bud than Vitimen C, which doesn't seem to do much of anything other than preventing scurvy. Once you have the cold, Zinc is a pretty good way to try and cut it shorter. ("Cold Ease" is a supermarket version of this that you might like if you want an easy to suck on hard candies. Trader Joes sells a much less tasty version that probably has more of the real stuff, though.)

Still, people mean all sorts of things by "colds" and, if you not suffering from a fever and feel fine other than the sniffling, it might even be an allergy or something else.

BTW -- this is all stuff I gathered from reading articles and my old jobs , which were largely tied up with the whole alternative health thing (which I don't buy into 100%), so take that for what it's worth.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 1:25 pm

Oh, I almost forgot -- chicken soup! "Jewish pennicillin" my mother calls it, and there have actually been some studies showing that something in chicken soup might actually help with the immune system (or something). In my family, we're personally convinced that when they finally find a cure for cancer and/or AIDS, it's going to be something in chicken soup!

Also, spicy food is good for clearing out the gunk. (I.e., put some tabasco or something in the soup.)

oily slick · Post by **oily slick** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 1:34 pm

actually the product Zicam shortens and makes my colds less severe, but you have to start it at the first sign. i took echinacea for a whole winter when i moved back north and was constantly sick, but a lot of people take it. it fails in the only studies i've seen. maybe just try the orgasm thing.

whtesde · Post by **whtesde** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 1:45 pm

Hot, spicy food might help to open your sinuses up, and something with ginger might help if your stomach starts acting ornery.

IStandAccused · Post by **IStandAccused** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 1:51 pm

~And a bit of nice Port will help too. Feel better soon xx~

whtesde wrote:Hot, spicy food might help to open your sinuses up, and something with ginger might help if your stomach starts acting ornery.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 2:38 pm

bobster wrote:Also, Echinacea is a lot more effective for nipping colds in the bud than Vitamin C, which doesn't seem to do much of anything other than preventing scurvy.

But Vitamin C, as I believe I've mentioned, tastes like candy. Echinacea tastes like ohgodkillmenowrightnowgackgackgack.

bobster wrote:Still, people mean all sorts of things by "colds" and, if you not suffering from a fever and feel fine other than the sniffling, it might even be an allergy or something else.

Um, it's a cold. Is it really that complicated to self-diagnose? I don't get allergies.

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 7:56 pm

Here's what you wanna do Miss BA.....

Honey and lemon!!

boil up the kettle, pour some lemon juice (a good few swigs) into a glass, then put a couple of teaspoons of honey in...leave the metal spoon in so the glass doesn't break, and pour in the hot water. Mix it all up, and drink while snuggled up on the couch with a hot water bottle watching the telly.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 8:37 pm

miss buenos aires wrote:Echinacea tastes like ohgodkillmenowrightnowgackgackgack.

I feel your pain, Ms. BA. Echinacea is widely available in highly popable pill form. It seems to work for me, sometimes.

oily slick · Post by **oily slick** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 1:12 am

ok, i'm off of self-pity; got antibiotics going and as long as my little buddy keeps breathing i'll make it. after all cisco got a good report, i have 3000 shares of something that went up 20% today due to earnings (unfortunately it is only a $6 stock going to 7+), and i got my holiday tickets to the st louis symphony performing handel's messiah with itzhak perlman conducting. i hope you feel better miss ba and gilli and the clan also.

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 8:07 am

Where's DrJ??

I agree with whtesde, a hot spicy curry always works wonders for me.

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 8:34 am

A fast might help. Food bogs you down... processing it deprives the body of energy (in the short run) to get better. You might want to have just some orange juice, or something very light. It's funny that you called the thread that.

Copenhagen Fan · Post by **Copenhagen Fan** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 9:14 am

time to get honest...actually the best remedy is 20 lashes and a butt plug with a creep in a soiled wife beater t-shirt screaming ....."stop your whining woman".....

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Thu Nov 06, 2003 10:51 pm

Now, there's an idea for an alternative health book that would really sell!

costellopunk · Post by **costellopunk** » Sun Nov 09, 2003 12:54 pm

this is advice no one likes to hear but with a cold you can use antihistimines or decongestants to keep from feeling completely shitty the whole time you have it but for the most part it will just run its coarse no matter what you do. if the cold persists for lets say a week it could be an upper respitory infection (is your phlemgn all greenish?) in which case you might want to see about getting some antibiodics. as far as working out goes if you don't do it on a regular basis than do a very light workout, you wouldn't believe how many people we get in the er who collapse on treadmills because they are over doing it. you can't sit on your ass for fifty years and then one day decide you're gonna start a hardcore workout program. also keep in mind that this is cold and flu season (at least it is here in the states i don't know if your in jersey or paris right now) so the vitamin c is a good idea for prevention but it won't cure the current cold. i just got over a hell of a case of bronchitis (i was sicker than half of our patients) so i feel your pain.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 9:50 am

Thank you, everybody, but I should probably tell you that it was a very shortlived cold. The first day I got it, I slept for about ten hours, and the next day I felt about 90% better. But I still have this big bottle of Vitamin C, and it still tastes like candy...

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