For the cough at night, put Vick's Vapor Rub on your feet, then put on a pair of socks. It will quiet the cough so you can sleep. And LOTS of Vitamin C!

Sending you wishes for getting better soon, and staying healthy afterwards!

Tami

There have also been studies which indicate that a spoonful of honey is effective as a cough suppressant. It wouldn't hurt to try. Grandma used to give us tea with honey for sore throats and coughs so you're already using my remedy!

If you have a stuffy nose, anything spicy enough to make you sweat and make your nose run willclear things up a bit. For me, that's not very spicy, a single jalapeno in anything will do it. Heat to your tolerance level, of course. In any event, a nice big bowl of spicy chili couldn't hurt and chilies have lots of Vitamin C, always good.

Annie

Annie

I like hot water with lemon juice and honey. Then, it's whatever will make you feel better....;;chocolate.........cake.......

Chicken soup with rice for me. The hot soup does wonders. Feel better soon!

Lots and lots of liquid, in chicken soup form it also serves as nutrition.

Something spicy and hot, if you're congested.

Tea with honey, and saltwater gargles, for your throat.

Sorry you're feeling badly. My whole house was sick for two to three weeks recently - intense coughing was the biggest problem. This has been a bad cold & flu season!

I'd never heard of Vicks Vapor Rub on the feet, but I will try it tonight.

And the spicy is a good idea, I will crack open a jar of candied jalapenos and put them on a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast. Maybe later today some spicy hot and sour soup. Thanks for the ideas!

I hope all the Forum members are DONE with colds and flu for the season. And broken bones, too.

Hot lemonade. Or sipping very hot water.

BTW, booze is a NOT advised when you have a cold. Alcohol is a fairly significant diuretic and will counter all your other efforts to add water to you system. Lots of liquid is what you need to keep mucus thin & free flowing.

Nuclear option for a cough: Beg your doctor for something with codeine. Doesn't have to be cough syrup, either. One Tylenol with codeine will suppress the cough and let you sleep at night. Definitely don't combine with alcohol, other cold meds or painkillers and use only under advisement from a medical professional (which I am not!) There may be a lot of reasons why any one individual should not take codeine which is why it should be used only under a professional's supervision.

soon as I feel a cold comming I take a comtrex,or nose problems I use zicam,stops it immediately

I am just getting over the same crud. Came on a week ago and got progressively worse. Been pretty much "horizontal" for four days!

Can't really taste anything, so haven't really eaten much. I did find a packet of Mrs. Grass double noodle chicken soup in the pantry, so I made that yesterday. Had some chili that I had made on Wednesday, that helped a bit. That and ramen noodle soup. Like I said, I can't taste anything anyway! LOL

I cannot take codeine, it makes me hallucinate. So I just winged it with Alka Seltzer Plus, Robitussin and Hall's mentho-lyptus cough drops.

I will admit to a couple of hot brandies to help me sleep a couple of those nights. Basically hot water, honey, lemon juice and a shot of brandy. Hey, think what you will, it worked for me!

Hope you feel better soon, Mabel. It's going around, that's for sure!

Linda

No remedy just advice for the future.....take plenty of Vitamin C. I was getting a cold every year that always went into a secondary infection and then I started taking a Vitamin C tablet (1000 mg) every morning and every night. I haven't had a cold since (several years).

I keep a stock of Zicam and use it at the first sign of a cold.

The WebMD article below has a number of remedies.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: 10 natural ways to ease the common cold

...same as islay, but I had cayenne pepper

My Mother and Elery both swear by Zicam. I'd rather just tough it out and whine. (grin)

Actually, I haven't really been sick this year at all, and I'm probably jinxing myself by saying that since I spend so much time with the Grandkids who get infected at school and at daycare. Plus, Amanda works in a nursing home, Dave has contact with the public daily via his garage, Kevin is a police officer and Ashley is the germiest of them all, she works in a hospital. My life is a big pool of germs!

Annie

Annie, all those germs are probably making your immune system super buff. I work on a college campus, my DH is a teacher, you'd think I'd seen every virus but I guess not.

I had a bagel with extra jalapenos this morning, delicious and definitely gave my sinuses a break. I've planning some curry for dinner, extra hot, and it will be extra delicious after shoveling -- we are getting snow today.

Mabel, it's snowing here today too, and now you have made me hungry for a bagel with cream cheese and some Habanero Gold jelly....

Yes, my immune system ought to be in top form, LOL.

Annie

I swear by Zicam also but you do have to start it at the first sign of a cold which sometimes I don't have any on hand to use immediately. I need to keep some in stock.

Linda, I'm allergic to codeine also. Makes me sweat, nauseated, dizzy and in general act goofy.

Karen

Karen, I can take one Tylenol 3 with codeine and sleep for five hours! Elery, however, is extremely allergic to codeine, sends him into an attack of pancreatitis promptly. He nearly died before they figured out he was allergic to codeine...

Annie

Oh, I'm so sorry! I recently read this about onions and will try it next time. A cut onion on my bedside table....

ONIONS! I had never heard this!!!
PLEASE READ TO THE END: IMPORTANT

In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was this Doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu...
Many of the farmers and their families had contracted it and many died.

The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn't believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under the microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping the family healthy.

Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser. She said that several years ago, many of her employees were coming down with the flu, and so were many of her customers. The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It must work. Try it and see what happens. We did it last year and we never got the flu.

Now there is a P. S. to this for I sent it to a friend in Oregon who regularly contributes material to me on health issues. She replied with this most interesting experience about onions:

Thanks for the reminder. I don't know about the farmer's story...but, I do know that I contacted pneumonia, and, needless to say, I was very ill... I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion put it into an empty jar, and place the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs...sure enough it happened just like that...the onion was a mess and I began to feel better.

Another thing I read in the article was that onions and garlic placed around the room saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial, antiseptic properties.

This is the other note. Lots of times when we have stomach problems we don't know what to blame. Maybe it's the onions that are to blame. Onions absorb bacteria is the reason they are so good at preventing us from getting colds and flu and is the very reason we shouldn't eat an onion that has been sitting for a time after it has been cut open.

LEFT OVER ONIONS ARE POISONOUS

I had the wonderful privilege of touring Mullins Food Products, Makers of mayonnaise. Questions about food poisoning came up, and I wanted to share what I learned from a chemist.

Ed, who was our tour guide, is a food chemistry whiz. During the tour, someone asked if we really needed to worry about mayonnaise. People are always worried that mayonnaise will spoil. Ed's answer will surprise you. Ed said that all commercially-made mayo is completely safe.

"It doesn't even have to be refrigerated. No harm in refrigerating it, but it's not really necessary." He explained that the pH in mayonnaise is set at a point that bacteria could not survive in that environment. He then talked about the summer picnic, with the bowl of potato salad sitting on the table, and how everyone blames the mayonnaise when someone gets sick.

Ed says that, when food poisoning is reported, the first thing the officials look for is when the 'victim' last ate ONIONS and where those onions came from (in the potato salad?). Ed says it's not the mayonnaise (as long as it's not homemade mayo) that spoils in the outdoors. It's probably the ONIONS, and if not the onions, it's the POTATOES.

He explained onions are a huge magnet for bacteria, especially uncooked onions. You should never plan to keep a portion of a sliced onion.. He says it's not even safe if you put it in a zip-lock bag and put it in your refrigerator.

It's already contaminated enough just by being cut open and out for a bit, that it can be a danger to you (and doubly watch out for those onions you put in your hotdogs at the baseball park!). Ed says if you take the leftover onion and cook it like crazy you'll probably be okay, but if you slice that leftover onion and put on your sandwich, you're asking for trouble. Both the onions and the moist potato in a potato salad, will attract and grow bacteria faster than any commercial mayonnaise will even begin to break down.

Also, dogs should never eat onions. Their stomachs cannot metabolize onions.

Please remember it is dangerous to cut an onion and try to use it to cook the next day, it becomes highly poisonous for even a single night and creates toxic bacteria which may cause adverse stomach infections because of excess bile secretions and even food poisoning.

Please pass this on to all you love and care about.

Admin : Dr Azhar Sheikh
�" with Norah Jepkoech Jepkoech, Jorge Batz, Geraldine Wahayna Tabat, Kusum Dhatwalia Anand, Anne Doniña Dones, Çağrı K. Özcan, Neetu Mehta Batra, Lalitha Sivakumar, Nick Tay, Manzoor Parwaz and Asad Aftab Qureshi.

I use Zicam and also a nasal rinse once or twice a day--even if nothing gets through, I think I'm somehow rinsing out the nasties. I learned the hard way to NOT overdose on the nasal rinse!

Zinc lozenges are supposed to inhibit the virus from replicating itself, thereby shortening the cold.

Vitamin C helps too, as does chicken soup.

Another thing that I've read about, but have not tried, is
Sambucol Lozenges or Sambucol Drops.

Hope you're better soon!

Smiles,
Sooz

Spam emails are a terrible place to get medical advice, legal advice, counseling and the like, especially when it's so easy and so quick to debunk.

Onions becoming poisonous from being in the house? Well, how many people have onions in their homes? Many if not most cooks do.

Here's what Snopes has to say about the miracle onion cure.

Please people, don't automatically believe email spam! And please don't spread these hoaxes. It takes seconds to check them out. Use the guideline that if it came in an email, it's probably false. And if you learn to spot the red flags you'll pick out a hoax much more quickly.

Here is a link that might be useful: The onion hoax is FALSE

Thank you Cynic! It amazes me that anyone would believe and repeat information like what is posted above.....

Anyway, I have made the following recipe, and it does seem to help, however I am not sure if it is the spiciness from the garlic/jalapeno/onion, or just that eating any sort of soup will help one feel better. I think it is having something hot and liquid that eases sinus pressure for me.

Alexa

Cold buster soup
3 heads of garlic, minced
1 head of garlic peeled and left whole
3 large onions minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
3 large potatoes cut up
1 stewing chicken
seasalt
Skin the chicken and cut it up...put it in a pot of spring water and
let it simmer until the chicken falls OFF the bone. Remove the
chicken. Put in the garlic, the onions the potatoes and the jalapeno.
Simmer for 30 minutes..add water as necessary. Let cool....put soup
a small amount at a time in a blender. It should end up with a nice
smooth texture a little less thick than heavy cream. Drink it by the
cupful.
You can use the chicken in other dishes or for sandwiches. .

This post was edited by caliloo on Mon, Feb 25, 13 at 8:08

I haven't made it in a while but I used to make an hot lemon drink with honey and ginger in the blender.
You could follow the directions for lemonade on a bottle of Real Lemon juice or use real squeeze lemon juice.
Put the juice and some honey and a very small chunk of ginger root in the blender. Pour the required amount of boiling water over it and whizz away for about a minute, then pour it through a fine sieve/strainer into you cup.
Warning, make sure the lid is on the blender and it's not too full

Cynic, thanks for the follow-up, it spared me the need to Snope it myself.

I made some noodles with spicy peanut sauce for dinner last night, with extra garlic, ginger, and sriracha sauce. It seemed to help. Then at bedtime, I tried the Vapor Rub on my feet. What a strange sensation! I swear I could taste the Vapor Rub. I did seem to sleep better last night, so maybe it worked!

The only problem with all this liquid is I thought I'd never get to the office this morning without having to make a pit stop! I did, but my teeth were floating, lol.

Tonight I'm going to try the spicy curry, just didn't have the gumption last night after shoveling a foot of snow. The cold buster soup may be on the menu for tomorrow night. I sounds a lot like some jalapeno soup I had last summer in California.

pk guy, I never thought to use the blender! I make something similar with finely grated ginger and limes. The blender would be easier -- as long as I get the lid on tight!

Zicam at first sign and lots of fluids and lots of rest. Mostly I avoid getting sick. I wash my hands frequently and try to get enough sleep. I generally only get sick if I am stressed and overtired.

Nasal Zicam can cause loss of smell, temporarily and sometimes permanently. I use the oral spray. I'm not sure if the product was pulled or changed. I never used it but my son experienced a temporary loss of smell when he used it.

Eileen

Oh, my! CANDIED JALAPENOS? I love them pickled, never heard of candied. I am planting extra jalapenos this year!

Sorry. Didn't mean to hijack the thread. This is more of a thank you to mabeldingeldine. Sorry you're not feeling well, but thanks for that.

I don't usually pick up those nasty little cooties. DBoss was kind enough to share his with me this year. Today is the 11th day. UGH!
The first few days, especially if I am feverish, DH draws me a bath as hot as I can stand it with Eucalyptus oil. I sip a cup of hot tea with brandy, honey and lemon in it while I'm in the tub. When I'm ready to get out, I feel like a bowl of jello! LOL
DH helps me to bed, tucks me in and I pretty much sleep like a baby all night, no matter how sick I am.

Mabel, I bow to you. Not only are you cooking while you are ill, but shoveling snow and going to work? You are wonder woman!

I am on day 10 and can't taste, can't smell, can't stop coughing so I really can't go to my job at the clinic and pass around whatever this bug is!

Tried the Vicks on the feet....did nothing but make my feet feel slimey. Robitussin is not doing a thing, I am coughing like a mad man. I have a call in to the nurse line to see if starting antibiotics at this stage of the game would be worth it or if I just need to ride it out.

I haven't had a cold in years, and don't recall ever having one last this long!

Linda

I'm a big fan of cold eeze...it's a lozenge that you suck on that contains zinc which is an immune system booster and it's clinically proven to help block the cold virus.

Here is a link that might be useful: NIH on effectiveness of cold-eeze

I'm sorry I posted that, obviously I don't snope everything, it sounded interesting, at least certain parts. I have an open mind, not vacuous.
However, I am quite certain my posting it innocuously is not any worse than the unkindness and rudeness some of you are showing.

No problem, Beez! I have a healthy fear of onions after a botulism outbreak when I was in college that was linked to onions. I do think alliums like onions and garlic are potent antivirals and try to up my intake of them when I'm sick. I appreciate the thought, partner!

Donna, the candied jalapenos are as good as they sound! I posted the recipe: http://yankeepantry.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/candied-jalapenos/

Linda, I hope you are soon on the mend. Today I can't hear but the nose is better. I had to shovel, DH is sick, too, so we tag teamed. And work was respite as the bathroom is mid-reno and I'm tired of looking at the mess!

Posted by Bumblebeez " I'm sorry I posted that, ------- "

Actually, nothing wrong with what you posted. It can indeed work for many.

It has been shown that placebo treatment is effective for 1/3 of the population.

dcarch

My favorite cold remedies is eating hot noodle soups, drinking plenty of water, and lemon juice.

Here is a link that might be useful: Home Remedies for Colds

I was coughing for two months. Nothing touched it, it went away one day when it was good and ready. Fluids, hot fluids, rest, vitamin C. That's the only thing that even remotely worked for me. I take olive leaf supplements and they help a tiny bit. Good anti-oxidants but not when you're in the worst of it. Lozenges. And yes, if you're not allergic, cough medicine with codeine. I only took it at night, so I could stop coughing long enough to fall asleep. Makes me tired so not good for during the day when you're at work anyway.

Honey-lemon tea. We have an abundance of Meyer lemons and freeze the excess for use year-round. Also works well for allergy coughs. It's the honey, really; the lemons are just there to balance off the sweetness.

In Chinese medicine, a cold is a "chill" in the body's balance. Anything that heats up the body, whether a bath, a bowl of soup, or a hot cuppa, helps counteract the sluggishness of your 'chi' (body energy). Rest and fluids are important when you are feeling 'below par'. Ignoring your body's warning signs merely prolongs illness.

Garlic was a traditional remedy for the Black Plague in medieval times; it did absolutely nothing to prevent it or cure it.

bumblebeez, I don't have a problem with that posting either, we can all take it at face value. It might even work, because bowls of cut onions all over the house would sure cut down on visitors and company, thus less germs being spread about!

Annie

My grandmothers favorite home remedy was "whiskey-honey-and-lemon" although it was long enough ago that I don't know any specifics of how it was made. A cow-orker of mine said that it sounds similar to her home remedy: a hot toddy

Hot Toddy
* 1 oz (2 tablespoons) bourbon
* 1 tablespoon mild honey
* 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
* 1/4 cup boiling-hot water

Codeine is a very effective cough suppressant, but our nanny state government makes it difficult to obtain. The Feds keep track of how many prescriptions for controlled substances every doctor writes, and comes down on them like a ton of bricks if (in the impeccable judgment of the bureaucracy) Dr. Soandso is prescribing too many of them. Sure there are some doctors that are pretty loosey goosey about drugs, but the fear of reprisal makes every doctor a bit wary of prescribing controlled substances. As a result, a lot of people with chronic pain suffer.

You can't get paregoric anymore, either. Thanks, FDA.

I was once in London and came down with a horrendous hacking nonproductive cough a day or so before I was to fly home to the US. I was able to go into a pharmacy there and get a cough syrup containing codeine. There's no way it could be abused, because it tasted like creosote. Nonetheless, I was able to have a fairly restful flight home without coughing my head off.

But, we in the US seem to have gotten a government that will look out for every little niche of our lives. God forbid that we be treated like adults and be exposed to a little bit of risk.

I'm getting on my soapbox here, but de Tocqueville saw this phenomenon of soft despotism nearly two centuries ago:

"After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the government then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence: it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd."

Someone may have already mentioned this but if using raw honey for a cold, you should not use it hot because that kills it's beneficial enzymes according to the local honey guy I talked to not so long ago! He said that if you put it in hot tea, it does no good because you've killed the enzymes. Also it should not be given to small children.

I have been superstitiously avoiding this thread, since Jim's had a cold since a week ago Tuesday. I have been dreading it, but last night and this morning, I feel it coming on. Taking lots of Airborne (which I am firmly convinced is quackery, but hey, any port in a storm) and will take a lot of these suggestions seriously.

My problem is that colds always progress to bronchitis, set off my asthma, and leave me with laryngitis, and the whole cycle can take a month, which really screws up my life.

Sigh.

arley, glad you found that bottle of codeine you got in London! j/k

Sunday I was drinking tea made of fresh ginger, lemon juice and honey. It was soothing but probably wouldn't help a cold.

Di

When faced with the full blown symptoms of a nasty drippy coughing cold I resort to Nyquil to get me through the night. But for daytime coughing I have found Delsym to be very effective.

Eileen

Well, University of Nebraska actually proved Chicken Soup works.

"The study’s focus was to find out if the movement of neutrophils--the most common white cell in the blood that defends the body against infection--would be blocked or reduced by chicken soup. Researchers suspect the reduction in movement of neutrophils may reduce activity in the upper respiratory tract that can cause symptoms associated with a cold.

In their findings, the team found the movement of neutrophils was reduced, suggesting that chicken soup might have an anti-inflammatory activity, which may ease symptoms and shorten upper respiratory tract infections."

UNMC Chicken Soup Research

Eileen, Elery just took a big shot of Nyquil. He says he doesn't know if it helps his symptoms, but it knocks him out so he doesn't notice!

ak, there were more studies which proved that chicken soup worked, or at least bolstered the theory. It can't hurt and it at least keeps a person hydrated, which is important when you are ill, you should drink plenty of fluids of your choice.

Annie

Day 13 here. Still no relief.

I wish I could take Nyquil. It knocks me on my butt for a couple of hours, but then I wake up and I am wired!

Hopefully if I take it easy over the weekend it will bring on the end of this crud!

Linda

Well Sushi, I took a mix of three kinds of echinacea and goldenseal for a month with ZERO effect. Echinacea is the stuff in airborne that is supposed to help your immune system. I have read a lot of the research on echinacea (because its other name is purple coneflower and its a native US wildflower, attracts butterflies and birds, and I have grown several varieties so I'm interested in the plant for all kinds of reasons). At first there was some thought that it might lessen the severity of a cold and then there was the whole hoo ha about the species used, and how long you take it, etc. but in the end I think with more tests it has shown to be pretty much useless but different people react differently to different substances so your mileage may vary. For me it hasn't worked a bit. But vitamin C has definitely helped me lessen the length of colds. But that thing that lives in your lungs forever and causes you to cough and cough, well that has been my nemesis for years now. When I get sick with that it makes me debilitated for at least 10 weeks! I try and try every remedy imaginable to get better!

Oh no, Sushi, I hope you get over the cold quickly! After 3 weeks mine is finally mostly gone -- I still have a nagging cough that surfaces if I talk too long (much to the relief of many I'm sure! lol), but I'm better. Many thanks to all for the great suggestions.

I hope the rest of the members of this forum finish the winter without another bout cold or flu. Time for spring allergies!

I often add fennel to my tea or honey lemon hot drink for a cold. It soothes the throat to reduce coughing.

After having several colds last winter (thanks partly to our grandchildren generously sharing), I thought I'd made it through this winter without getting a cold but I finally got one last week.

I tried the whiskey honey lemon recipe above last night before bed and it cleared up my sinuses enough to make sleeping more comfortable.

Annie, that's how it works for me, too. It also dries up my drippy nose so that I can breath better.

Eileen

Zicam does nothing for me, but then I already take zinc as a supplement. What I have found to be helpful (and was mentioned in one of grainlady's links) is breathing steam, especially when I first start to feel something coming on. They way I do it is to get a very large mixing bowl (glass), add crushed eucalyptus berries (which I get from the Marina bike trail) and the pour a large amount of boiling water from the tea kettle over the berries. Then I put my head over the bowl and cover both the bowl and my head with a large bath towel, to prevent the steam from escaping. I inhale as much steam as possible and as deeply as possible, and allow any nasal draining to fall into the bowl. I generally have to come up for cool air several times, but the heat from the steam is what can kill the germs in my sinuses. This method gives you a facial at the same time, as it opens your pores from sweating. You do not need the eucalyptus berries - they are there for fragrance, and so you can substitute whatever you like, or even put Vicks in the bowl. Sometimes I use lemon zest.

This will not cure a cold, but it will help clear your sinuses, much as nasal irrigation or spicy soup will, but the heat is helpful to prevent a cold from taking hold, if you catch it soon enough.

I haven't had a cold in a while, and I felt that the dry air at Death Valley was theraputic. Visiting a sauna might be helpful.

Lars