Fifty Plus (50+) - What's everyone like to relieve cold symptoms?

I am home. Sick. Despite my best efforts, I am now felled by the official company cold.
I had a flu shot, and I use the purell stations around the place. Alas, it got me.
Spent a good percentage of last night coughing, and now my entire chest is sore. :notamused:

I think this is the first one I have had in over two years. Not a bad record I guess, when you consider the concentration of human bodies in eastern MA. So, what does everyone like to relieve symptoms? This clogged nose and sore throat are driving me crazy.

Advil cold and sinus has been recommended to me. I've been told to avoid Aleve. The warnings on that product are a little scary.

Cough Syrups? Never really like any of them. Any to recommend?

I have Tylenol, but that is not touching the congestion.

Go to bed--Take aspirin every 4 hours and tie a garlic clove around your neck to relieve the blocked nose and in two weeks you will feel fine

OR

Suffer through it and to help with the symptoms- have a bottle of Cognac at your side at all times. The cognac will not help but you won't care. Using this method and in a fortnight the cold will be gone.

I've never tried them but my wife swears by those zinc lozenges.

Bourbon with a splash of lemon and honey.

A sprintz or two of Chloraseptic really helps the throat feel better. Other than that, a box of tissues, a warm bed and socks is about all.

1. Dress in multiple layers of clothing. T-shirts, sweatpants, hoodie etc.
2. Spent 30 minutes engaging in the aerobic exercise of your choice. Running, cycling, jump rope - whatever works up a major sweat.
3. Immediately get in a hot bath. As hot as you can stand. Get out as soon as the water becomes comfortably cool.
4. Drink a hot whisky toddy. http://www.rampantscotland.com/recipes/blrecipe_toddy.htm
5. Go to bed. Go immediately to bed. Do not pass the fridge. Do not collect that box of Cheez-its.
6. Sleep.

If that doesn't do the trick, well at least you'll have had a whisky toddy.

I can personally vouch that taking Cold-eze(zinc lozenges) cut the duration of a cold practically in half.

Go to bed--Take aspirin every 4 hours and tie a garlic clove around your neck to relieve the blocked nose and in two weeks you will feel fine

OR

Suffer through it and to help with the symptoms- have a bottle of Cognac at your side at all times. The cognac will not help but you won't care. Using this method and in a fortnight the cold will be gone.

Hahaha. My Grandfather used Wiskey and Honey for us. I am not sure it made us feel better but it tasted so bad we were afraid to act sick. Isn't a fortnight 14 days? Differnt treatments same results?

Bourbon with a splash of lemon and honey.


My Daddy, who was also a pharmacist would say that's a helluva way to treat good bourbon.:lol: But seriously Mucinex DM will break up the congestion in your chest and help to relieve the cough. drink lots of water, drink like you were riding. The Advil, Aleve, Tylenol are primarily for the aches and fever and most nasal decongestants (except topical sprays or inhalers) are not kind to men over 50 (they make the prostate swell) Good luck

Just remember that zinc nasal sprays have been linked to loss of smell... pretty sure they are off the market now?

Sleep and chicken soup.


Not at the same time though.

I've never tried them but my wife swears by those zinc lozenges.


+100!!! Zinc is proven to shorten the duration of a cold.

I was once told that the remedy for a cold was a bottle of whiskey and a hat. Put the hat on the foot of the bed, get in bed, drink the whiskey until you can't see the hat. When you wake up, the cold will be gone (or so they claimed).

At the first hint of a cold, I take ecchinacea. But if you wait too long, you're hooped; ecchinacea will no longer work once the cold sets in.

It's been my experience that patent medicines, although they might suppress some of the symptoms, only make the cold last longer. I find colds run their course best if you don't take any patent medicines, but instead you flush the germs out of your system by drinking as much soup, tea, whatever as you can. I think alcohol only clogs your sinuses more, but that's just me. Go ahead and get soused if you think that helps. They say,"feed a cold and starve a fever," and I think that's a pretty good rule of thumb.

And as long as you're not really dizzy (for which you need to be in a warm bed), I think it helps to be bundled up and on your bike, spinning easy. This allows you to blow out your sinuses on the back roads. Yeah, you're probably spreading germs along the route, but I don't think they survive long at winter temperatures without your body to feed off. So when you return from your ride, you'll at least have clear sinuses for a short while. But I think the ride will have gotten the blood flowing, accelerating the process of getting the contaminants out of your system. Frequent urination is a good thing, so I usually drink more coffee than normal. Whenever I use this process, the cold only lasts a few days, seldom a fortnight. I seldom miss a day off work due to a cold, and that happens maybe once every three years minimum. But my colds go thru phases, the final phase being heavy coughing, but that's just your body trying to get rid of the last of the bad stuff.

Oh, and I never get flu shots! I prefer the natural approach. Like whenever I'm in Mexico, I brush my teeth with the tap water so that my body will get accustomed to the less-than-pristine environment.

L.

A goat.

Sacrifice a goat to appease the gods. It will surely make your cold go away.

Drink all the fluids you can as long as you can. Flush out your system as much as possible. I also take vitamin C (lots of it) at the first hint of a cold coming on. Good luck. I am just getting over mine now and the wife is in her third day.

I used to take echinacea, but the most recent research pretty conclusively showed it does squat. I've done the zinc lozenge thing too but without a control, there's no way to know if the cold would have been worse or taken longer to clear up without them. Unless I'm really sick or have a fever, I'll ride. Pseudoephedrine helps dry things up if my nose is really runny and is a bit like taking speed.

I used Advil Cold last time. I guess I would try it again...for whatever reason it took a couple of weeks to get rid of that cold.

A goat.

Sacrifice a goat to appease the gods. It will surely make your cold go away.

Pagan! It must be a white lamb without fault and presented while wearing white garments. ;)

Hahaha. My Grandfather used Wiskey and Honey for us. I am not sure it made us feel better but it tasted so bad we were afraid to act sick. Isn't a fortnight 14 days? Differnt treatments same results?

Foiled again.

I do have a decongestant that I use so that I can work through the worst of the cold if required but as soon as you stop taking it--You still have 14 days- or a fortnight- of suffering.

Pagan! It must be a white lamb without fault and presented while wearing white garments. ;)
Heretic! Kinich Ahau demands goat blood. Don't piss him off.

Pagan! It must be a white lamb without fault and presented while wearing white garments. ;)

Heretic! Kinich Ahau demands goat blood. Don't piss him off.

231252

Like this one

If you take a bunch of over the counter pharmaceuticals, you'll get over a cold in about a week. If you don't take anything, your cold will drag on for about seven days.

Take whatever helps you feel better, but read up on all the ingredients first. Don't take combo drugs unless you understand what each of the active ingredients does.

If you feel profoundly crappy/ill with high fever, difficulty breathing, etc., then of course consult with a healthcare practitioner.

For those of us who haven't yet got a flu shot this year, get thee to a drugstore, doctor, etc. and get vaccinated. A cold is annoying but influenza kills people.

If you are already unsteady on your feet, or weak, then all you can do it ride it out with something for symptom relief, like Nyquil.

If you can stand, walk, move, and don't collapse, then get your backside in the saddle and BURN it out!

It works for me, but you do what works for you..... I have to tell you, though, about that flu shot:

My last flu shot was in 1987, in the Army, required by our First Sergeant; guess what? I got SICK. Haven't experienced that since -- smoking caused multiple sinus infections that would lay me out (quit smoking 10 years ago this week, have had 2 sinus infections since). But FLU? Nope.

Riding, in all weather conditions, has been a huge preventive measure.

Try denial. It's only a cold if you believe it is.

Generic multi-sympton cold pills. Day formula for day, night for night. I had a full blown cold for the first time in 15 years about two months ago. It lasted for two full weeks.

Zicam cold remedy. If you hit at the first tingle of a cold in the back of the throat, it may not even happen.

http://medcatalog.net/picture-drug/zicam-cold-remedy-homeopathic-rapid-melts-cherry.jpg

Zicam cold remedy. If you hit at the first tingle of a cold in the back of the throat, it may not even happen.

http://medcatalog.net/picture-drug/zicam-cold-remedy-homeopathic-rapid-melts-cherry.jpg

You're dreamin'... It used to be "Vitamin C". Colds happen.

I am home. Sick. Despite my best efforts, I am now felled by the official company cold.
I had a flu shot, and I use the purell stations around the place. Alas, it got me.
Spent a good percentage of last night coughing, and now my entire chest is sore. :notamused:

I think this is the first one I have had in over two years. Not a bad record I guess, when you consider the concentration of human bodies in eastern MA. So, what does everyone like to relieve symptoms? This clogged nose and sore throat are driving me crazy.

Advil cold and sinus has been recommended to me. I've been told to avoid Aleve. The warnings on that product are a little scary.

Cough Syrups? Never really like any of them. Any to recommend?

I have Tylenol, but that is not touching the congestion.

My father would say make a good pot of tea, mix 50/50 with brandy (or any other hard liquor), drink it, then go to bed, stay there until you feel better. The only reason that colds go around the company is that the first dumb*ss thinks that if they don't go in and push paper from tray in to tray out, the world will end, so they go to work and spread their germs to everyone else.

I don't feel the hooch really helps, take a good load of Vitamin C, drink plenty, stay home and rest for a couple of days. It runs it's course.....

You're dreamin'... It used to be "Vitamin C". Colds happen.

you waited too long.

2 oz Gin
Juice of one lemon
tsp of honey
Hot water

repeat as required.

Hot sauna, steam room, hot tub or VERY hot bath. Then lots of Benadryl and bed with heavy quilts.

I like to use Mucinex and Afrin, but only the Afrin at night so I can sleep. That way I can get a couple three more days of use of the spray.

And Hops. Very good for you. Especially when transported in high concentrations in a good IPA.

Advil cold and sinus has been recommended to me. I've been told to avoid Aleve. The warnings on that product are a little scary.

Cough Syrups? Never really like any of them. Any to recommend?

I have Tylenol, but that is not touching the congestion.

I try to not use anything to excess, but rather alternate in my usage of Tylenol and Advil/Aleve if needed in an ongoing situation (given that one's processed by the liver and another by the kidneys). Allegra D usually takes care of congestion for me, but it takes several days to really kick in. I personally have a history of requiring a higher-than-average dosage of any med to get equivalent results, for whatever reason. I've always relied on Vicks Formula 44 for immediate cough suppression in the past (only when absolutely needed), but lately it seems to have disappeared from our local phamacy shelves... ? Mucinex (D) also works fairly well, as it contains dextromethorphan, IIRC. Just take it a couple of a hours before bedtime to allow sleep.

So far, I've been very fortunate / blessed in that I've not had anything approaching real flu symptoms since about 1981. Plenty of colds, but no flu (and never a flu shot even once, so why start now? :)). It could happen tomorrow, but so far... :innocent:

Rum-atherapy

Well, thanks for all the advice. I've settled on Advil cold and sinus for this occasion. It does seem to be helping with the stuffiness.

IPhilpot, I have not seem Vicks formula 44 on store shelves for years. Horrid tasting stuff, but I do remember it doing the job. I'll take a guess
that some enterprising teenagers started using it for something other than its intended purpose. For the same reason, we must now
show ID when buying something like Advil cold and sinus.

I don't have any goats to sacrifice. Could I just eat Bacon instead?

...OR

Suffer through it and to help with the symptoms- have a bottle of Cognac at your side at all times. The cognac will not help but you won't care. Using this method and in a fortnight the cold will be gone.
My always-worked remedy was to wait a week or so then spend money on it. I like yours better.

IPhilpot, I have not seem Vicks formula 44 on store shelves for years. Horrid tasting stuff, but I do remember it doing the job. I'll take a guess that some enterprising teenagers started using it for something other than its intended purpose. For the same reason, we must now show ID when buying something like Advil cold and sinus.

You're probably right. However, there's something appropriate about medicine that tastes so bad it has to work good.

Maybe. :twitchy:


I don't have any goats to sacrifice. Could I just eat Bacon instead?

Bacon should help. There can't be anything bad about bacon... as a friend of mine says, bacon is the candy bar of meat. He's probably right. :love:

I don't have any goats to sacrifice. Could I just eat Bacon instead?

Bacon ain't kosher.

If I'm cold I climb a hill or have sex.:D

Vicks formula 44 is still alive and well, check their website.

My cold came on Monday. Now it's Friday and it's cleared up enough that I haven't needed medicine today. I did use Nyquil for two nights and some MucinexD to clear the sinuses. I ate a big bowl of cut-up bananas, apples, and oranges today and took a late morning nap. Think I'll try a 15 mile ride in the dark after eating a supper of home made chili.

you waited too long.

I can still smell bacon.

"As if recalling their most popular product from the market amidst hundreds of claims that it cost people their sense of smell wasn't enough, the Supreme Court ruled last week that investors can sue the makers of Zicam for securities fraud. The company did not disclose to investors that they had received these complaints and in 2003 made statements that indicated they were doing very well and expected significant growth."

http://coldflu.about.com/b/2011/03/27/makers-of-zicam-in-hot-water-again.htm

Bacon ain't kosher.

No but strangely, every Jewish CEO I have known will nibble on it. Normally followed by " Don't tell my wife!"

For the same reason, we must now
show ID when buying something like Advil cold and sinus.


A different reason, actually: One of the components of Advil Cold & Sinus is pseudoephedrine, which is an effective and innocuous drug but which also happens to be a major component in the home-brewing of methamphetamine, beloved high of low-lifes in the heartland of America.

If you take a bunch of over the counter pharmaceuticals, you'll get over a cold in about a week. If you don't take anything, your cold will drag on for about seven days.

i laughed way too hard at that. it's so true.

The best cure for cold symptoms I've found is sleep. The challenge is in getting any sleep when you feel stuffy and sniffly and miserable. The best formula I've found for knocking me out and getting a good sleep is Vick's Nyquill. Zonks me out almost immediately.
Currently getting over a dose of pneumonia myself. Was suffering miserably last Friday, went to the walk in clinic on Saturday to have them tell me what I already knew, and get an antibiotic prescription.
Was back to work Tuesday and feeling pretty good.

Mega-doses of vitamin C.

1 part rum, 3 parts boiling water, 1/2 teaspoon of liquid honey and a squeeze of lemon. Repeat often.

1 part rum, 3 parts boiling water, 1/2 teaspoon of liquid honey and a squeeze of lemon. Repeat often.

I prefer Gin, but Rum works.. hell, actually, anything 40% works. :)