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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.

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.

stapfam

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.

Louis

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

BluesDawg

Bourbon with a splash of lemon and honey.

miss kenton

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.

Connell

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. https://www.rampantscotland.com/recip...cipe_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.

Bikey Mikey

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

Mobile 155

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?

RedC

My Daddy, who was also a pharmacist would say that's a helluva way to treat good bourbon. 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

AzTallRider

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

Pete In Az

Sleep and chicken soup.


Not at the same time though.

Artkansas 

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

CraigB

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).

lhbernhardt

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.

Dudelsack 

A goat.

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

Phil85207

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.

Looigi

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.

az_cyclist

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.

ModeratedUser150120149

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

stapfam

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.

Dudelsack 

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

stapfam

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



Like this one

JanMM

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.

DX-MAN

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.

gear

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