Cold cures

[dr_mabeuse]

I need a cure for a good, heavy, autumn cold: stuffed and leaking nose, watering eyes, up at 3 AM drinking decaf tea with lemon and honey and watching all-night infomercials because I'm too stuffed up and coughing too much to sleep.

I once tried white port & lemon juice and almost killed myself. This cold's just laughing at the gallons of chicken soup I've been guzzling, and shoulders aside all the aspirin and acetominphen I shovel down on top of it.

Does Ny-Quil actually work?

What about Ny-Quil and heroine? It might be worth it.

---dr.M.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I need a cure for a good, heavy, autumn cold: stuffed and leaking nose, watering eyes, up at 3 AM drinking decaf tea with lemon and honey and watching all-night infomercials because I'm too stuffed up and coughing too much to sleep.

I once tried white port & lemon juice and almost killed myself. This cold's just laughing at the gallons of chicken soup I've been guzzling, and shoulders aside all the aspirin and acetominphen I shovel down on top of it.

Does Ny-Quil actually work?

What about Ny-Quil and heroine? It might be worth it.

---dr.M.

Take vitamin C doc, load up on it. It really helps your body fight off a cold.

For the congstion a hot shower is good, leave the bathroom door closed and let the place steam up, it rehydrates you and helps break up the congestion.

For the cough, take a tumbler of whiskey and disolve 3 peppermints into it, until it's thick. It will coat your throat, ease the pain and stops the cough better than robotussin.

For sleep, take a couple of benadryls, they make me so drowsy I can sleep on a plane.

best ofluck

*HUGS*

-Colly

 

[oggbashan]

Dilute Friar's Balsam in boiling water and inhale (with towel over head).

If no Friar's Balsam ask chemist/druggist for alternative menthol inhalation. If nothing else available inhale steam from the boiling water.

Drink rotgut whisky - with a blocked nose you can't appreciate the good stuff - until the pain goes.

No liability is accepted for the consequences of following this advice. Scalding should be less of a risk if you use of a large heavy container for the boiling water.

Og

PS. Be prepared for complaints - Friar's Balsam and Menthol linger for days.

 

[shereads]

Zycam.

It works. I swear. My colds used to last for weeks and weeks. When I use Zycam, they last for 4 days max.

No, I do not own stock in Zycam.

 

[shereads]

Zycam plus a hot-oil massage. Doesn't work any faster than the Zycam, but still.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Zycam plus a hot-oil massage. Doesn't work any faster than the Zycam, but still.

What the hell is Zycam?

---dr.M.

 

[English Lady]

lots of vapour rub...lots of water and vitamin C (kiwis,oranges etc)

take it easy and rest up.

 

[Liar]

Glenfiddish and a blowjob?

Snorting NyQuil really hurts the sinuses.

#L

ps. Sorry, no help, just smartass wit today.

 

[Belegon]

totally agree about the vitamin C load-up, have also had good results with ecchanasia (sp?)

 

[ABSTRUSE]

What the hell is Zycam?

---dr.M.

I believe it's a zinc spray...supposed to reduce the length of your cold.
My nose is stuffy and itchy now....

 

[shereads]

It's zinc in spray form, for people like me who can't abide the metallic taste of zinc lozenges, which work well too but are like sucking sugared car parts.

Zinc works by inhibiting the way the virus multiples in your sinuses and throat. It doesn't treat symptoms, but makes the cold go away sooner. Looking for the link (http://www.zicam.com/site/home_flash.html )

I learned that Zicam is the subject of a lawsuit, claiming it damages the senses of taste and smell. Maybe someone had a serious zinc-snorting habit. I use it as soon as I start to get the sore throat and sniffles, and it hasn't damaged anything but the cold.

 

[Guest]

Zinc tabs
Vit C
and yes folks.. chicken soup. there is an enzyme in the soup that actually helps the sinus drain.

i think after having the chicken soup, a serious romp with heavy breathing is beneficial...that and time.

 

[shereads]

Call me crazy, but I suspect the reason Zicam works is that zinc combines with the carboxyl termini of rhinovirus coat proteins, thus preventing the virus from combining with surface proteins of the respiratory ephithelium.

 

[rgraham666]

For clearing up congestion, a good Hot and Sour soup always seem to work for me.

It also gives me a reason to go out for Chinese.

 

[minsue]

I vote for Nyquil. I love Nyquil. It's beautiful.

 

[shereads]

I vote for Nyquil. I love Nyquil. It's beautiful.

A full dose of Nyquil actually keeps me awake. But a half-dose of Nyquil and 5 mg. of Ambien with a chaser of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup is just about right. By the time you wake up, cold season is over.

 

[R. Richard]

I vote for Nyquil. I love Nyquil. It's beautiful.

I second the Nyquil idea. It works for me.

 

[Arioso]

Raw garlic.
Lots of it.
Minced and sprinkled on pasta or steak or whatever you're eating.
The stuff works.

(And so does OJ and as much rest as you can get.)

If you're looking for brief relief from stuffy sinuses -- wasabi mustard!!

 

[shereads]

Raw garlic.
Lots of it.
Minced and sprinkled on pasta or steak or whatever you're eating.
The stuff works.

(And so does OJ and as much rest as you can get.)

If you're looking for brief relief from stuffy sinuses -- wasabi mustard!!

I'm with you on the wasabi. A good wasabi paste could probably unclog a kitchen drainpipe.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

I vote for codine (sp?).

 

[snooper]

yeah, yeah, yeah, C, NyQ, ... all of the others, FORGET THEM.

There is one guaranteed cure, and it only takes ten minutes.

Equipment needed:

A bucket large enough to accommodate your head.
A working water tap.

Procedure:
Fill bucket with water from tap.
Turn tap off.
Insert head in bucket, making sure all apertures are below the waterline.
Wait ten minutes.

VOILA - NO COLD.

 

[Guest]

Call me crazy, but I suspect the reason Zicam works is that zinc combines with the carboxyl termini of rhinovirus coat proteins, thus preventing the virus from combining with surface proteins of the respiratory ephithelium.

god sher... you get me so worked up when you use those big words...
mmmmmmmm.... ephithelum... never sounded quite so sumptous...

i think i want a cold now...

 

[sincerely_helene]

Neo-Citron is a most wonderful creation, and highly under-rated in my opinion. Give it a whirl.

 

[GingerV]

My understanding is that echinacea works to decrease the duration of a cold, if and only if you were taking it before you were exposed, or possibly in the very early stages. Vitamin C is good, but your body can only absorb so much. Megadose on it, and you're doing little but enriching your urine. Zinc works, as advertised, to decrease the duration, but not to alleviate symptoms. Still...that alone is a big deal. Chicken soup may have an enzyme, that's new to me...but I'm cool with the idea; but it definately counts as food easy to digest. You need the calories to keep fighting the cold.

The one I have NO idea how it works (but for which I vouch) is a ginger infusion. Cut up raw ginger, chuck it in a cup or so of water, boil for a while. The stuff gets stronger (in taste, no idea about efficacy) as the water boils off. Find your own balance between "I've got to drink all that?" and "I can't swallow stuff that strong." I let it go for about 5 mintues, and drink it down. Helps me through the worst of the cold.

Hope you're feeling better.

G

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Call me crazy, but I suspect the reason Zicam works is that zinc combines with the carboxyl termini of rhinovirus coat proteins, thus preventing the virus from combining with surface proteins of the respiratory ephithelium.

Yeah baby...keep talking...I'm almost there...

Seriously, I didn't use wasabi, but I have this kick-your-ass-out-the-window horseradish mustard from Sam's club that I put on half a ham sandwich and that opened my nose up most wonderfully. After that I was finally able to sleep and when I got up the buzzards were no longer circling.

It reminded me of the scene in Jackass: the Movie where Steve-O went into a sushi bar and laid out two lines of wasabi and snorted them up through a straw like coke and then threw up. That's enterntainment!

I've tried zinc and C and echinacea before--as well as these little Chinese pills I got from an acupuncturist--and none of them seemed to do much. The cold always lasts 3 days regardless, so I'm happy just to treat the symptoms and let the bugs take care of themselves.

Thanks to all.

---dr.M.