Help!! Quickest way to get rid of a head cold????

Help! I'm hosting a work related party on this Thursday--in 2 days and I've come down with a terrible head cold. I tried hot tea, hot soup, cold water, sudafed, vitamins, cookies, zinc lozenges, chocolate, and lots of tissues. Some have made me feel better temporarily (cookies & chocolate)but my head is still "plugged up" and I have to be up and getting ready for Thursday!

Any suggestions, home remedies, proven over-the-counter favorites or foods or drinks that might help?

Thanks for your suggestions.

Nancy

try Tylenol cold and sinus. works great and fast!! you won't be completely over the cold, but you WILL be able to breathe.......good luck!!

Home made chicken noodle soup, hot tea with lemon and honey added, and lots and lots of rest, will be the best help.

Sleep!

two asprin, wait 7 days, repeat if needed

Don't laugh but my Mother, who is 90 years old, says to rub Vick's on the bottom of your feet put on some worm socks and go to bed. Also rub your chest with Vick's. Mother has even eaten some Vick's for a sore throat

Rest is the best thing. I used to get colds and they would last weeks, now that I am working at home I rest at the first sign of a cold and they go away in just a few days. Hope you are feeling better today!

Double up on your vitamin C intake and I heat a pot of water on the stove, add a few drops of eucalyptus oil, sit with your head/face directly over it and breathe the steam in through your nose. Make sure your head and the bowl are entirely covered by a blanket or big towel. Do this for 15 minutes and repeat every couple of hours. This kept me out of the dr's office last year with sinus problems, congestion and taking meds. Makes you sleepy and relaxed though :) I buy my oil at the health food store.

Susan

Hope you feel better :)

Hi Nancy,

I realize your party is over by now, how did it go?
How do you feel? Wish I had seen this thread, I would
have suggested some of the more hard core products in
the Alka Seltzer line.

Hope things went well for you.

:-) KM

Yes, please let us know how you are doing. I also like the Alka Seltzer for colds or the Theraflu- that you mix in hot water and drink. They may not taste good, but they work, But it is true that NOTHING helps as much as Lots of Sleep .

Well, I tried the tylenol allergy/cold medicine--which helped me through the party. I also
have tried the vicks in a sink full of hot water with a towel over my head. Thought I'd pass out but my head was clear for a while afterwards!

It is beginning to get better--still have the occasional coughing fits but I can speak now without coughing!

Thanks for the ideas! Oh yes, I have also been taking my womens one a day vitamins with OJ. Maybe it was going to go away on it's own, but I just felt like I had to hurry it.

Thanks again. Nancy

Sorry, I should have told you to put the water in a bowl and sit down at the table to do it so your head could be directly over the bowl. I couldn't see myself standing to do that, my cats would climb up me like a tree! LOL

glad your feeling better!!

Buy a humidifier. If you like hot foods, like Thai, the spicy dishes really help a lot if you are congested. Afrin is good as well.

Surprised to see no mention of Echinacea a product derived from a common flower head Echinacea purpurea.

I have read the yeas and neys but for me and my wife and our families there is a one hundred percent solid report that it will stop most colds in their tracks and help hurry up the demise of the more difficult ones. It seems to be best for the pre teen kids and the over the hill folks...that's me.

We have a lot of friends that feel likewise and a few that think we are all goofy. It certainly is a non evasive approach to the common cold with little or no side effects.

thankfully i as one of the choosen few who rarely gets any kind of colds. i think the last one was at least 5 years ago. there is no cure for the cold only products that lessen its impact on you so soup and vicks and aspirins are all o.k.

p.s. you mom looks gret. bless her.

Lots of rest. LOTS of water or other fluids. Symptomatic treatment with over the counter products. My favorite is NyQuil before bedtime. A cool or warm mist vaporizer beside your bed, or a pot of water on the stove during the day, or a cool mist vaporizer. Losenges to soothe your throat or warm drinks. Some prefer cool drinks. Stay out of drafts-they irritate the airways and can make you feel worse. And, don't stay in bed too much- it can turn into bronchitis or pneumonia if you are lying down for too long of a time. Cough up as much of the stuff up as you can if it is draining into your throat much, to prevent it going in your lungs. Also, a hot steamy shower once or even twice a day can help clear your sinuses and help you rest better at bedtime.

In a week to 10 days, your cold will be gone. :o)

This message was edited Dec 20, 2007 10:38 AM

What we call a "Hot Toddy" will really work wonders. I make them with:
1 cup tea (in a coffee mug)
2tsp lemon juice
2tsp honey
2tsp whiskey

Heat in microwave until steaming hot. Hold in both hands and breathe it, sip it, breathe it some more.... repeat as needed! You will be amazed how much better you'll feel, and I'm not just saying that because of the whiskey! LOL
Gail

Wow, I see a little of all of my treatments here. First I start Echinacea as soon as I know it's coming on (usually sore neck is my first symptom). I slather Tiger Balm (basically the same as Vicks) all over my throat and chest and wrap my throat with a woolen scarf (which you leave on until all symptoms are gone - old Dutch remedy and it works great with or without other stuff). I do chicken soup, lots of vitamin C, hot toddies (the tea, lemon and honey with or without the alcohol - I like brandy here) before bed and definitely hot, hot Thai or Indonesian foods to keep those fluids flowing. Rest, sleep, rest and sleep. If there is cold weather involved I'd rather warm by body than the air. I put cayenne pepper in my socks and wear a woolen hat on my head (with that ever-present scarf around my neck of course) and it seems to keep me toasty without the funky artificially heated air. In your position I'd probably take one Advil Cold and Sinus just before the party but I really try to stay away from the pharmaceuticals in general as they make my head crazy. I recently had a major sinus headache and the local drugstore didn't have the Advil so I decided to try another (it was the Tylenol equivalent). I couldn't talk, I couldn't type (my work) and I felt like I was crawling out of my skin.

Glad you made it through and hope you're feeling better.

Next time you get a cold buy Cold-eze longezes that you can get at any walgreens or pharm section of grocery store. It is a form of homopathic zinc and it says reduces colds by 50%. I think it works faster than that. My whole family swears by it and now all my friends do too.

Joanie

Jumping Jimminy.....Here I thought chicken soup, Vicks, garlic, brandy and such were a "NO GO" signal. Well one learns something every day. :)

Well,
Almost 2 weeks later, my cold is just about gone. I still have the occasional sniffle or cough. Thanks for all the great suggestions!!

I did find that "Puffs" tissues offers a variety that has "vicks" in it. So while I was blowing my nose, I got what seemed like a full dose of the menthal soothing vapors of Vicks.

Thanks again--it was a learning experience just trying the different remedies!

Nancy

My grandfather used to say, "Take medicines for cold and it will go off in a week. Do not medicate and it will be cured in 7 days." Try some simple home remedies and see how comfortably the phlegm is thrown out by the body on its own - you know, it is a natural mechanism which other allopathic medicines try to thwart. This thwarting process makes the person feel plenty of discomfort - blocked noses, irritating cough.... It actually slows down the natural process. I know it from self experience and experimentation!!

Puffs with Vicks? Now that is one I would love! Thanks for
the mention.

Glad you are feeling better.

:-)

Theres a product called Immuno Guard. It pumps up the bodies immune system to a very high degree you will be over a cold in about 8 hours, same for the flu and about 3 days for pneumonia. A bit late for this party I am afraid but there is always tomorrow.

My grandfather bought or made a candy called horhound. It was a cure all for all winter ills. I have seen it in mailorder. Some place in Vermont. It too will cure most any cold in two weeks and add a pound or two you might have lost without it. :)

This thread is so interesting. I know your party is over, and I'm glad to hear you're feeling better....but I love the idea of reading what everyone else does for a cold. Probably because DH and I are looking for remedies ourselves right now.

I agree with what Dinu said about so many medicines actually having a bad effect as far as not allowing your body to get rid of all of the excess "fluids". If I take a med I like for it to have an expectorant in it, it seems to help the natural process of purging the "runnies" from the body.

However, the last time I took NyQuil I ended up in the ER and lost consciousness. I have no idea if it was from the NyQuil or not....so I just don't take decongestants/sinus meds/cold meds anymore. It's been over a year since that ER visit and there's been many times I wished I could have at least taken a decongestant....but then I figured it wasn't worth passing out over, lol!

What I do now is drink Chamomile tea. I'm surprised this wasn't mentioned by anyone. Because my head is a bit out of it right now, I can't remember exactly how it works...but it does work. I remember that lots of us use it for seed starting because it has natural anti-fungal properties. DH won't drink hot tea, so he does the OTC meds, and suffers. I drink my tea and I start to feel better, and I'm over the cold quicker than him.

Something newer that they have out now is things called something like "shower soothers". It's a tablet you put in the shower with you, you put it on the floor. As the water hits it, it melts it away, releasing vapors to clear your head. I've never used them, but DH has. They come in different "flavors", I think I saw rosemary, lavender and eucalyptus. This would be the same idea as the towel over the head and bowl of water...but more convenient and expensive, lol.

The very best thing for a sore throat is to gargle with Listerine or at least salt water. Also dill pickles give relief for a while. The pickles is my DMIL remedy, I don't know where it came from, but it sure works. DH and I always have pickles on hand if we're sick. We once opened a jar of the pre-chilled ones in a store and started munching them because we became ill while shopping, lol!

Being stressed and not getting enough rest will certainly add to a cold, or any other dis-eases that your body is facing, so I try to limit those things as much as possible. A good question is "Can this wait till I feel better?" If yes, put it on the back burner.

I've also found that sometimes I can tell where I pick a cold up. I've just recently realized that every time I go to visit my DB and DSIL for any amount of time I get sick a few days later. Especially in the winter. I'm figuring it's because my niece and nephew bring germs home from school and I haven't had a chance to build up any immunity towards them, so BAM I get a full blasted cold or bug. Before I go visit them for the day again I'm thinking about trying one of those immunity builders that's supposed to help keep you from getting sick. Hopefully it'll work.

Hopefully this info will help someone. I'm going to try the Echinacea for sure, thanks for posting that.

I have become a follower of an old Hawaiian remedy...when I feel a cold coming on...hot ginger tea. Not from a packet but from FRESH ginger/ cut 25cent pieces from a root...say about 10 to 15. Simmer for 20 mins in about 3 cups of water. Pour a cup of the tea, replace with fresh water, continue to simmer. Drink this tea, sweetened with honey all day. Sore throats disappear...you will feel better. I do this, also, the first day after traveling in an airplane...makes all the difference.

My way to rid of a cold is easy. Let it run it's course. It will run about 5 days. If you add meds it will last longer.
I had a cold a short time ago. With no medicine at all it was gone by the fifth day.
Bernie

We used to have a winter fix all.....50% white lightening and 50% honey. The Rx was simple. Take at the rate of two tablespoons as needed. If it does not work take more until the pain goes away or the nose tingles.

This was followed by dandelion tea laced with white lightening used as a cure all or prevents all spring tonic.

Where I grew up there were always curls of white steam and smoke rising from the mountains. Only later in life did we kids understand that they were not exactly smelting iron up there and that they did not burn corn in the smelting process. :)

Hi Nancy (et al)

As a longtime nurse .. we 'in the business' have an adage with regards to colds .. goes like this ...

3 days to get it
3 days to keep it
3 days to get rid of it

Glad yours is well gone .. AND .. the Vicks on the feet .. works for coughs :-)

M

What about the old adage, "Feed a cold, starve a fever?" Anyone care to comment on how that works for them?

I read something recently about putting Vicks on your feet, covered with socks, of course. In the article a Vick's representative said they've never recommended doing this, but have heard that it works wonders. I just don't think I could stand the feel of menthol-vaseline between my toes though! Just the thought makes my eyes water.

I also just heard something on TV (was it CNN?) that was saying that chicken soup is a good way to go if you're not feeling well. Someone actually did a study on what's in chicken soup and I guess there's lots of good vitamins, etc. in it that should help us feel better. What gets me is two things....how does any scientist know what I put in my chicken soup (the broth I use, veggies, type of noodles, etc.) to even be able to test it? And, whose money did they actually spend doing this test? I've known since I was 5 yrs old that chicken soup makes me feel better!

Somewhere round-a-bouts 1940 there was a real good pigeon market for the farmers in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The birds went to market and to the hospitals. Many an Rx was written for pigeon soup. Many a farm kid got his spending money by raising pigeons.

It only came naturally that a similar market was out there for domestic rabbit and muskrat. The market is still active in all of the above. Mostly the gormet chefs bring them on from time to time.

Heathrjoy, I thought that the results that I heard from the scientific studies was the only reason the scientists believe the chicken soup works so well was the steam off the soup opening the nasal passages. If this were true, any hot and steamy soup would work. There are two Campbell soups that I keep on hand. Chicken noodle and tomato. I myself usually reach first for tomato.

You ask whose money is spent on these sorts of tests? Take a wild guess and if it is anything other than good old taxpayers money, it is wrong.

Doc, you can count me out if you are serving pigeon, rabbit or muskrat soup. I try and find something else to eat, thank you. ha-ha

Ruby

Ruby..............remember what took place in 1929? Those who had the experience of living with no money and no ability to trade services with a farmer learned to eat anything that looked like food. Any of the wild animals, crawfish, fish, snake or turtle were a real treat for a Sunday dinner. At that time we were not sporting hunters. Hunting was a way of life be it lawfull or against the law. We allways had something decent to eat in abundance come the weekend.

Mother turned the hides into gloves and warm hats. She spun the leftovers and made scarfs and sweaters.

Looking back from this day I suggest those were the good 'ole days. We kids got to smash up the bones with dad's hammer. They went to the garden. The innards went into the rain barrel to make tea for the garden. If it got to bad in that barrel we dug a trench and poured it there to finish.

Thankfully I wasn't around during the depression years, but I was raised by parents who were. I guess that is one of the reasons that I find throwing out plastic or foil food containers as wasteful. I try to re-use anything that I can and often cringe when visiting other households where so much is wasted.

Speaking of odd ball meats, I was given a package of frozen rabbit yesterday. My daughter in law gave it to me along with several packages of venison. I know that the venison will be eaten because both dh and I love it. I am not sure if rabbit will be eaten by dh or not. I will not partake.

I was raised in a family of hunters. I can remember my mother cooking squirrel for my brother when he was a teen and he was the one who had shot the meat. I don't remember partaking and wouldn't today if offered either.

Oh yeah, even though turning my nose up to some of the wild game meats, I did suck crawdad brain juice while drinking beer in a New Orleans bar one afternoon. ha-ha I bad.

Ruby

For someone that ate brain juice, rabbit should be a snap.
We raised rabbit some years ago. We ate rabbit any way you could think of, fried, made into hamburger, & rabbit summer sausage is the best.
As they they, "Try it, you'll like it!"
Bernie

I will think about it Bernie. I will see if hubby wants it cooked and if he does, I will probably pinch a piece off to at least try.

I, too, was raised with wild game meat. My uncles were hunters that often shared their plenty during the season. Pheasant, wild rabbit, deer, and squirrel were a real special treat. When I bought the farm rabbits, they were not near as good tasting as the wild ones. I don't know if it was because I was accustom to the taste of the wild ones and the farm rabbits are disappointing. We had deer hamburger, deer summer sausage, and deer smoked sausage links, but I never heard of rabbit hamburger or sausage, but we never had that much rabbit. The way I liked the rabbits the best was in a stew, simmered with carrots, onions, potato, parsley, and white root. (that is also how we had the deer ribs, and squirrel- regardless of the meat- my mother always called it- blizzard stew.)

Blizzard Stew huh? Actually, you make the stew sound pretty good. I might just be suffering from hunger pangs though. I have eaten the deer meat in ground up form too and think that it is quite good. As it stands of today,
I won't have to buy supermarket meat for a while because we have had two different people give us venison in the past week.

I was just thinking yesterday about what a lot of us common folks turn our noses up to, are looked upon as delicasies by the upper crust. The only type of restaurants that serve some of these meats are those that I never have occasion to try due to being out of my league financially.

Thanks for letting me share.

Ruby