Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Cold Remedies!?! DESPERATE! (But Not a Housewife ;) )

I have the cold from Heck! HELP! Nothing I've done has improved it, quite frankly its made it worse!

Thanks!
Andie (who's worried she'll wake up and her head will be a HUGE stuffed up nose)

The wisdom I know is that if you treat a cold, you can get rid of it in 7 days, but if you don't, it'll take a week.

Still, I know some people who swear by airborne , which is now carried in most drugstores. In form, it's kind of like alca seltzer - you dissolve the tablet in water, it makes the water fizzy and stuff. In content, it's a combination of vitamin C and herbs. Stuff rumored to help your immune system. I don't know of any solid evidence that the stuff does anything (and really, it's mainly supposed to keep you from getting the cold in the first place, and who can tell whether you'd have gotten sick or not?), but it might be worth a try.

If it's pretty bad, though, and not going away, you might want to go to a doctor. There's not much they can do for a cold or virus, but the symptoms are fairly generic. There's always the chance that it's something else.

Anyway, feel better.

Paul

Hi,


If you have cold this is usually what a doctor gives you antibiotic, expectorant and antihistamine.

Antibiotic for infection (Ampicillin)

Expectorant for cough and getting rid of phlegm.(Robitussin DM)

Antihistamine for watery eyes, runny nose, itching eyes and sneezing. (Claritin-D)


Get well soon!


MAF

I do "shots". But there've been a few times when I had the shot remedy handy, took two of those a day... and the cold never showed up. So, I attribute it to that.

Of course, there are also pills they make that are a combo of vitamin C and echinacea... but back to the mental thing (and maybe actual, too *g*), I think that the powder and liquid gets to the system faster than a pill.

Anyway, hope your cold goes away soon with or without the suggestions!

Sara

Well most remedies have been mentioned already, but I'll mention this one. My doctor told me this one once.

If you have a sore throat, gargle salt water. Just put a teaspoon of salt in a glass of water, shake, and gargle. The salt will help with the healing. You can also do the same thing for your sinuses. If you think you might have a mild sinus infection, you can snort a salt water mixture (although it's easier to just buy a salt-water mist at a drugstore that you can spray in your nose) the salt will break up the mucus and aid in healing.

I hope you get to feeling better soon Andie!

For the cough at night dry heat a knob of ginger while still hot wrap in a tea towel and rub it on your back until it goes cold. My mother uses that with me because I notroiously have bad coughs (though I have asthma to deal with to), but really it's a good tradtional method of controlling night time coughing. Or you can drink preserved lemon or kamquats if you happen to know and Asian who has the stuff, and this gets rid of the phlegm too. Too make it do no peel and lemon give a quick boil and let them cool then put some lemon in a jar then a layer of salt and continue until you've finished all the lemone leave for a few months until the lemon has turned brown it doesn't look good and it tastes horrible, but it again works. To prepare it for drinking get about a tablespoon of the stuff and mix with boiling water add a little honey just to cut the saltiness and drink.

I'll tell you what I tell the parents of all my 2 year olds with colds...push the fluids, just flush the heck out of that cold. Beyond that, everything is symptomatic treatment - you can definitely try the vitamin C (I'm a big fan). Another thing I've heard of for colds is Zinc - they were selling sinc tablets (orange flavored) there for a while.

Then I'd say, Vicks vapor rub, Robitussin or Nyquil, and Tylenol as you need it. Decongestants can be good too (Nyquil has some in it already).

The garggling with salt water IS an old trick that we tell people for sore throats - just don't swallow it or it'll make you nauseous as all heck. Sucking on cough drops can help too - not while you're trying to sleep though! Choking hazard!

And PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!! no antibiotics for colds!!!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!! I implore you!! Breeding raging strands of resitant, evil, mutant bacteria!!!!
/me steps down off of soap box!

Oh, and my mom used to make me take a tablespoon-ful of lemon juice and honey for sore throats - don't know if it did anything, but it tasted good. <g>

Hope you feel better soon, Andie!
Jill

Oh thank you all SO SO much!!!!

I'm feeling a lot better today and its all because of you!!!

I can actually BREATHE through my nose again!!! It's a miracle!!! I called the Salt Lake Tribune (the newspaper in Utah) to tell them about my news...sadly they weren't as excited as I was.

Thanks again!!!

Later Days!
Andie(who goes back to working on her next music video)

Yeah Andie! Glad you are feeling better. We definitely needed to get you well so you could get back to your vid.

ok, as the first scientific (OR REMOTELY MEDICAL) responce to this (i want to say ridiculous without insulting anybody) trail of whitches brews.... here goes

ECHINACEA & VITAMIN C, GARLIC,.... ALLL THESE DO NOTHING TO REDUCE THE LENGHT OR SEVERITY OF A COLD

THE COMMON COLD (AKA VARIOUS STRAINS OF INFLUENZA) is a virus, which is not affected by antibiotics

if there is a sore throat, the salt water thingy will kill any bacteria orming on the oral cavity, so perhaps this may help treat one or at least prevent any secondary infections which may arise from a previously weakened immune system....

pure steam helps coughs by increasing the humidity and temperature of the air breathed in, so reducing any irritation of the lung from cold and dry air typical of the colder months.... this is a problem for me...

the liquids thing only helps if a lot of fluids are being expelled (runny nose, vommiting, expelling mucous...)

someone with a normal immune system should be recovered from a cold from 4-7 days.... I take longer due to my asthma which kindof complicates things but after the 4-6 days you should no longer be infectious to others.....


aside from this, the only help available is to reduce the symptoms.... expectorants help if there is mucous (and mucous is a sign of a bacterial lung infection.... therefore antibiotics would reduce the length)
other antitussants are available (cough syrups) by asking your pharmacists, or in some cases your doctor who may prescibe something stronger if the cough is very persistant
paracetamol will reduce any fever.... actually very important if you dont want to get worse
pseudoephedrine and others will clear blocked/inflamed sinuses
codeine will reduce pain, aid sleep, and also act as an antitussant, but be careful if there is mucous as this will mean you wont expell it and you may litterally drown in your own mucous
these three are commonly given as over the counter cold/flue tablets
night time cold/flu tablets are often given in combination with antihistamines which act to reduce any swellings. useful in sinus problems and sore throaats....

any nasal decongestants are inhaled forms of psuedoephedrine, or others.... thus warnings are attatched to labels as these can become addictive
(psuedoephedrine is a major constituant in amphetamine tablets, and restrictions are often placed on their sales to prevent pple stocking up in order to make illicit party drugs, but the dose in these tablets and nasal decongestants are so small thatpple should have no problem in taking the recomended doses.


neways
thanks for letting me write about my pet subject
my major at uni is the pharmacology (drug design and developement)
si this was kindof fun in a *hey i know what im talking abnout i can rave on forever* kindof way

hope you all learned something in this wayout post.... ifnot.... you wont die from taking echanacea, althoug some of those tablets have little or no echenecia in them,
in todays world, where fruit nd fruit juice is so very affordable, vitamin C tablets are just a waste of money, as all you need is one glass of OJ and that is already 200% the recomended daily dose, any extra eitherr goes down the drain, or can cause a toxic build up (but you need a whole bottle of pills in one day), garlic does as much as (oh what is another useless thing ah yes) chocolate.... lemon just adds vitamin c,
da da da da da da da da

the list of *alternative* *remedies*(????) goes on and on, but nothing will work.... no more than putting on a red hat will, \\

sorry to burst your bubble guys....
and this may not be the right forum for such a lengthy medical post....

but i thought you ought to know

your really gonna hate me now

Beethoven,

• Please do not insult other posters. Saying that you don't want to insult anyone doesn't actually change the fact that you're calling all of the posts above yours rediculous and unscientific.
• Know the credentials of the people you are trying to insult. Personally, I can't claim much more than a few years of college-level scientific training and the eclectic knowledge gained from my father (who is a well-respected practicing physician), but DocJill is actually an MD. (While you are correct that antibiotics are not appropriate for this case, she had already pointed this out. I personally thought she did an effective job.)
• Remember that even if they lack formal credentials, the knowledge and opinions of your fellow posters may have actual merit. Dismissing them out of hand is also not the best way to gain popularity.
• Note that the original post asked for any and all suggestions. (Also, I find it's a good idea to consider the history of asprin before casually dismissing old remedies as baseless. There is also something to be said for placebo effect, which can provide at least some help when nothing else can.)
• If you want to present yourself as reasonable and scientific, consider writing your post in a more traditional fashion. Capitalization, punctuation, formatting, spelling, and other similar aspects of posting style can make a big difference in how you come across.
• Note that the original poster mentioned, two posts and a full day before your response, that she was happy with the responses she'd received.

Just some advice you didn't really ask for but may yet find helpful.

Paul

Thanks, Paul!!! Glad you liked my plan of treatment.

And so far, as a practicing MD, pediatrician...my patients/parents have been happy with that plan for getting them through their colds too. I don't think any of us claimed to have a "cure" for the common cold, we were just offering suggestions to help Andie feel better while her body fights it off. And as I did say in my first post - most of it is SYMPTOMATIC treatment.

You are right about the lack of much echinacea in some echinacea pills - herbal remedies are not regulated by the FDA in this country, so there is a wide variety of concentration, content and other ingredients - doesn't mean they're without merit. I personally have not seen any good randomized trials for echinacea in the treatment of rhinoviruses, doesn't mean they're not being done.... and hey, if it's not gonna hurt you and might make you feel better, give it a shot.

Gotta go back to babies now! Glad you're feeling better, Andie!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Go Paul! As a mother of many years and two kids, I have found that if you live in a dry climate like Utah, having a humidifier or nebulizer in the home helps greatly. My son even uses one on Long Island, New York for his young son, who has the continuing symptoms his father had as a child. Also when my son was small, Vick's Vapor Rub was very out of fashion. I remembered how it helped me as a child and I used it anyway on my son and it improved his breathing and comfort level immensely.
Glad you a feeling better, Andie.
It is interesting how the old remedies are actually being proven beneficial by scientfic methods today.
So sometimes our parents did know best.
Congrats on your practice Doc Jill. Let me guess, you have Superman posters in your office to sooth the kiddies?

Artemis

The old remedies I mentioned do work because I have personally used them if they didn't have any benefits I wouldn't be recommending them in the first place.

Oh, yes. Got distracted and forgot...

Glad you're feeling better, Andie.

Paul

Thanks everyone!

Actually, those 'old remedies' are the number one reason I'm feeling better today! And yes, I did ask for anything seeing as how I was desperate to make this cold go away. :p

So I just want to say THANKS again to you guys! I owe you big time! Deffinately in your debt!

Later Days!
Andie

look
All i can say is sorry for anything that did insult anyone
i was not in a good mood that day for a number of reasons, primarily a lot of pple (not online pple) calling me stupid when i was right in the first place....

glad to hear your better ali

sorry i ruffled ppls feathers, i should learn to count to 10 before i type and vent a days frustrations on innocent pple

i still stand by my theoretical basis behind the post. the majority of these naturopathic remedies work primarily on the placebo responce, as cited in many medical journals, but that should not be a reason for me to give you guys crap....

i didnt mean to be harsh, it was meant as beneficial information for you guys... it was meant as rational advice from a friend, not the arrogant, snobby, diatribe from the almighty knowitall...

anyways
this is meant as a peace offering

all the best huh!! i dont know what else to say

We all have bad days. It happens. But yes, "Think before you type" is a good lesson to keep in mind. (Some times that's easier to remember than others...)

Thanks for coming back.

Paul

For me it's orange juice to keep the cold away and whiskey to get rid of it. It works really well.