post off: what’s your best at-home cold cure?
Like most people, I don’t particularly enjoy being sick. Something I like even less? The old cold-during-a-heat-wave routine. It’s the worst, and it is the story of my life this week. I rarely get sick, but when I do I try to take care of my cold while keeping over-the-counter drugs to a minimum. For years, I’ve been using my mom’s three-step cold remedy.
At the first signs of a cold:
- Take 1000 milligrams of vitamin c every hour until you begin feeling better.
- Put one-two drops of hydrogen peroxide in each ear and drain every hour until you no longer hear it bubble up.
- Pop a zinc-acetate lozenge (like Cold-Eeze) every two hours until your cold decides to hit the highway. And in my experience, it will, but this is only effective if started at the first hint of a sore throat.
We’ve posted before about yummy ways to fight the common cold, but as I lay here in the thick of it I’d love to hear about some new simple ways to kick the sick. So, help! What’s your best at-home cold cure? — Sarah C.
First, I am all about preventative cold remedies. So, I try to stay healthy and in good shape and I take my multivitamins every day. If someone else near me is sick (coworkers or family), I drink an Emergen-C every day until they’re better. When I get sick, I drink 2-3 Emergen-C (either the lemon or the Immune Defense version – don’t like berry flavors), and alternate between green tea and a honey/lemon/ginger concoction. Juice half a lemon and warm it up with a chunk of ginger, stir in a spoonful of honey and sip. The heat feels good on a sore throat and I like to tell myself that the lemon juice is burning germs, the ginger is doing whatever ginger does for you, and the honey is doing its antibacterial thing. Once the sore throat is gone, I do the same thing but then pour it over ice and add some water and sip on that throughout the day. Plus, I figure it’s an additional boost of Vitamin C. I eat peanut butter toast with honey for breakfast and whatever sounds good the rest of the day. Beef pho is a favorite – it’s hot, tasty, and you can make it as spicy as you need to. At some point, I also take a day off work and just sleep. I think letting your body rest for a complete day is better than trying to “power throughâ€.
I’ve learned that you can’t expect a cold to go away in a day or two, but I must be doing something right because I got over the same cold my boyfriend had in half the time, plus I only felt poorly for one day. I also try not to talk when I have a sore throat (see: day off) because it tends to lead to me losing my voice.
Echinacea. Also effective mostly if you hit it early on.
We always drink lots of cups of this homemade tea. 1 mug of boiling water, add 1 Tblspn honey, 1 Tblspn fresh squeezed lemon, and 1 Tblspn vinegar. Breathe in the steam until its cool enough to drink. Won’t cure you but it sure makes you feel better :)
The only really effective things you can do for a cold are rest at the first symptoms, drink lots of fluids, and use a humidifier or vaporizer to help your breathing. That’s about it. And don’t take over the counter cold remedies unless you really need them, because they can make a cold last longer.
I would have to agree with Pencils and say lots of rest…and lots of water!
The more I sleep when I am sick the quicker my body fixes itself. Water just helps keep you hydrated which helps with congestion, breathing, and if you have a cough.
Hope you feel better real soon!
Have you tried using a Netti Pot? If you are tired of all that gunk draining down your throat and blowing your nose every 30 seconds, a Netti Pot will really clear you out. It takes some getting used to, but once you do, you will wonder how you ever survived colds or allergy season without it.
Hope you feel better!
Love from,
Greta
[...] 1) Starve a cold? Feed a cold? Or maybe hydrate a cold. Kimberj says: “We always drink lots of cups of this homemade tea. 1 mug of boiling water, add 1 Tblspn honey, 1 Tblspn fresh squeezed lemon, and 1 Tblspn vinegar. Breathe in the steam until its cool enough to drink. Won’t cure you but it sure makes you feel better.” What’s your at-home cold cure? [...]
Thanks everyone! All great advice and I really appreciate it – I am feeling much better! An old roommate of mine used to make a tea concoction similar to the one mentioned above that she called “feel no sicky tea” and that worked welll. I also like to drink Tazo Green Ginger Tea and that sometimes makes me feel a lot better – but I never can tell how much of that is mental momentum from actively taking steps to care for oneself vs. the tea. I also think drinking a ton of water makes a world of difference but I have a really hard time with sick days! I don’t like taking them, I have massive guilt and often in my experience everyone tends to assume if someone’s not coming in they’re hungover, which stinks because I don’t drink that much and HATE being hungover so that’s never really the case for me. That said, taking a day to let your body simply rest is not to be underestimated. Thanks!!