Cold/Flu Season: What's your secret weapon?

[mrb627]

So, as we begin to enter the season of sickness, please report your secret weapon for feeling better when you get a bit of the bug. As a note, I almost never get sick. I attribute that fact to rarely eating at restaurants, electing to prepare my own food the majority of the time.

However, when it does happen, there are a few things I do that make me feel better quicker.

Malcolm

 

[washman]

Hot toddy.

 

[foraloysius]

I work with the public, so the best solution would be to stop working...

 

[jeffg]

In studies Vitamin C and zinc hav been proven to reduce the severity and longevity of cold/flu symptoms. It works a lot better if you start taking it right at the first sign of illness.

I rarely get these bugs too, and if restaurants caused illness I'd be sick just about all the time. My personal dreads are extended airplane flights, the few bad colds I've had in the last 20+ years were all caused by them.

 

[whirlcool]

The thing we have been doing for at least 10 years is when we go grocery shopping or any kind of shopping the very first thing we do is go in the house and thoroughly wash our hands. We do this before even unloading the groceries from the car. Then we wipe the steering wheel down with one of those "Wet Ones" cloths.

Since we have been doing this we actually only get one cold per season, last year we didn't even have that.

If we start feeling bad, we usually make some Chicken Noodle Soup(Progressive, thank you) then some asprin and go to bed early. That seems to help too. If the cold has already started we drink lots of fluids, Cranberry or Cherry Juice, Hot Tea with Lemon and Honey, hot soups, etc.

We know of a few people who do nothing but drink water when they get a cold. I can see how it flushes the system, but it really has no nutritional benefit at all. And when you are sick, you need your nutrition.

 

[frigilux]

Ben's hot toddy prescription gets my vote....but I don't drink anymore, so it's down to Ibuprofen, lots of water, and Mucinex (not Mucinex D!!).

 

Am currently recovering from pneumonia, so spent 2 weeks on antibiotics, which helped, as the infection was bacterial.  The codeine cough syrup was fun until I swigged a little too much and found myself sitting cross-legged on the floor listening to Black Sabbath's "Master Of Reality" at 110 decibels, LOL. 

 

The doc has ordered me to get both pneumonia and influenza vaccines.  Have never done either one up to this point, but one finds one has reached that age....

 

Allen, I'm with you on grocery carts.  The (hands over ears, Sandy!) HyVee I shop at provides antibacterial wipes to swab down the cart handle.  Still, I always wash up thoroughly after a trip to the store.

 

[DADoES]

 
My last (known) case of flu was 1985.  I never took a flu shot until starting approximately 3 years ago.  I worked in public-contact environments up to 7 years ago.

 

[mrb627]

Hot Tea

Is my beverage of choice.

Change bed linens daily. A soak in a tub with 2 cups of cider vinegar and a cup of eucalyptus soap will certainly clear your head and chest. Brush teeth and gargle often. Gator aid and/or cranberry juice help too.

Malcolm

 

[aquarius1984]

we both only get one cold a year at most

and im convinced its because.....

All our dishes are washed in the dishwasher meaning cutlery and crockery don't cross contaminate cold virus's between us.

We eat plenty of onions/garlic/spring onions. Onions are very antibacterial and are packed full of antioxidants. Not only do I hide them in recipes when finely chopped but I also like to cook them as a vegetable in their own right.

I use eucalyptus oil throughout the year which is also antibacterial. I occasionally have a bath using the stuff even if I don't have a cold and a smear of Vicks vapo clears your head like nothing else.

I like to use Vicks in the summer too when its so hot to sleep properly. Its cooling effect on the skin is amazing.

We drink plenty of lime juice cordials, lemon cordials and orange juices so our vit C levels are always at the max.

 

[washer111]

Plugged Up Noses:

Since blowing is apparently "bad" for you, and I like to keep a clear nose, I developed some tricks during my first cold in two years this past season:
~ Vicks Vapo-Rub: Place on your upper lip, the menthol, eucalyptus oil and other assorted 'neurotoxins' will help to numb and clear your nose
~ Breath-Mints: Mint flavoured, again the Menthol clears a blocked nose, and it isn't as strong as the Vicks.

And remember, a common-cold cannot be fixed with antibiotics, so don't waste the time damaging your gut with those products. A little common sense; hand-washing, cleaning dishes properly, and correctly laundering your clothes all help to prevent the spread of the nasty little critters.

Hot soups, and Honey/Lemon drinks are always heartwarming, nourishing and delicious, so keep them on the list too !

 

[danemodsandy]

Works For Me:

My main means of warding off a cold is Vitamin C and echinacea. I take two 1000 mg. tablets of C and six 400 i.u. echinacea capsules at the first little "scratch and tickle," repeating every four hours for twelve hours. I then lower the doses to 1 Vitamin C tablet and three echinacea every four hours for a day or two.

Done at the first sign of a cold, this wards them off for me, but it does not seem to work for everyone. It does have to be done immediately. I remember once I had the first sign of a cold at the beginning of a double shift of a job I could not leave, and got good and damned sick as a result. No amount of C or echinacea had the slightest impact on the ensuing full-blown cold.

 

[whirlcool]

Just watch the Vitamin C, back in the 80's I was taking 2000IU's per day and in a few weeks I ended up with kidney stones! The doctor said OD'ing on vitamin C will cause those.

When we go to the grocery store those bins where they have the disinfectant wipes by the grocery carts are usually empty. Then you see women approaching the carts with their hands just dripping with anti-bacterial hand creme. The cart handles end up goopy that way.

 

[westie2]

If you work i9n building with elevators and use them daily always use your keys or a pen to do the elevator buttons.  To call them and to go to your floor.  Never rub your eyes, nose or mouth.

 

[appnut]

I work in a hospital and clinic.  I'm surrounded by sick people!! Already had my flue shot--an employment requirement.

 

[a440]

Take 2,000 IU of Vitamin D Daily along with your other Vitamins and Herbs.
I would say that Vitamin D is the first and most important of any supplement.

 

[norgeway]

I work in a large retirement community..

When the cold and flu season start, we always use hand sanitizer upon entering the nursing building and upon leaving it, wash hands often, take vitamin c, but if I do get sick, my Mothers remedy works for me, an old fashioned Vaporizer with Vicks Vapo Steam in it..the house smells like menthol factory, but it works!

 

[twinniefan]

Horseradish+Vitamin C+Garlic Tablets.

I take a tablet containing Vitamin C, Horseradish and Garlic very beneficial in helping to ward off colds and flu, but as with some of the other remedies mentioned here ,you must start them at the first onset of the symptoms.
And a hot Lemsip Max drink really helps too.(not sure if you have Lemsip over there it is a large dose of paracetamol and 2 other ingredients to help with runny noses and coughs/congestion in a powder form which is mixed with hot,not boiling water and drunk.

 

[mrb627]

Hmmm... vaporizer

Think I need to research a Vicks vaporizer for my arsenal.

Malcolm

 

[sudsmaster]

I get a flu shot every year, have been for the past 20 or so years after a particularly debilitating case one winter.

When I do get a cold, or, a flu strain that the shot didn't prevent, I've found that the best home remedy is plenty of bed rest.

Prevention? Yes, lots of hand washing and/or germicidal wipes/hand gels helps a lot. I don't usually wipe down the steering wheel on the car but that sounds like a good idea as well. A while back I read of a finding that self-service gas station pump handles are some of the objects most likely to be contaminated (with E. coli). If so, they are probably a prime transmission route for cold and flu viruses as well.