Good home remedies for a cold?

[NozomiFan]

Title says all....
No drugs please.

I had a little Top Ramen but that failed.
I can't stand vick's.

[qwertyaardvark]

I myself actually put a lot of effort into not taking drugs or medicine. I like the idea of my body being able to take care of itself. For me, all things warm work. Chicken broth soup (minimal solids), hot lemoned black tea, and rest under a blanket. :)

[to2leo]

Title says all....
No drugs please.

I had a little Top Ramen but that failed.
I can't stand vick's.

Do some rigorous exercise to make you sweat and then take a warm shower, wrap yourself with clean warm clothing immediately. 
Fresh air also does wonders.
Never ever turn on the heating system without humidity!
Flush your napkins or tissue down the toilet and not in your trash bin.

Since cold virus love try heat, doing the opposite will always work!

[Martijn Meerts]

Lemon green tea with honey and milk works wonders ;)

I'm generally not one for medicine, but with my shoulder problems there are times where painkillers are a must..

[NozomiFan]

Lemon green tea with honey and milk works wonders ;)

I'm generally not one for medicine, but with my shoulder problems there are times where painkillers are a must..

Yes, Some times pain killers are necessary.

Gatorade is Great! ;)
Won't be on the forum for awhile.
Will try the green tea......
Chow!

[Lawrence]

I'm not a fan of drugs either but sometimes they are a necessary evil. 

My own cure usually clears a cold in 3 days and is simple, and should be repeated every 6 to 8 hours.  Two paracetemol washed down with a mug of boiled water which has a quarter of a fresh lemon and a spoonful of eucalyptus honey in it. 

My fitness guy says you should not exercise with a virus as it can cause breathing problems due to congested airways and reduced lung capacity because of mucus \ fluid!

[disturbman]

What worked the best for me until now... grog (hot water, honey, lemon and 2cl of Rhum). One glass before going to bed and I woke up clean. I did it one time though, I don't like so much the rhum part of my gran's receipt.

I usually go along with paracetamol and vitamin C (oranges, fresh red peppers, lemon...). But try not to exhaust yourself.

I hope you are not traveling. It's allways a bummer to get sick on a vacation.

[CaptOblivious]

I don't usually fall ill, but this winter has been killer on me; I'm just finishing up cold no. 3 myself, and my right ear is still congested and nearly deaf. Ugh!

I know you don't want to hear this, but I know for certain that I'd've been totally unable to function if it weren't for acetaminophen (aka Tylenol, what everyone else seems to call paracetamol; I had a hell of a time trying to communicate with a pharmacist in Exeter once because I didn't realize they were the same thing!)

But, if it's pretty bad, bed rest is probably the best thing you can do. Don't let anyone you live with tell you otherwise! You'd be amazed what conserving a little energy can do to speed recovery.

That said, I think I prefer Disturbman's grandma's remedy: Rum indeed! I imagine that that's what's doing most of the work in that remedy :D

[disturbman]

lol... I still wonder since I know that alcool is normaly known for its weakening effect on the immune system. But maybe not in such small quantities and mix with all the rest, maybe it's just bad for the invaders. Anyway, the cold I "groged" is the only cold I ever completely recovered from in one night. It usually takes me three or four days to accomplish that.

Or you can try the leaves or bark of a willow tree, they contains salicylic acid (the thing that makes aspirin work).

[jappomania]

for me work good hot milk with honey and grappa (marc or wine distillate, it's a tipical north-italy alcool product :-) ) before sleeping in a hot bed
I think you can find grappa if you ask to tipical italian food store but take care because 60-70% of italian product sold outside Italy aren't original, the best is "grappa Nonino" from Friuli, my house
(and believe me, you sleep sleep...sweet dreams   )

ciao
Massimo

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Whisky  


Grappa, the real stuff (I've got some Montepulciano Grappa), is the devil's own work....fantastic! 

[cteno4]

if you dont like drugs aspirin is really a very benign drug, your body can get rid of it really well and unless you have a few conditions that its a problem with its really really safe stuff and does a lot of wonderful things!

be careful of any natural remedies that have boat loads of anything, problem is you will not know what the heck is in there and usually plant based and plants have a lot of nasty stuff in them (they do a lot of biological warfare!). case in point women using "natural" plant estrogens instead of human "drug" estrogen. the plant estrogen will do basically the same thing, but the body cant break it down as well and some of the natural extracts really give wayyyy too much of it so you end up giving yourself a lot more risk of stimulating cancers!

camomile tea helps, it has anti-histimines in it so will give you some decongestion.

its the bed rest and keeping warm!

feel better!

cheers,

jeff

ps capt careful of the acetaminophen, your kidneys and liver dont deal well with it so dont over dose yourself with it. it was shoved through approvals (pharma wanted an aspirin with a patent!) not sure how it would do on approvals now days! prescribed everywhere as its given free to docs and hospitals!