O T What is the best over the counter cold remedy?

moonlight machine · Jan 6, 2018

I have been fighting a vicious cold for about a month now I thought I was over it twice but it comes back. Bad cough, slight fever, sneezing, headache. What is everyone's favorite cure?

DDoug · Jan 6, 2018

I carry Zinc lozenges everywhere, as soon as I get a scratchy throat,
I take one.

If I catch it soon enough, it ends with no further advancment to a cold.

Monarchist · Jan 6, 2018

moonlight machine said:
I have been fighting a vicious cold for about a month now I thought I was over it twice but it comes back. Bad cough, slight fever, sneezing, headache. What is everyone's favorite cure?

Habanero or Scotch Bonnet pepper sauce. You'll want the "real" ones, where salt or vinegar are minimalized, even near-as-dammit absent, in favour of lemon juice and carrot, yam, or pumpkin as preservative / volume-expanders.

For starters, capsaicin causes the body itself to flush the grotty crap out of the lungs - and more importantly yet - the poorly-circulated and extremely vulnerable sinuses, reservoirs, "breeding grounds", and co-opted incubators for viruses, fungi, and bacteria as they are.

Seems to work. I haven't HAD flu or a headcold in around twenty years already, even being part-year based Hong Kong / Zuhai - the incubator and/or primary distribution zones for most of the world's nastier influenzas, 1918* and earlier to present-day.

NB: Once shared a plane ride and chat with the Chemist who developed Lofthouse' "Fisherman's Friend" throat lozenges. Active ingredient? Capsaicin. Of course.

2CW

* The 1918 so-called "Spanish" flu has been determined to have come from China's Pearl River valley just like most others. Huge numbers of birds and pigs raised in close proximity, etc.

Mud · Jan 6, 2018

Robitussin cold and flu. Straight out of the bottle, ignore the little cup.

Mud · Jan 6, 2018

digger doug said:
I carry Zinc lozenges everywhere, as soon as I get a scratchy throat,
I take one.

If I catch it soon enough, it ends with no further advancment to a cold.

I do that with Airborne, same result. I think there's zinc in it.
I learned this from folks who do public appearances and shake hands with a lot of people, sign autographs, etc.
It might be hocus pocus. That's OK as long as it keeps working.

cellardoor7 · Jan 6, 2018

Alkaseltzer plus, not a remedy, but one dose in the morning, and one at noon gets me through a workday.

Bobw · Jan 6, 2018

Allen's Ginger Brandy.

jim rozen · Jan 6, 2018

moonlight machine said:
I have been fighting a vicious cold for about a month now I thought I was over it twice but it comes back. Bad cough, slight fever, sneezing, headache. What is everyone's favorite cure?

How slight? I had the same symptomes, 102.3 fever.

Bacterial bronchitis, was coughing up green chunks. Maybe you should go to a doctor. Five day course
of antibiotics cleared mine right up.

Terry Keeley · Jan 6, 2018

jim rozen said:
How slight? I had the same symptomes, 102.3 fever.

Bacterial bronchitis, was coughing up green chunks. Maybe you should go to a doctor. Five day course
of antibiotics cleared mine right up.

Had one like that a few years back, doc said green is infection & I was good to come in or mighta turned to pneumonia. Same, 5 days of antibiotics and it was gone.

My view is that only rest and possibly plenty of liquids and time cure the common cold. Acetominephen helps reduce the symptoms for me.

Lanso · Jan 6, 2018

Hey Monarchist, I like your habanero/capsaicin theory!!!
I add peppers to a lot of what I cook and rarely have a cold.

CarbideBob · Jan 6, 2018

You can not catch the same cold twice.
Having one will reduce your immunity to another.
There is no cure, only symptom relief.
All kinds of stuff out there but a doctor I knew with a few diseases named after him told me "There is nothing better than a shot or two of good Scotch or Whiskey".
Advice I did not expect from this source.

As mentioned I'm a big fan of Robitussin DM guzzled out of the bottle. Wife works best with a different mix/brand so it seems people dependent as to what works.
Seems zinc and such works only before you get it. Maybe this helps prevent number two?
We can put a man on the moon or Mars but still can not "cure" the common cold.
Working in a very small shop I never had a problem and thought myself bulletproof or maybe high tolerance , working in a 600 man shop, not the same.
Bob

Milland · Jan 6, 2018

jim rozen said:
How slight? I had the same symptomes, 102.3 fever.

Bacterial bronchitis, was coughing up green chunks. Maybe you should go to a doctor. Five day course
of antibiotics cleared mine right up.

Yup. See a doctor. Already lost one member this year, no reason to add to that...

Tyrone Shoelaces · Jan 6, 2018

Can you get " Fishermans Friends " in the US ? I thought they were strictly a North of England remedy. They still come in the paper packets believe it or not.

Regards Tyrone.

Tyrone Shoelaces · Jan 6, 2018

CarbideBob said:
You can not catch the same cold twice.
Having one will reduce your immunity to another.
There is no cure, only symptom relief.
All kinds of stuff out there but a doctor I knew with a few diseases named after him told me "There is nothing better than a shot or two of good Scotch".
Advice I did not expect.
Seems zinc and such works only before you get it. Maybe this helps prevent number two?
We can put a man on the moon or Mars but still can not "cure" the common cold.
Working in a very small shop I never had a problem and thought myself bulletproof or maybe high tolerance , working in a 600 man shop, not the same.
Bob

Was the Doc a Scot by any chance ? I get every cold going, always have done. One place I worked at as an apprentice I had to mill a container of " Meehanite " castings every couple of months. Every time I did that job I got a stinking cold !

Regards Tyrone.

Lanso · Jan 6, 2018

CarbideBob said:
You can not catch the same cold twice.
Having one will reduce your immunity to another.
There is no cure, only symptom relief.
All kinds of stuff out there but a doctor I knew with a few diseases named after him told me "There is nothing better than a shot or two of good Scotch".
Advice I did not expect.
Seems zinc and such works only before you get it. Maybe this helps prevent number two?
We can put a man on the moon or Mars but still can not "cure" the common cold.
Working in a very small shop I never had a problem and thought myself bulletproof or maybe high tolerance , working in a 600 man shop, not the same.
Bob

The last time I was sick was from a few too many shots of scotch

B-Mathews · Jan 6, 2018

Tyrone Shoelaces said:
Can you get " Fishermans Friends " in the US ? I thought they were strictly a North of England remedy. They still come in the paper packets believe it or not.

Regards Tyrone.

It been a while but had seen it here in the past. Maybe 20 years ago though.

Monarchist · Jan 6, 2018

Tyrone Shoelaces said:
Can you get " Fishermans Friends " in the US ? I thought they were strictly a North of England remedy. They still come in the paper packets believe it or not.

Regards Tyrone.

Surely. Been on the shelves here for years, racked-up two pews over from the Altoids, often right at a check-out counter. Haven't looked LATELY though as I haven't needed 'em since the mid 1990's.

That first tin was handed over by the head Chemist and - presuming memory serves - G'Son of of the firm's founder. He was actually ON that First-Class Flight to go and introduce the capsaicin-bearing heavy-hitter to US distributors, so in that space-time, (1993?) it was not yet available.

We ha'n't yet forgotten the "good stuff" of our ancestors, mate!

Marmite, half a dozen Marmalades, Branston Pickle, various Chutneys, teas, and such are in near-as-dammit ALL Yew Ess marts. Colemans' mustard - powdered - one looks harder, but we've had that, too. Also dozens of proper English ales.

Only two things not so easy: Bangers (import forbidden as "an adulterated meat BY PRODUCT", per our US FDA), the laugh being that our OWN "pink slime" based ones are far more unhealthy, yet.

and.. (drum roll...) the lovely "black pudding", though we do have ignorant German-style blutwurst. Go figure...

That said, we also do still have folk here that know how to make their own 'coz our G'parents did so... and taught us how [1]..

[1] we raised hogs. For those as did not, the recipe starts with "First, steal a pig.."

CarbideBob · Jan 6, 2018

Tyrone Shoelaces said:
Was the Doc a Scot by any chance ?
......Regards Tyrone.

No and he has since pasted, a friend only as I knew his daughter well which is complicated.
He was a very smart cookie.
Bob

Limy Sami · Jan 6, 2018

FYI - Fishermans Friends are available on Amazon Amazon.com: Fisherman's Friend Original Extra Strong Cough Suppressant Lozenges, 4�-Count Bags (Pack of 12): Health & Personal Care

As Bob W says, all you can do is treat the symptoms of a cold or flu, but please be warned of the complications they can cause, especially for the older folk!

FWIW Jakemans are my go to soother - I leave FF's as big guns - on Amazon in the US as well Jakemans Throat & Chest Jar 2.75kg: Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care

HuFlungDung · Jan 6, 2018

For a plain old cold, it seems to me the best remedy is to try to stop the body's overreaction to the virus. I take desloratadine at the first sign of sniffle or itchy eyes. If I let it run away, there's no real way to shorten it.

O T What is the best over the counter cold remedy?

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