Flu/cold remedies, eg Lemsip. The devil's work?

Im suffering at the moment and just given in to a couple of cold and flu capsules so I can face getting the dinner cooked

My go to , which works for colds, well it probably dont ease anything but the way I make them, you tend not to care - hot toddy. A good slug of whisky , a few slices of lemon, a dollop of honey - cloves are optional - I dont like them. Have a hot bath or shower, rub the Vicks on the feet and chest ,and around the nose, wrap up warm - include socks,( Ill keep my dressing gown on as well ) grab a hottie, drink the toddy and snuggle in and sweat it out. Cold room, hot bed

This super snotty plague foibg the rounds is awful. I go through with a zinc and vitamin supplement having read somewhere it shortens symptoms, hot baths with Epsom salts, Vicks on my feet and chest and regular doses of Lemsip or similar. Superdrug do a blackcurrant flavour which is ok. A slug of whisky in the nighttime one. Get well soon.

Much cheaper to take two paracetamol every six hours and a couple of nasal decongestants. All available in Tescos (own brand) for a fraction of the price and with no horrid taste.
Freshly squeezed lemon and honey in hot water to add vit C and the antibacterial effect of the honey on a sore throat.
We all use a hydrogen peroxide based mouthwash ( Colgate Peroxyl) to gargle at the first hint of a sore throat. Without fail the sore throat has gone within 24hrs.
24hrs complete rest/duvet day helps. It lets your immune system go to town on the evil virus.

Day Nurse used to be amazing! And Night Nurse is incredible for, surprisingly enough, nights.

Personally, I've never found Lemsip any good.

Some of those cold remedies cause me an elevated heart rate, so I just ride it out now

Lemsip makes me want to be sick!
Just take paracetamol and alternate with ibuprofen
Then get a knob of fresh ginger and crush in a mug. Add the juice of a lemon, a cinnamon stick and a huge spoonful of nice honey top up with boiling water.
Slaver your chest and feet in vicks
Go to sleep x

When you get over the worst and it's just frustrating cough stage, I found amazing throat lozenges - Koflet H Ginger flavour.

Well one dose won't last forever!
Recently had a cold/fluey thing - couple of days of cold remedy stuff. Ran out and took Ibuprofen - the aches and shivery stuff stopped pretty quickly after that.
I think it depends exactly what you have as to what works best.

Coughing fits and chest infection continued until I took antibiotics, but I do have a tendency to get bronchitis.

I do wish the night and day varieties of cold remedy had 50/50 night tablets - or that you could buy them separately and choose the dosage of each.
I don't like lemsip type stuff - prefer fresh lemon & ginger with local honey or manuka.

Sympathy all round. Thought I was feeling better but just drove to the local shops and have now had to get back into bed with more painkillers

I love Lemsips and they wear off every 4 hours.

This is what I'm talking about. I made these recently but added sliced fresh ginger and a couple of cardamom pods as well (2 shots of bourbon 🤣). Delicious and made me sleep

Your head feels sore, moving your hair makes the follicles in your scalp hurt. Can be hormonal. I get it associated with migraines.

Phenylephidrine is not very effective. See here. You might find the form of Sudafed with pseudoephedrine better (note you are not supposed to take this with other decongestants, so not at the same time as Lemsip). I'm just getting over a cold-cough, which for me very quickly turned into a chest infection and needed hospital treatment. I found nasal sprays like Otrivine helpful.

Vitamin D is a good immune booster.

I’m also in week three, cold symptoms have generally gone but my throat feels like it’s permanently closing up. Youngest nose looks like he liquidised Shrek, has had an ear infection and now D and V. Worst cold/winter virus I've known, think our immune systems are utterly shot after lockdown.

Honestly op, all you can do is take the cold and flu remedies in time and ride it out. It’s going to be a long winter for bugs.

Based on my friends and family. The ones who have colds prolong forever are fussy eaters. They rarely eat F&V.

@SnapdragonToadflax Lemon juice (cooking one) is the one I have

Why would it delay recovery? It's just paracetamol and decongestant. It relieves symptoms for a bit, that's all - the same as if you'd taken paracetamol and a different decongestant.

Personally I quite like the taste and I find it fairly effective, whereas I hate the taste of honey so don't do the natural remedy. (Also I'm more likely to have some Lemsip in the house than a fresh lemon.)

If you feel really dreadful and need to get some sleep take Night Nurse instead. It will knock you out though so don't take it if you need to go to work the next day. Obvs don't mix two sources of paracetamol.

I find that taking vitamin C and echinacea tablets in combination is really powerful in reducing the length and severity of a cold or flu.

Oh god this cold/flu/virus thing is utterly awful. Week three and still feel utterly awful. Blocked head, body aches feeling totally shit

I never use Lemsip, firstly because it tastes grim and secondly because I find it better to take paracetamol and then use other things for other symptoms - throat sweets, Olbas oil to clear nose etc. The heavy-duty Lemsips with strong decongestants etc make my heart race, which is a bit alarming.

I had it last weekend.

Ibuprofen 400mg x3 in 24 hrs
Paracetamol 1g x4 in 24 hrs

Repeat every day until well.

I did above for 4 days, dropped the ibuprofen for a couple then stopped.

A week later (today) it seems to have returned so back on the paras.

Nothing you can do but sit it out.

Why would it delay recovery? It soothes the symptoms for a few hours until it wears off Feb then you take it again to soothe the symptoms again. You can get blackcurrant flavour if you don't like the lemon.

Or you can not take it and feel the full force of the symptoms.