First Defence is actually amazing

[SleepwalkingInTesco]

Everyone in my house has been laid out with a horrible virus for 1+ weeks. I felt the stirrings of illness yesterday - tired, achy, 'you look pale' etc. Used First Defence yesterday and woke up today completely fine! Have kept using it throughout the day. If this lets me avoid whatever virus has been going around I will shout it from the rooftops

You've used it a bit late tbh.

It's brilliant. Even if you have used it a bit late, it will keep a lot of the symptoms under control.

I'm never sure if its a placebo or not but I've had I think one proper cold in the last 4 years since I've started using it and even that wasn't terrible-I could still work and it was all over bar a bit of snot in less than a week. Before then I used to get four or five a year and sometimes felt really rough. However I was also in the office full time then and now wfh so that could also be the main reason!

Still a few times I've had those "cold warning" symptoms, taken a bit of FD and then been fine the next day.

As I said could be just a coincidence but for six quid or whatever I'll keep with it. I've also tried the boots own version which seems to work fine too

Does it work for viruses as well as colds? Is it too late to use once you are already feeling rubbish?

Yes I swear by it! It doesn't always work but for me works maybe a half/two thirds of the time. Tastes horrid at the back of your mouth though!

Tried the boots own brand one recently and that didn't work, still got the cold, but will try it again next time

I think I’m too late in this instance, woke up with a sore throat, so achy and just feeling rubbish. Felt alright yesterday! Fed up of colds/ viruses this winter! Don’t mean to hijack the thread but any tips of what I could try and take to shift this today?! I’ve taken a couple of nurofen cold and flu. Only had some kind of lurgy a week or so ago, feeling fed up!

First Defence might still help reduce your symptoms.

Do people throw away the bottle after fighting off a virus/cold and get a new bottle for next time or just use the same bottle?

I know this is an older thread but First Defence IS fucking great!

It is brilliant and had worked wonders for me. However I'm wary about using it because surely it nukes all of the good bacteria in your stomach?? Can anyone that knows science stuff confirm or deny this theory of mine?

From what I remember of the radio programme comparing and evaluating First Defence and the Boots one. FD is acid based and that's what nukes the viruses. So I doubt it affects digestive bacteria. I use the Boots Dual Defence as it's seaweed based and it is the unctuous nature which zaps the bugs, also it doesn't sting like FD. No colds (or Covid) for years.

"Yes I swear by it! It doesn't always work but for me works maybe a half/two thirds of the time."

Yes, well I use it for the same reason, but I can also understand that it's probably just luck. Sometimes we catch the illnesses going around and sometimes we don't, or they don't develop into anything much. It's difficult to prove it's because of the First Defence.

Colds are caused by viruses. First Defence targets viruses.

A cold is a virus

I think it works by wrapping itself round the virus in your nose and back of your throat to stop it getting hold. You are meant to take it on feeling the first stirrings of a cold.

I have had the same success by drinking high dose effervescent vit c .

Pharmacist told me that if you taste it at the back of your mouth you’re spraying it wrong. Apparently you should angle the nozzle outwards towards your ear slightly and don’t sniff when you spray. The key is to coat your nasal membranes in the spray not as I thought to inhale it.

I thought I was imagining the brilliance of this stuff but it seems not. I prefer the lemsip first action one. It really does help to control cold symptoms for the whole duration of a cold.

Sorry, but I used to think that until the last two times I've used it.
As soon as I spray it I get a stabbing so painful it's unimaginable. Straight to the back of my skull, pain all over me head and in my sinus. I had to go to bed with paracetamol the last time I took it.
The time before was the same and I just thought maybe it was one bad experience.
I thought it was absolutely amazing before this and even bought it for a colleague as I was so impressed with it. Not any more!! I put it straight in the bin.

And I always made sure to not sniff when I sprayed it. In fact I always breathed out as I did it

I have been using the Lemsip version, First Action, since the autumn as a preventative measure and have so far avoided picking up the various bugs that have been flying around our office.

3 bottles for £10 from Amazon will see me through the season and feels like money well spent so far.

Ooh thank you! Will try. I agree with the poster below these that it can make me feel quite rough for half an hour or so after, and I always think that’s it, the cold is definitely descending, but then it wears off!