to give in and put a raw onion by my bed at night

[Paleninteresting]

Since the beginning of November I have had a permenant cold, cough, blocked ears and headache. I have been treated for sinusitis and all followed medical advise I have been given.

I keep thinking I am getting better and then it comes right back. I am exhausted with it and just want whatever it is gone.

A family member has said a raw onion by my bed would do it. As a scientist I feel sceptical but I am now so worn out by feeling unwell, I am willing to try anything.

I probably would, but I really like the smell of raw onions.

Anti histamine dries your nasal passages out so if like me you are sensitive to that & it results in inflammation you get can horrible sinus pain etc as if infected but not iyswim.
Look me forever to work it out & no doctor ever pointed it out as a possibility over the 2-3 years it went on despite the anti histamine being prescribed at the same time so maybe it isn't a common problem.

If there are other ways of controling your allergies/they are annoying rather than debilitating (obviously this depends hugely on what they are & how severe) it might be worth trying a break.

For those contemplating the onions...I did this for DD in desperation when she'd had a horrible lingering cough. It did nothing. I was devastated. And the house stank of onion.

OP have you not been given doxycycline?

I had never heard of this OP but can't see the harm - worth a try. Please come back tomorrow and tell us how it went - useful to remember for the future.

Sorry to go off topic on your thread OP, but wondered if I could ask Treaclex if her MiL putting onions on her flower beds really deters cats from doing their business in them? I'm sick of cleaning up their droppings and if it works I'm going out tomorrow to buy a few kilos

I use Vicks in my babies/toddlers feet when they're all snuffly with colds and definitely works.
Interesting about anti-histamine, my dh takes these because of our cats but is always blocked up and sinusy,
Hope you feel better soon OP.

Yes I had doxycline mid November.
I do get relief with Olbas Oil at night but then in the morning it's like opening the floodgates and the same for the rest of the day.
I am going to have a medicines holiday, drink loads of water and see what happens then. I will keep the Olbas Oil though.

Nasal irrigation will be after the weekend.

No onion tonight, you lot have given me far more sensible strategies to try.
Thank you all

I read that you should put it in your socks at bedtime

Have you tried sinus massage? Apparently it gets the mucus moving.

For anyone considering the onion, I did it last night

It's had a major effect - of making the room stink.

Still coughing. Never mind. The onion wasn't exactly fresh anyway so lost nothing.

I recommend a neti pot and nasal rinses. Easy once you get the hang of it.

Nasal irrigation isn't as awful as it sounds. It put the shits up me at first though!
If you don't have the Neil's thingy, you can snort tepid water up your nose for instant relief

I get chronic sinusitis. I have chronic fatigue syndrome (ME) so my immune system is compromised. At the first sign of a cold, I get a migraine and terrible sinus pressure. However, I have, I believe, finally found something, which works after much research and reading online.

I bought myself a nebuliser for about £40 and some saline solution (I get this in Tesco, boots don't have it). You can also make your own saline solution, there's recipes online. At the first hint of a cold, I use this. I use the full face mask so that I can alternate breathing through my nose and mouth. I do it for at least 10 mins at least once a day, more if possible especially if really suffering, try 3x/day. It keeps the airways a lot freer from mucous. The salt hydrates and cleanses the stressed mucous membranes, making them less inflamed thus opening the airways as well as making the secretions more fluid. I continue to use it to keep myself pretty much cough free and sinuses open. Since using it this season, I haven't had sinusitis or a nasty cough.

If you look online, there has been research undertaken on the effectiveness of saline nebulised mainly for bronchitis with great results and there is some advice for using it with COPD. Nebulising imo is far more effective than nasal irrigation as it also gets into the chest area so deals with the entire respiratory system.

Probiotics ( biokult is pretty good) and prebiotics are very useful. Raw apple cider vinegar with the mother is a prebiotic and helps to kill colds, but I don't find effective on coughs. Take a small amount 3x/day diluted in water at the first sign of a cold. Also useful to take maybe once daily. I eat a lot of raw sauerkraut, even raw carrots are prebiotic btw. Supplementing with vitamin d3 (preferably with k2) is important for good immunity - take with food to improve absorbency. Even if you expose your skin regularly to the sun in the summer months, your d3 levels will have depleted as this takes around 3 months from last effective exposure.

And yes, sadly sugar is evil. Once eaten, i have read, it suppresses the immune system for up to 4 hours.

Interesting about sugar as an immune suppressant. I get autoimmune problems, next time I have a flare up it will be solid chocolate and cake dawn till dusk - currently I sometimes break for crisps but I will have to give that up.

Get someone (preferably an Irish person) to male you a couple of hot whiskeys with lots of honey lemon and cloves. It won't cure you, but it will make you feel a hell of a lot better.

make not male ffs

Put Vicks on the soles of your feet and put on a pair of socks. You won't cough. It works, we all do it in this house and it's never failed.

^ it's a myth! If you don't cough any more then it is not because you put Vics on your feet. Correlation is not causation.

Dear all and particularly mummyroflittledragon, thank you for all your input. Last night I did a homemade nasal rinse with boiled water, salt and a capol administrator tube.
It was not as bad as I thought. I did get immediate relief.

Went to bed with Olbas Oil on my pillow. Woke up feeling like I slept very well (bar Mr Pale snoring).

Started taking vit D this morning.
Unfortunately today my symptoms are no different.
I have reordered my steroid nasal spray, but I'm not sure the evidence for theses are much better than Vicks on the feet or onion by the bed.

Mummyoflittledragon (I'm one of those too) thank you for your detailed response and your reccomendations will be pondered over the next few days.

If nothing else helps, I will be hitting the rusty nails.

Alicia disagree. Works for me and others every time.

Echinacea and broncostop?

Have you tried having a sinus massage? That might help get things moving and give you a bit of relief. Xx