To ask you for tips in shaking off a cold/virus FAST?!

[pollykettleon]

Been under the weather (runny nose/headache/slight temp) for a few days and today feeling worse.

It’s ‘just’ a cold I think - but next week Tuesday/Wednesday I have BIG work stuff happening. Important meetings where I’m leading/pitching. I can’t miss them or be ill!

So please give me your tips on how to shake this, fast! I’m feeling a bit panicked…

Rest and hydrate as much as you can around the event, two ibuprofen, 2 paracetemol 30mins -1hr beforehand

Thank you! Anyone else? Wondering if there’s anything I can do today particularly to help move this along…

Rest, and electrolytes

Garlic, honey and lemon in boiling water.

With a bad cold I usually try to spend two or three days doing nothing but resting on a diet of Lemsip Max, soup & ice cream. But that’s admittedly a lot easier when you don’t have kids.

Big slug of Night Nurse. Then go to bed for as long as possible to sleep off the cold. Ideally with a heated blanket or hot water bottle to sweat out the bugs.

Thank you again. My kids are teens so can manage fine without me!

Will send DH out for night nurse and lemsip max…

Super dose vitamin c. If you google it should tell you how to do jt

There is that stuff you squirt up your nose I think it is called cold relief I had my Mums 100th party to arrange and I did manage to prevent it getting any worse and I do suffer with bad colds

Careful about your paracetamol intake. IIRC lemsip max has paracetamol in and I know Night Nurse does. You can have a maximum of 8 tablets in 24 hours, tablets are 500mg, so work out the equivalent for liquid or sachets. I know it seems nitpicky but it’s important to be careful. If you’re unlucky it doesn’t take much to do damage.

That being said I’m working on a cold and I’ve just had a 10 hour sleep that’s made me feel a whole lot brighter.

If you’re stuffed up and still struggling by the time your big work stuff is happening you need pseudoephedrine. It’s behind the pharmacy counter. Common brand is Sudafed but not the on the shelf stuff. It’s an incredibly good decongestant and will hopefully see you through.

Echina force tablets cold and flu. Health food shops have them

Focus on early night and sleep. Nose strips to help you breathe. Night nurse.

noirishing soups.

hot baths with magnesium etc

steam with olbas oil. Nasal rinse to help clear nose. You can get kits in chemist

Lots of vitamin c seems to help me

Sleep. Or resting at the very least. No going out, no housework, no brain work.

Soups (the fresh kind) and plain toasted bread

Lemsip max - this is now your tea 😂

Hot baths, just a little too hot if you see what I mean (chuck some epsom salts in if you have them). As many of these as you wish, screw the water bill

ETA - the bowl of steaming water with olbas oil and a towl over your head is effective too and clearing sinusus. Keep doing this but bejjjeeesus you only need one or two drops of olbas oil 😂

do you have a sore throat? DON'T take those lozenges!!

A GP years ago explained to me they make you feel better by killing everything in your throat - including your own good cells. The space is filled up again with the ones who reproduce the fastest (invaders).

He said it is better to keep varying the temperatures of your drinks icy < > hot and eat crisps. Apparently invader cell bastards cannot survive unstable salty environments that vary in temp 🤷🏼‍♀️

ETA - i just run that thiugh chatgpt and it tells me it is inaccurate ... but that is exactly what the GP said so I don't know...

Maybe a little late now but I absolutely swear by First Defence. I use it religiously at the first sign of a cold and it stops it dead every time.

Rest sleep keep warm, do nothing, nothing at all. Hot baths. Nutritious food, chicken soup is genuinely good for you if made with real stock. Get DH to poach a chicken with some extra chicken wings and drink the both.

I see somebody has already said it but yes, first defence at the first sign of a cold really does reduce the number of days you are ill. I don’t know whether it actually makes a difference to how quickly you get better but I’ve recently discovered that an onion cut open next to the bed helps to stop a blocked nose and helps you sleep much better!

Rest as much as possible, vitamin C, ginger shots, chicken soup.
Cold & flu meds to get you through a work day

Sleep, hydration and vitamins.

Make yourself a big batch of home-made veggie soup, get some early nights, keep warm, stay out of the wet, and give your body every opportunity to fight it off.

Lots of rest today and tomorrow, plenty of water. The lemsip Tuesday and Wednesday

Rest and hydration. Early night tonight, and then wfh and rest tomorrow if possible.

Theres no evidence vitamin c does anything to shorten a cold at this point.

Up your fruit n vegetables.

From what I experience with F&V. Those who hardly eat any F&V, they seem to have more colds and they linger longer. Makes no difference if have DC or DGC.

Echinacea, Vit C, Vit D and zinc

I recently fended off a cold in 2 days. This is what I did:

• hot drinks. Kill the germs. keeps you hydrated
• salt water gargle every 3-4 hours.
• Saline nasal spray. Every 2-3 hours.
• Vicks on your chest
• plenty of rest and paracetamol as needed. But don’t overdo it when you feel better.

Cut out all sugar - sugar is fertiliser for the bacteria in your throat. Irritatingly most throat lozenges have sugar in thrm so beware of these too.

Immune system works to repair while sleeping which is why you get tired when I’ll so sleep lots.

Viatmin C, zinc, magnesium.