Your best cold remedies please!

[Sparrowlegs248]

I know its only a cold but I feel bloody awful. I have had two days of sore throat, a day of snot and today has been snot AND drippy nose. And feeling pants. Spaced out/lightheaded. My nose is so sore.

I have an 11 wk old baby so can do without this. Dreading giving it to him. So tired, need to sleep but dreading going to bed and the running nose/tickly throat starting

I have been taking cold/flu tablets.

Is there anything that you swear by to get rid of it?

Rub Vicks on soles of feet and put on socks when you go to bed.

Lavender and a menthol oil on your pillow.

Get some menthol crystals and steam bath your head over the sink. But only put in couple or you'll cry. Eases the snot for a little while.

Hope you get better soon.

My tried, tested, and trusted cold remedies in no particular order are:

1. Quarter fill a bowl with boiling water, add a couple of drops of eucalyptus oil, put your face over the bowl, put a towel over your head, and inhale the steam until you can feel your sinuses clearing - come up for air now and again.

1. Grated soup: grate 1 large onion, 1 large potato, 1 large carrot, and 2 cloves of garlic into a saucepan. Add 700mls chicken or vegetable stock (cubes will do), bring to the boil and simmer until all the vegetables are soft. Season with a very little salt and black pepper and add a teaspoon of cayenne pepper or dash of tabasco to the serving bowl.

1. If you don't feel like making soup buy the best chicken soup you can afford and add 3 cloves of chopped garlic and a pinch of cayenne pepper before heating it slowly.

1. Hot honey and lemon drink: put the juice of a lemon into a mug, add a scant dessertspoonful of honey (any kind) and fill the mug with boiling water. Stir to dissolve the honey and allow to cool a little before drinking. If making as a bedtime drink add a tot of whisky.

1. Old Caribbean remedy: mix juice of 2 lemons with 2 tablespoons of vinegar (malt, white, or wine), 1 crushed clove of garlic and 1 teaspoon of ginger (freshly grated or powdered). Add a teaspoon of cayenne pepper or generous dash of Jamaican hot pepper sauce. Mix thoroughly and down it in one.

1. A takeaway or homemade curry of your choice with or without rice, naan/parathas, raita etc.

1. Drink lots of water - ginger and lemon herbal teas count as part of your daily intake.

1. Freshly squeezed orange juice - there is no substitute. Add sugar to taste.

1. A dab of Vicks vaporub around each nostril helps clear and dry the nose.

At the first sign of a cold, and throughout its duration, a Scotch and ginger (Whisky and dry ginger ale) is guaranteed to make you feel better - try and stick to singles

Hope you feel better soon and that you get through the winter without catching any more colds.

Snorting warm salt water, either with a neti pot or just from your hand. Gross but effective - clears the sinuses and stops the post-nasal drip

Thanks all. I am obviously pretty tired already with a new baby but these last few nights even when he's slept, I haven't. My usual combination of flu plus, night nurse, glass of wine and a sleeping tablet is possibly not a good idea while breastfeeding!

Curry tonight i think and soup for lunch, good ideas.

Aromatherapy, through an oil burner or an electric diffuser.

Currently treating a work colleague who has been ill for six weeks. Three hours of that with clove, cinnamon and eucalyptus oils, the office smells like Christmas and she feels better already.