Trusty Bad Cold and Flu Remedies - THAT WORK?!

[Zebraa]

Our house has been hit by what seems to be a really bad cold, possibly flu. Can't get out of bed, rattly chest, full of phlegm, bad chesty cough, really sore throat, headaches, body aches, no energy etc.

Help! What works? I'm sending my neighbour to 24 hour Tesco for us to pick up some stuff for us soon

Paracetamol, Otrivine, Night Nurse at bed time.
Lots of soup and hot juice too.

Beechams in a bottle - think you can get super strength
loads of orange juice, vitamin c tablets, lemon and hot water

Honey

buttercup (for colds, cough, sore throat)
beechams flu plus
sinutab

Lemsip cold and flu capsules. Oranges. Soup. Honey and lemon drinks. Dd2 has had this for a week now, poor thing and has eaten virtually nothing but soup, throat sweets and icecream.

No Dairy, and definatly NO ICE-CREAM.

Lay off the over the counter stuff.

Hot lemon and hony with ginger in it.

Keep up fluids. Get some vitamin c from holland and barret, the kinds that you make into a drink and drink it.

Rest rest rest, if you dont you will increase the risk of complications.

Try not to reduce the fever to much as when the body has fever it is working double hard to get rid of the bug.

You could also eat spicy foods to sweat it out of you.

Apart from drugs, orange juice + vitamin C - when you're fighting something like this you can safely take a megadose of Vit C, eg 2x500mg every 4 hours along with the paracetamol, plus ibuprofen 6-hourly.

Loads of other fluids too esp for the sore throat.

Plus I agree with believer, unless you simply have to function as much as possible it is better not to take painkillers; but if there are things that need to be done, take them.

Hope you'll all be a bit better in time for Christmas

Believer - when my child has hardly eaten for a week and then all she wants is soup and icecream, then soup and icecream it is!

Honey and lemon (works better when you feel it coming on, rather than when it has taken hld, imo)
Lemsip max
Paracetamol

Lots and lots of liquid, even if just cups of tea

Minimise dairy intake

Your child- your call,

Fever is your friend

I've just had this. It's horrible.

Otrivine was a godsend, but don't get the menthol one it's painfully strong

GP recommended gargling with disprin for sore throat and home made lemon and honey.

Tatty how long did it last? I'm still waking with a headache that lasts most of the day, everyday and coughing a lot. I really want to be better by christmas at the latest and I'm running out of time!

an awful lot of rest. If it is flu then just lots of fluid and really really rest until you are properly better.

Oh dear, I'm reluctant to tell you this, but mine started last Wednesday night and I'm still not quite better. Shakes and sweats have gone, but I have no voice and have a tickly cough. Yours might be a different strain ?

My throat feels like it has been cut open and had salt rubbed in it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anything that works? I've been crying but trying not to cos it hurts so much!!!!

Someone told DH to grate some ginger and add it to boilling water, carry on boilling for 5mn, add honey to taste and drink as hot as you can. We have tried it ,it tastes seriously awfull but it does wonders for bad colds. If you start taking the mixture at the early symptoms, you shift a cold in a couple of days! Not sure how it works/feels to drink it on a very sore throat though!

How weird, someone told me that grating ginger thing the same way earlier, said someone told her DP about it at work. Must work eh! Sods law I've got no ginger in!

Maybe your DPann my DH work together?

Euh that would be: Maybe your DP and my DH work together?

Is your DH an Architect?

No, he works in electronics. It would have been funny though!

Yeah haha!