NOW CLOSED: Share your tips for soothing colds and flu this winter with Kleenex Balsam and you could win JL vouchers!

[AnnMumsnet]

We've been asked by the team at Kleenex to help them build the ultimate resource for flu sufferers (or heavy colds) - bursting with tips to help soothe sufferers across the UK and Ireland back to health this winter!

So please share with us, on this thread, how you soothe your poorly children, comfort relatives with colds, deal with the dreaded man flu or even tips that have been passed on to you by your mum. Everyone who posts will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky winner will win £100 of John Lewis vouchers and two runners up will get £50 vouchers

For example, do you give your children certain food or drink which helps them feel better? Is there a classic film that you always let them watch to take their mind off their symptoms? When your DP/DH has "flu", are you sympathetic or do you find that a bit of tough love works best? Or are there any weird and wonderful things that your own mum used to do to soothe you, which you now absolutely swear by?

Please note - if you add your comments or tips on this thread - Kleenex may use your tips in other media - (for example: print (magazines/ newspapers) and online). They won't use your MN name. Tips may also be featured on the Kleenex pages on Mumsnet, coming soon.

For more information on the Kleenex Balsam range please visit: www.kleenex.co.uk/Balsam

and good luck!

Or if you want a fluffy tip: No-sore is a green nose balm for sore noses which is really quite super

Like many on here I find hot lemon and honey very soothing (DH has whisky or rum in his) Masses of kleenex are a necessity and some drops of olbas oil or vicks helps. Aches and pains are helped with lem sip or similar. Fresh air is as good as anything for clearing a blocked nose I find.

My five point fluey cold attack plan is pretty darn effective:

1. take a massive dose of Vit C, 2000mg, twice a day every day until symptoms subside;
2. take 3 garlic oil capsules, a zinc tablet and echinacea tincture 3 times a day;
3. drink a large glass of water every hour while awake;
4. cancel all plans and rest, bed before dark, even if it's midwinter;
5. children must stay in bed all day, this is so boring for them that it ensures they won't string the illness out.

For colds we serve our amazing chicken broth. Warm through chicken stock and the add liberal amounts of the following: ginger, lemon juice, chillies and soya sauce.

It's packed full of vitamins and minerals, light enough to appeal to curbed appetites and the ginger and chillies give it a kick that sorts out even the stubbornest blocked nose :o.

Elderberry syrup in hot water.

Elderberries are a traditional cold and flu remedy and guess what, it turns out there is Actual Scientific Evidence elderberry extract helps with H1N1 flu.

Get out there and pick your elderberries now, people!

(And you can feed the syrup to your kids as a placebo if you suspect them of claiming they feel ill just because they like the taste of Calpol.)

If the symptoms are mild we just potter about the house watching Toy Story.

When I am coming down with flu (I can usually feel it in my bones and limbs), I immediately try to spend a day at home. When I can do that, I do not usually develop such a bad flu. Most of the time, sadly, staying at home is out of the question.

My old GP used to say 3 things to me

1. Can you afford to stay at home?
2. Recovering from a cold takes 7 days if you take any medication, and a week if you don't.
3. The house needs to be pleasantly warm, but what is most important the temperature needs to be similar across the rooms.

My mum always made me boiled eggs and soldiers when I was poorly. I still crave it now and give it to my ds.

I have just discovered the wonder that is Night Nurse, really helped when I had a cold recently. Another brilliant remedy is hot lemonade mixed with whisky, a kind of hot toddy.

When my DDs have snotty noses I put a bit of Vaseline under their noses which helps stop them getting too sore. Wiping them on soft baby clothes instead of tissues also helps.

I had a Russian friend who when she had a head cold used to crush garlic, mix with water and snort. It was excruciatingly painful but apparently very effective!

A big pot of chilli clears the sinuses!
Or a dash of hotsauce in tomato soup does wonders!

Vicks on the chest and the pillow for the children. ALso rub Vaseline under their nose to stop it getting sore when they have a cold. Hot Ribena - I don't think it makes them / me get better faster, but it makes us feel better.

This year my flu strategy is to get the vaccine before I get exposed to the flu.

If colds then decent tissues, paracetamol and get on with it. Think this comes from my Mum, we were never allowed days off school for a cold. Unless you had a raging temperature or were vomiting you went to school! So same for my children really, never given them any medicine other than calpol.

DH swears by lemsip, I can't stand the stuff so paracetamol and cups of tea for me. Hot Chilli or curry for dinner too if full of cold as definitely clears the tubes.

Proper flu, which I have had twice then bed and lots of sleep

Meant to add that it drives me mad that flu and colds are grouped together like this, as they are totally different. Adults get, on average one cold a year, children get around 4 (you get less as you get older as your immunity increases apparently)

Flu is a different virus which causes a more serious illness which most people only have occasionally and can be very poorly with.

Prevention is better than cure. Go vegan. I have been vegan for 11 years now, and have not had a single cold in all that time. I believe dairy is mucous-forming. So that's my top tip - don't have dairy. And if you can't manage that for all the time, when you do get a cold, at least give up dairy for the duration, and see if it reduces the usual length of the cold.

We use homeopathy: a dose or two of aconite 30 at the first sign of a cold will often stave it off completely.

Tip from yoga teacher: If you have a blocked nose on one side, lie on the other side, making sure your arm is underneath you, and with a ball of tissue inserted in that side armpit. It puts pressure on a spot under your arm that leads to your opposite nostril clearing. Really!

Avoid all milk products and orange juice - they are mucus producers, so avoiding them reduces snottiness.

Wierd but works for us!

Nohunintended, my DS aged 10 has a milk allergy, so total dairy exclusion and always has a cold!

Adults take a couple of Echinacea tablets twice a day with a glass of orange juice. Lots of tissues & vasolin for nose! Snuggle up of on the sofa with old country & western films, drink hot squash and tale paracetamol regularly. Early to bed & try to tell brain the that this isn't go to be too bad!

I suffer from colds very often as I am susceptible to hay fever. Over the years I've tried and tested several tehniques- the ones that work the best are-
I use a steam vapouriser and inhale - soothes the inflamed sinuses and clears up that blocked nose....sometimes I keep the vapouriser on all night to aid breathing. I use eucalyptus oil - few drops on a kerchief or if ur nose isn't too sore- just under it and a tiny bit on ur chest and temples. Keep hands, feet & head warm.
Drink a cup of hot milk with a pinch of turmeric (use more if u can stand it) and sugar to taste added. Turmeric has anti- septic & anti inflammatory properties.
Boil a few tulsi (holy Basil not sweet basil) leaves, to which a few crushed cloves, crushed ginger and black pepper corns are added till the color of the mixture appears dark brown. This can be sipped piping hot, by adding a little honey.
Or just add fresh grated ginger to ur tea. Spicy foods help but usually flu affects the tummy so be careful. Use garlic in ur cooking as it builds ur immunity. Cinnamon and honey tea.

Finally get lots of rest!!!

Manuka honey is our first line of defence if cold or flu seems to be starting. However, it MUST be taken cold, straight from the jar, off the spoon - the antibacterial and antiviral properties of Manuka honey are destroyed if you put it in hot water (this is why the active Manuka honey is cold pressed).

Hot drinks (fruit juice or herbal teas) with "ordinary" honey are very soothing.

For coughs dark chocolate works very well! We've also got rid of stubborn coughs with Potters Cough Remover - it's herbal, tastes pretty awful, but has never failed us.

Sudocrem stops noses getting sore.

Whether the patient stays in bed or is on the settee depends on how ill they are feeling. If it's me with flu then I always use the setttee to supervise ...

I'd go for lots of fluids, alternating paracetamol and ibuprofen to control the symptoms, sinex soother spray helps too.

Very hot (spicy foods) are excellent and making you feel better for a while - wasabi really clears your sinuses. A hot prawn dansak - yum :)

Playing computer games helps you forget your symptoms. I failed to notice several colds playing Civilisation... Apparently helps with pain management for children in hospital too.

If you have chest problems/asthma - pay attention to your peak flow - if it drops, go to the doctors and don't pretend it'll go away. I'm looking at you AutumnWitch!

for me, lemsip, blanket and daytime tv!

For dc's warm orange with honey, and calpol. vicks on chest, and a dab on a hankie (not tissue) to sniff. Blanket on sofa and DVD/cuddles.

For dp, Leave him in bed till he feels better! lol ( i may check every now and again!)

Ohhhhh and a HOT shower/bath too xx heaven

At bed time, I rub Vicks Vapour Rub into the soles of the feet and put socks as this helps with breathing.
I also give lots more cuddles to DCs with colds etc - that always seems to help.
Dh has man flu just now - honey and hot lemon drink for him, the real thing not out of a packet.

I always use Manuka Honey, Lemon and hot water fo all of us. Im not the greatest lover of honey but Manuka really works. Paracetamol, soft tissues and lots of fluids.
I also like to have fresh sheets on my bed when im feeling unwell, makes me feel better.

honey, fresh lemon and ginger mad into a tea really helps you and the kids feel better with less medication required. Also putting some vapour rub into a bowl of hot water and helps to unblock you.

Manuka honey used here too, I can't stand honey but when ill its a fabulous cure all, even good for skin problems so I'm told.

Ds and myself always have tomato soup when coldy/fluey, and it has to be heinz.
Dd & Dp are hot ribena and a tissue dotted with olbas oil!