macmanmike6100

So here I am in New York with my three week vacation coming to a close, and I'm sick as a dog. That's one thing I miss in Los Angeles: the beautiful weather.

In any case, please share your home-remedy solutions for a cold and/or flu, so this way I can make sure that I'm better before I leave for LA (yes, I've gone to the doctor but still want to hear it)

Cynthetiq

since you are here in NYC

hot rum toddy
hot cider with spiced rum

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denim

Chicken soup. Nice, hot chicken soup, mostly liquid and clear. Especially if you're Jewish. Matzo balls are optional. mmmmmm....

Oh, and since you're in NYC, get some soup nuts for that chicken soup.

Wulf_Hunter

I usually load up on vitamin C once I feel the syptoms of a cold or flu beginning.

I'll take 3 pills of 500mg. Say twice aday, until I feel ok. Seems to help. I started this last year after a nast cold or flu wiped me out. So far so good this year, had the symptoms but not the full effect of the cold or flu.

I've also read in my local paper that a tea with Lemon, honey, and a doubleshot of whiskey helps. Drink it hot. Lay in bed and coverup stay there until you stop sweating, then shower and sleep.

:::OshnSoul:::

chicken noodle soup has something in it to kill the white blood cells
take plenty of echninecea (sp?) & vitamin C
drink lots and I mean LOTS of tea (green or chamomile) with only honey, no sugar
don't eat junk food
only eat when you are hungry- light snacking is good with healthy foods of course
REST!

amonkie

Drink lots of water- I'm going through a cold/flu right now too, and water is the best thing to help flush out all the evils.

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KellyC

make yourself sweat, i dunno if you ever heard of it before, i thought its unsual too, but its family doctor's advise, he says it get rid of the "bad stuff" in your body a lot quicker. Vitamin C and soup are always good too.

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sherpahigh

Damn colds. I just got one last night. I couldn't sleep so I got up around 1:00 and made a NeoCitron. I drank it while watching some Conan and that did the trick. Slept like a baby until morning. Still felt like shit though so I took some DayQuil and went off to work cause I had to finish some important stuff before tomorrow. Got through that and then came home. Made another NeoCitron and slept all afternoon. I'll probably have some chicken soup now and then follow it up with another NeoCitron and hopefully sleep all night.

NeoCitron is the best thing I've ever found for colds. Basically it allows me to sleep and sleep is THE best thing for a cold. I've heard that you guys in the US don't have NeoCitron though. Is that true? Too bad, cause it's the best stuff going.

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orange monkeyee

Once you are sick, sleep, eat food, hammer vitamins, breathe steam from a boiling pot of water on the stove with herbal tea in it, it will clear your sinuses out well.


this sounds lame, but heres what I do all the time in the winter months:


1.Get a bottle of instant hand sanitizer. Use it before every meal and once hourly, sure, it sounds like a lot of overuse, but in a building with tons of people your hands are far dirtier than any other part of your body, and you touch your face all the time without realizing it. USE THE hand sanitizer!

2. Drink herbal tea in the morning and afternoon. Echinichea tea or other herbal teas support the immune system.

3. This is obvious yet hard to accomplish: Try to get your 9 hours of sleep a night, its hard to do, but damn it pays off. You'll be awake, alert, and think instead of blankly staring off into space during work or school.

4. Eat all your foods and stuff. Take a hefty dose of vitamins or take 2 multi vitamins everyday.

5. Eat a couple Halls Defense vitamin C and Halls Defense herbal drops. This boosts your vitamin intake.

6. Keep a regular schedule, if you get 20 hours of sleep one day, then work an 18 hour shift, it's not good on your body.

7. Take time to relax.

quadro2000

Here are some previous TFP threads with more good tips:

Thread 1

Thread 2

Feel better!

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World's King

I once killed off the flu with coffee and cigarettes. Three days of nothing but coffee and smoking. I don't suggest you try this one though.

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krwlz

Well, I dont know about the flu, but my fathers cure all was to kill whatever is in your mouth.

you do this by gargling with a mixture of water, salt, and hydrogen peroxide. It tastes god aweful, but it works.

sailor

Sleep, and water. I dont really have any other tips than that--I will have to try some of these next time I get a cold, though.

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tritium

A spoonful of horseradish and a shot of Texas Pete. Your nose will drain out rapidly. Seriously, I do this every time I get congested -- which is fairly often as a result of harsh allergies.

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homerhop

A soup spoon of whiskey and sugar

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macmanmike6100

a spectacular response from the TFP community! much appreciated, honestly

i did find the NeoCitron suggestion as more of a taunt than a suggestion, though, since I'm in the US (just kidding, thanks for the info)...if it's as good as sherpahigh says, we should bang down the FDA's door to let it into the US

i'm on the road to recovery, thanks everybody!

punx1325

Tylenol Flu helped me get through the symptoms.

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absorbentishe

When I start to feel anything, I reach for the echinacea(SP?). That seems to get me feeling better in a hurry.

Slims

Lots of liquids, extra sleep, and those little losenges made by halls (?) that are loaded with vitamins for preventing colds/the flu.

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Ripsaw

Homemade chicken soup.

A hot toddy made with tea, whiskey, and desert honey powder. Drink two before you go to bed.

Nyquil. Gross, but it makes you drowsy enough to sleep.

Wasabi.

Exercise.

Sweating, as previously mentioned is very good for you.

And well, in the spirit of the TFP, 'Gettin it on' is a wonderful immuno-booster, I've heard. Worked for me last time.

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Yalaynia

I usually just end up sleeping as long as I can. When I get sick I feel like someone hit me with a mac truck. I drink neo citron and take medicine for it but it never seems to make me feel any better, and neo citron just tastes good. Upset stomachs I usually go for ginger ale, hard to say if that works but its one of those things that if I got sick mom would run to the store and get me some.

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Bill O'Rights

6 parts Whiskey, 2 parts honey and a tablespoon of lemon juice. Drink a small juice glass of this mixture. every night. It seems to cut through the crap. Andworst case scenario, if it doesn't make your cold any better, at least you mind being sick quite as much.

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macmanmike6100

I must've missed this in my drugged stupor the first time I read the replies, but what is a "toddy"?

lordjeebus

Hot water, shot of your favorite whiskey (or rum or whatever), and sugar. Lemon optional. Some people use nutmeg also.

VitaminH

Zicam zinc nasal spray is the best thing ever, and its actually been proven to work. BUT you must start it as soon as you feel the first symptoms of a cold. Other than that, vitamins are your friend. Echineacea (sp) has shown no evidance of doing anything in studies, and I had one professor or pharmacology who specializes in natural products tell me if you take it to long it actually starts to shut your immune system down. I saw i dunno how many sick people this past month and a half and OJ and a multivitamin kept me healthy as an ox.

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