Ten on Tuesday, the colds edition.

10 Things I Do To Care For Myself When I Have a Cold.

1. The most important thing I do happens before I am sick with a cold. At the very first tiny hint -- a scratch in the throat, a tickle in the sinuses -- I start taking vitamin C. 100mg every hour, 500mg or 1000mg whenever I think of it -- dosage depends on what strength of vitamin C I have on hand. This works for me and has worked for nearly 15 years. I know that double-blind studies have debunked it; don't care. It works for me.
   
   These next two are from my nurse husband. 
2. Force fluids. This will help flush toxins from the body. It won't make the cold go away -- nothing will do that -- but it relieves the general malaise.
3. Take aspirin or acetominophen. Same effect as #2, above.
   
   Now it gets difficult. Given #1, I have had very few colds in the  past 15 years, only the ones that snuck up on me when I didn't have vitamin C available. 
4. Go to bed and stay there until I feel good enough to be up. Go back to bed as soon as I feel tired.
5. Have a large box of tissues and wastebasket handy at all times. Puffs are easier on the nose than Kleenex; tissues with lotion are best of all.
6. Eat ice cream. That makes anything better.
7. Drink lots of hot tea. Ditto.
8. Okay, I'm outta here...

One more thing: if you take care of the cold it will last a week. If not, you are stuck with it for seven days.

Comments

[Jeff]

Nancy's been afflicted with a nasty cold for almost a week now. So far I've avoided it...

[Kym]

I totally do the Vitamin C thing. I don't care what the studies show, it works for me. (I've only had a couple of colds actually latch on and hold in about 20 years.) Stay healthy!

[bullwinkle]

I'm with you - the first way to deal with a cold is to avoid it ;)

[claire]

I keep a box of Emergen-cee in the house at all times, it's a gram of Vit c in each packet. Also AirBorne, and I have several bottles of Cold Snap always in the house, and have got my adult kids all converted to it (it actually does work..20 Chinese Herbs) http://ohco.com/cold-snap
and yeah, Echinacea-Ginger-Lemonade and water and the herbal teas for colds, Honey Loquat syrup (another Chinese herbal remedy). My M.D. is also a TCM doctor/instructor so he's in agreement with all of it)

[Carole]

Your last bit of advice is probably truer than any of us want to admit.

[cursingmama]

I have never had luck with the C thing - so I'm very envious!

[Cookie]

Good list! I try to do that but with allergies it's hard to tell what kind of sore throat I wake up with. :?

[Carrie#K]

Oh no!!!! You'd better take care of it then! Only a week is so. much. better than having it for seven days.

At least you know you won't get scurvy as well.

[Mary Lou]

Yep, works from the Mac.

[gayle]

Madman caught 3 Killer Colds in a row last winter. Unfortunately, he passed every single one of them on to me in a New and Improved version. We went through about a case and a half of tissues...
I've been beefing up on my vitamin C this year as we head into cold season. This time he's not going to drag me along with him! 8)

[soxanne]

Ha ha ha - I like the last bit about the week vs 7 days ...

btw, I'm commenting from a PC in Firefox this time.

[Sophanne]

Number 6 is my favorite and one that (surprisingly) never occurred to me. Thanks for that! It almost makes me look forward to the next one.

[Sara]

I agree completely with #5 completely! I save small shopping bags with handles and leave them near all of my sick beds (I empty as necessary). And YES! Puffs are better than Kleenex. Puffs with Vicks are amazing!

[Erika]

I'm a vitamin C nut, too. It has to be the very first time you think "Hmm, I wonder if I'm coming down with something?" or it won't work.

And I don't care if it's a placebo, either. The placebo effect is crazy strong! Like as high as 60% for somethings. There are actual drugs that don't work that well! Why argue with success?

[Sheepish Annie]

As much as it horrified me to accept it, the neti pot is the one thing that has helped me get past the seasonal colds with any speed. Horrified, I tellsya!! But it works...

[Yarnhog (Suzanne)]

As amazing as this may be, I haven't had a cold (or any illness) in over five years--ever since I started getting regular chiropractic care. It's been two years since I stopped seeing the chiropractor, and still no illnesses, despite the many nasty viruses my family brings home on a regular basis. (Before I started seeing the chiropractor, I had nine colds in nine months.)