10 Things I Do To Care For Myself When I Have a Cold.
- 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. - 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.
- 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. - Go to bed and stay there until I feel good enough to be up. Go back to bed as soon as I feel tired.
- 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.
- Eat ice cream. That makes anything better.
- Drink lots of hot tea. Ditto.
- 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.
