cold/flu remedies

marmight

A friend used to swear by taking a bottle of brandy to bed with her, and just having a slug whenever she woke up (clearly quite often) in the night.
Once she woke up in the middle of the afternoon, her DDs had got themselves ready for school and out to the school bus and her DH was long since gone off to work in London.

I prescribe a hot drink of honey, lemon and a Beechams powder.

One in the morning will energise you until lunchtime, at least. I find the flavoured sachets bitter, so stick to the plain Beechams powders (you might have to ask the chemist for the plain powders, as they tend to keep them to one side). If you don't like the honey and lemon, then use a cordial that you do like and just use hot water and add the powder.

And have some un-chilled water near your desk for the cough.

Hope you're all better soon

Alea - on the brandy theme I once brought a bottle of Brandymel, a sort of brandy and honey liquer, back from Portugal. Had ended every evening on holiday with a glass and loved it, but on arrival back in the UK it didn't have the same appeal. (Was probably already three sheets to the wind by the time I drank it on holiday!)
Anyway, winter arrived and the first of many colds and I thought, brandy & honey - cold remedies - I'll force it down. I think it worked, I can't really remember!
My mother often suggested I try her fathers remedy which involved boiling an onion - I think you then ate the onion and drank the liquid. It worked for her in so much as on suggesting it she shut up anyone who was moaning to her about feeling ill.

Sambucol, which is black elderberry, fortified with vitamin C and zinc.

Two of my grandchildren had colds last week. I dosed them up with Sambucol, and the colds disappeared after three days.

I bought. Sandersons Throat Specific Mixture Tesco pharmacy had to order it for me It has helped my throat etc my symptoms subside a bit in the day but come back in the evening so I use it then and hot lemon honey n ginger on the day this stuff definately calms my throat so it's good till the bug goes away

Hot honey , lemon and brandy and a couple of paracetamol before going to bed. I encountered two shop assistants this week with heavy colds. One sneezed all over the ham she was cutting, the other stopped to blow her nose before handing me my change.

Dequadin lozenges for sore throats, my Mum used to use them in the 1950 s and I am pleased to say they are still around. Corvonia for chesty coughs does the trick for us and DH swears by Beechams, they make me gag but each to their own. I havn't had the flu jab this year, was struck down with the bug after the last one and out of action for three weeks. Hope everyone feels better soon.

A spoonful of Manuka honey, 3 times a day, really helps me, also a Vitamin C and zinc effervescent tablet several times a day seems to lift the spirit as well as the sniffles (they're sold in tubes of 20 - Boots, Asda, Aldi). As we get older, we need to take extra care of ourselves; we're so used to battling on when we had small children, jobs, etc. Get better/keep well everyone

Hot honey and lemon plus full strength co-codomol.

Not Manuka honey as 2/3 rds of it is fake. 3000 tons of Manuka honey is produced a year 9000 tons are sold !!!

I get a little annoyed at people who say 'stay in and keep your germs to yourself' implying that its selfish to go out.
I would love to lie in bed/on sofa if I have a cold/chest infection but there is no -one to go for the shopping, or for a prescription and as for trying to get a doctor to call ......
I find that a cold always descends into a chest infection and I cough in paroxysms lasting about 5 minutes, my head spins and I cant walk. I went to asda yesterday like that I got some black looks but I had to shop, also I had my mother with me and she coughs like this permanently. I had to hang on to my trolley to stay up.

I used to work for a government department and if anyone rang in saying they were ill with anything they were told to come in no matter how ill and they would be put on a lighter job if possible and sent home early, that meant that the employers could vouch for the person being ill and of course they saved a days pay.

So please don't , anyone tell me to stay in, sometimes we who live alone just have to go out.

I do realise that you do, I am talking about things like knitting club and book club, where the person has been in bed all day and then suddenly gets a bit of energy, but are still infectious. I too had a civil service job once, we were really frowned on if we took any time off. We would get a phone call at home sometimes even when we had rung the office manager.

Boots Dry Cough Relief or Chesty Cough Relief. Both work well for those persistent annoying coughs.

Port and brandy, if throat is sore. Best non drug relief for congestion is menthol crystals in hot water, put a towel over your head and inhale the vapours.
OTC remedies are good, don't take the ones with caffeine in at night though!!
And of course no decongestants if you have high blood pressure.

We recently spent between three and four hours on a plane full of people with absolutely dreadful coughs and colds (the young woman next to my husband was so unwell she didn't even have the energy to use a handkerchief!).

I kept saying: "It could be us" in an attempt to calm DH. Then I pulled a scarf over my mouth and suggested he used his unused linen handkerchief to do the same.

We were convinced we would end up with filthy colds but, amazingly, we are still germ-free two weeks later. I wonder if the fact that we had a 'flu jab before we went away has anything to do with this miracle? Or the scarves and hankies? Or the whisky-macs DH always doles out at the first sign of a cold? Or were we just lucky?

Many commiserations to everyone who is suffering. And if wheezing symptoms persist for six weeks or more then your doctor might prescribe not only antibiotics but a very short but effective course of steroids too.

Hi I find that turmeric ginger juice of one lemon is good with some honey and boiling water turmeric and ginger have antiseptic properties.

I use 2 tsps turmeric 1 tsp fresh ginger.

Hope this helps

Haven't read all the remedies here, so don't know if anybody has mentioned before. My grandmother used to bake an onion sprinkled with brown sugar and drink the juices - she lived to a ripe old age. (Haven't tried it myself!)

I use a variation of this (I take turmeric for my arthritis. It works). freshly-grown.com/ginger-turmeric-cold-flu-elixir/

Jack - these germs are spread by touch. So it wasn't your 'masks' that saved you, it was the fact that you didn't handle any one or anything that had germs on, or, if you did, you washed your hands afterwards

I have atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat) and am on anti-coagulants that thin my blood. Due to this, I cannot take most over-the-counter cold cures as they usually contain aspirin which you cannot take together with anti-coagulants.

I've found that tea with added freshly-squeezed lemon juice and honey, or at a pinch hot lemonade with honey, helps lessen the cold's effects. To really help the cold move on quicker, I make myself a curry to which I add extra garlic.

I find the spray Flu Defence has prevented me getting colds when all around are dropping but may be coincidence

Regarding Bug180s post - if you use menthol crystals use only the merest pinch otherwise they will knock you out of your socks! Even a pinch is strong stuff.

I find that chicken soup really works- made with the bones, lots of onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, carrot, for the stock, and after sieving add anything green - herbs etc I add frozen spinach, and if you want to make it more substantial, add some chicken meat, and/or pulses like chick peas or lentils. If you are vegetarian just use vegetable stock.

starbird I could eat that every day of the week, cold or no cold!

etheltbags1, if I have been out of action with a virus or other affliction, I have found it useful to do my food shopping on the internet. It's very easy and I also find that if I do this, I'm not browsing the aisles and buying things I don't really need.

Ethelbags, so sorry to hear that you are poorly, and I hope that you will soon begin to feel better. Please take care of yourself, easier said than done I imagine, especially when you are on your own, but don't become so ill that you may end up with something worse. A couple of years ago I got pneumonia, and was in hospital for 4/5 days. It took ages to feel like me again. I know from reading some of the posts that folk are concerned about you, and hope that the suggested remedies have helped a bit.