How do you keep away the winter lurgy?

Posters say that something helped them - I don't dismiss that, or any of your other precautions. It is worth trying, it may help someone else - or it may not. Websites where someone is pushing a pill or potion which will help should be treated with caution. Those who post on them are those who are enthusiastic, not those who found it didn't work and abandoned it - and the site owners are keen for you to buy.

What I do disagree with is your statement "I dont get why there has to be good evidence for stuff". Anyone anywhere, with no medical knowledge whatsoever, can tell their friends "I always stand on my head for exactly three minutes every morning, and I never ever eat mushrooms. I have not had a cold for ten years! So if you want to be cold-free - stop buying mushrooms and spend three minutes upside down." That is anecdotal evidence - "It worked for me, so it'll work for you!"

Good evidence would be a thousand or more people, picked at random from the general population, of all ages, sexes and backgrounds. Divide them into two groups and feed one half on mushroom casseroles, bacon and mushrooms, chicken and mushroom pie, mushroom stroganov and so on. Don't give the other half a single mushroom.

Get the mushroom group to stand on their heads for three minutes before breakfast each day (not just after eating the mushroom casserole, that could have unfortunate side effects)

Record their health regularly. At the end of the trial (which should take place in the season when viruses are prevalent) see how many of each group caught a cold or flu.

That is evidence-based medicine.

I shall stay away from whether Gransnet posters exist or not!

I don't think I've ever had a cold, certainly not since I had my tonsils out.

Have had the odd bout of flu, but not enough to warrant going for the flu jab.

Sorry, I don't know what I've done (or haven't done) to deserve this. It's just in the genes - my mother has never been ill either. I thought Mums weren't allowed to get ill!

You dont think I am real!
And maybe others too!

I would probably[though not with trusted friends, relatives etc] have to go by more than one person[unless I was desperate about something].
But at least 3 posters anecdotally agree with Echinacea.
How many posters does there have to be to be put in the category of, evidence hasnt said yes or no, but it sounds correct advice?

I havent pressed your link.
But now I see I have two pms which I dare not click on. Are they anything to do with you? Have others got them? Are they to do with the link? From what little I can see they are definitely something to do with this thread. I will give the name if necessary. I think they are spam? Not at all sure.

Don't be daft, obie. What makes you think I meant you?

And what makes you think I would send you a pm that you don't dare click on? Surely the name of the sender is in the notification email "A poster with the username has sent you a message" You will know who sent it before you click.

The link is not anything to be scared of either - it won't make your computer explode! It goes to a page which does exactly what the title says - tells you how to recognise when someone wants you to buy some wonder cure so that they can make a nice profit. Go on, be brave, take a look!

Some people didnt used to think I was real when I first came onto gransnet.

I decided long ago that no-one could have invented you.

Some people may have two names Elegran. Or a DH[name looks like it is from a man]. It is not a name that I recognise at all.
And since the incident of a pm of mine being exposed yesterday, I am wary.

No thanks, I wont click on the link. [cookies?]

I will report my unopened pms to GN. They can deal with them.

Elegran

No, no cookies. Just good advice about being careful and not being naive.

In any case, there is nothing automatically bad about a cookie. To display a webpage on your screen, the site downloads some settings for it. They apply to how you see that page and nothing

You may have to change a setting to define whether it does that to them all or whether it keeps some for pages that you define, which you use often. Also, you can set whether it accepts all cookies, asks you for each one, or accepts none at all - though you would find a lot of sites difficult without them.

If you have a virus and/or a malware checker, they will not allow any cookies that have been nobbled and contain anything they shouldn't.

That should say "nothing else. These instructions are called cookies"

And "Your browser usually deletes them afeter a session"

An example of "natural" treatments that were NOT evidence-based and went very wrong which has just appeared in the press. www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-37572771

Like someone said on gransnet a couple of weeks ago, there are plenty of things and plants etc that are "natural" but that doesnt mean you should eat them!

I have read your cookies post about three times, and dont understand a word of it. Not your fault, just me.
DH does all things technical, and we have good paid for internet security I think. I leave it all up to other people!

The pmer has been checked out by GN and passed their test.
They said it was up to me whether I looked at them. I did. The first pm didnt make sense in the slightest. The second one said the pm wasnt for me, but for someone else on this thread.

The short version of the my cookie post is - don't worry about cookies, they are just very short messages sent to your computer by and about the site page that you are looking at. Your security stuff will sort out any it doesn't like, and your browser settings will only accept them according to how you set it to (or DH has set it), and the browser will delete them when it is closed if that is what you (or he) have set.

How is that?

Ok. Good. Thanks!