I've got a cold

I had an op to correct deviated septum & clear out sinuses in November following severe sinusitis. After the op my consultant advised using the ‘Neil Med nasal douche’ mentioned up thread. It works well & he also told me that I could make my own douche by mixing equal parts of salt & bicarbonate of soda. It’s a slightly unpleasant thing to do everyday but it really clears out the tubes!

A good sniff of Olbas oil works wonders for colds etc. It's also a great cure for muscle aches too. I always have a bottle of it " in case " because I can't take any cold/flu preparations with warfarin.

Another vote from me for the neti pot. So simple and so effective clears out the sinuous just using mild salt water. You must use water that has been previously boiled and then cooled to just warm, it’s very soothing as well to stuffed up sinuses.

Gagajo.... I had chronic sinusitis last year.... it lasted 7 months ... had three lots of anti-biotics) didn’t work ...Doctor finially sent me to hospital as I was getting no sleep (2 hours at most). consultant took one look with camera ( up nose) and put me on co-proxiclav anti-bio’s ...within three days everything started to clear up. I was in them for three weeks...after 7 miserable months I was better. Unfortunately I feel it’s all starting up again....same time as last year!!

Theyre sold out of hand sanitizer gel EVERYWHERE,even online,due to coronavirus,but as my teenage son pointed out " if its a killer virus how do they think hand gel will help?"

I also used a Netizen pot....it works for about two hours then all comes flooding back.

I had chest infections / cough since august last year,cumulated at xmas then got co-proxiclav precribed on boxing day,from hospital dr,only a weeks though,but it now seems to have done the trick,(fingers crossed) in meantime id had 4 different lots of ampicillin,various cough/ cold remedies,camera up nose,chest xray,all no help.plus a very strong antibiotic at xmas i had a nasty reaction to,..now ive had visit to chest clinic who has ordered xray again,then maybe a scan,and thinks its asthma, personally i thought could be allergies- but i was coughing something up when i was very bad,so it stumps me what it is.Was much improved though by putting a small dish of water near the radiators as i used to do in winter when my kids were little.( helped when theyd bad chests,id forgot about that) Has helped enormously.try it.

For chronic sinusitis, a neti pot using warmed sterile water with sea salt, twice/day for about 10 days (yes, it's a nuisance but worth the trouble), will shift the old catarrh clogging the sinuses. Be prepared for a lot of old and dark coloured mucus to pass out. This may have to be repeated over several weeks

Please research thoroughly before embarking because the nasal water must be sterile and your neti pot thoroughly cleaned, sterilised and air dried between uses

My daughter gets sinusitis bad and has to have antibiotics,that could be what you need,i know it means paying for a prescription or two,but the cost of those sterimar sprays arent cheap either,i got one with added copper,but never dared to use it as im on warfarin and also a beta blocker for heart now too.(gives contra- indications for loads of stuff)

Its no good saying no antibios to things,when sometimes you just have to....

Also,i had found a breathe in with old fashioned smelling salts helps clear the nose well too,for a bit.think you can still get em in smaller chemists,boots have stopped stocking them maybe.they work as well as the cold remedy nasal sprays anyway.

I'm on 2nd wk of flu. Started with high temp, shivers, sore throat. I feel I coming out the other side of it and all I have done(&always do) is drink loads of hot Ribena, soup, take paracetamol & rest. Our GPs last wk was packed with people with flu, my friend got an antibiotic off doc. I think flu runs its course. I've also found Sinutab you get in chemist is the best to take for sinus relief.
Get well soon!

Paddyanne. So sorry to hear you are suffering and for so long. I admire you for soldiering on. I think if you had flu you would have been forced to take a day or two off anyway. Coming from a Farming background, I know that there are those who cannot have a day off. The animals need feeding Christmas day and everyday no matter how ill you feel.
sea water
I use Sterimar. It's a cleanser and needs regular use and the effects are noticeable over time. It might well be sea water but it is purified so clean! I too am prone to sinusitis and don't want to use antibiotics so just soldier on trying to keep my sinuses clear and rinsed out.
I agree with the point that this could be an allergy as it seems to have taken up residence. I'd be inclined to tell people that it is!
As for what others think - ignore them! If you had any kind of flu you would be past the symptoms weeks ago. If people make you feel uncomfortable then wear a bell round your neck and to their questions about your foreign travel say "Not been anywhere really, just had to pop across to Wuhan for some items to do with the job a couple of weeks ago, but no holidays or anything."

*In general*: I'm fed up wit the COVID-19 hysteria! It spreads like seasonal flu, is not as bad to experience as most flus and has a similar death rate. Seasonal flu kills people all the time but nobody reports it or gets in a panic. For example, the US Centres for Disease Control, (CDC), estimates 30,000 people died between October 2019 and February 2020 of seasonal flu. Did you see the News Headlines? No. Me neither. It's normal.
Just behave sensibly, wash your hands well. If you are in a very high risk group (e.g. have pulmonary disease, or very weak immunity) and COVID-19 is among us in a big way, avoid crowds. If you are unfortunate enough to get flu or become ill and cannot manage, phone 111 for advice. But please do not start to get anxious now! It's a waste of time being worried and upset about something we probably can cope with all too easily.

sea water? how did it get there?

Nannan2. Good point about antibiotics. There is a time and place when they are essential. My friend has a rare condition that requires she is prescribed to take them every day.

I got the bug early in December and ended up on antibiotics for chest. While taking them I developed earache and was recommended to use a nose wash and I bought sterimar. Really thought it had helped at the time so may have been over enthusiastic. Today several weeks later I still have the feeling of fluid in my ears and being clogged up. Don’t know if it was the liquid or the yuk from the bug. So the jury is still out on this one for me.

I have been ill on and off since December. I kept thinking I was better and then I would keel over again. My husband picked up a bug somewhere and had to take to his bed with a high temperature and still has a bit of a cough but is basically back to normal. Of course, I caught it and have been really ill. I’m asthmatic, so anything I catch hits me really hard. It’s been about a month now and I’ve had 3 lots of antibiotics -one lot was because the first lot gave me thrush - and I have developed a horrible itchy rash from taking them. I have also had a course of steroids, which weaken your immune system as well! Now that I’ve finished the course, I thought the itch would go away, but it hasn’t and it’s driving me crazy. I had a chest x-ray which showed that I have a patch of infection on my right lung, I can’t lie down to sleep because it makes me cough and if I sit up, I can’t sleep. What with the itch/rash and the cough and the sleepless nights, (I’m sleeping in the guest room) I feel very sorry for myself and if I did catch the coronavirus I doubt whether I’d survive! Back to the GP (at his request) on Monday and another chest x-ray in a few weeks. Roll on the nice weather!

chewbacca I have a couple of netipots and a pot of salt ready for if I feel a stuffy nose coming on. It is a miracle worker. Remember to use cooled boiled water and never blow the nose hard afterwards, just dab at it. That and a saline gargle are my go-to remedies

Pukka Mushroom gold capsules absolutely amazing for building up strong immune system ( more effective than echinacea which was my old go-to) I felt so much better within a couple of days of taking them, continued taking until I’d finished the jar and haven’t had a cold, sniffle or sore throat since.

Can I ask how do you sterilize the neti pot?

I have never used one but am still unable to shrug off a bug I had since January 21st I can tell my sinuses are not clear but so far I don't have sinusitis (fingers crossed) reading people's suggestions on using a neti pot i am thinking of trying this method.
They are not as cheap as I hoped though.
Can anyone recommend a very good one ther are so many on Amazon I am confused

TIA

Nannan we dont pay for prescriptions in Scotland so thats not an issue .I dont have time to go to the GP ,I had a letter last week telling me I had missed an appointment and that my GP had retired ...last MARCH OOPS .I'm sure its nothing serious ,I do spend a lot of time with GC so it may well be a succession of different colds without a break between them.I'll keep using the Sterimar as it seems to help

Never forget the value of gargling with salt water. Feeling grotty when your unable to take time to comfort yourself is miserable, so my best wishes for you.

My friend always makes soup with loads of garlic for anybody with a cold. It might be worth a try. I tend to take antihistamines quite a lot anyway (all sorts of allergies) and only ever have asthma symptoms when I stop.

just reminded me my late mother would rub garlic on teh soles of her feet for breathing problems,dont know if my OH would like that any better than the noisy breathing though.might have to move to a spare room

I am like *Phoebes" - am asthmatic and have had a chest infection since 22nd January.
It causes a lot of coughing - so much so that my chest muscles have been strained and I'm having to take painkillers for the pain I get when breathing in normally or lying down. Asthmatics are restricted in what painkillers they can use. The one I am using says not to use it if you have an underactive thyroid but the doctor prescribed it so I am carrying on taking it.
I finished one course of antibiotics but feel no different.
I have been told that it is too early to do another chest x-ray to see if there has been any improvement.
I'm going to ask to see a specialist because I'm not getting better and no-one can tell me how long before I get back to normal.