Lingering Colds

[buggygurl321]

After my family came home from vacation, I caught a cold. Now my nose is congested, I have a very productive cough. I start school on Tues and was hoping to be healthy by then. I know I'll probably just have to let it run it's course, but does anyone have any ideas to shorten it's duration?

Thanks!

Katie

 

[julie]

I am one for natural and over the counter meds, others may disagree. Get some extra vitamin C in (capsuels are best, 500mg 2-3x a day while you are sick) Elderberry (get the sweet kind with some extra sugar, a company called sambuccol makes it-very tasty!) and Echinacia (spelling?) (ek-a-na-sha) in the liquid form. It is very nasty but always helps my colds and Mark's especially. I also go for tylenol cold/or tylenol sinus as does mark

 

[wuffles]

I agree with julie; when I get a cold I take lots of vitamin C, garlic & horseradish, zinc & echinacea. With me, I know that if I develop a productive cough then the cold is going to stick around and probably won't go away without a course of oral antibiotics <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif" border="0">

 

[DebbieC]

Don't use echinacia if you are on antibiotics. Most products like teas that say they have echinacia in them don't have enough to be therapudic and it's a marketing ploy, so indulge in these if you like them, just don't go getting homeopathic capsules full of the stuff.

The best thing to do, other than drink plenty of fluids (meaning w/o caffiene) and get rest and pamper yourself a bit, is to keep on top of yout PT and breathing treatments. Getting the extra gunk on out of there will keep it from festering into a nasty infection. Wouldn't it be nice if we could just get over a cold like everyone else without actually having to put in any effort?

 

[NoDayButToday]

Zinc is supposed to help with colds. Try Zicam, a zinc nasal spray supposed to help shorten the duration of the cold. Also, stay hydrated!<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">