OT: How to quickly get rid of a cold?

[Hey Adrien!]

Late last night, I woke up with a wicked sore throat and have slogged through today in a general sense of yuck (low fever, aches, headache, etc). Compounded to this is my seasonal oak allergies, which are sky high due to all the gross stringy stuff and dust everywhere.

Normally, I wouldn't care, but I'm chaperoning a school trip to DC starting early on Monday through late Thursday and need to recoup fast.

What's your quick fix remedy?

 

[Peacefrog]

Test yourself for Covid. There's a fair chance that's what you have in which case you're not going anywhere on Monday. Those are the exact symptoms my wife has had and she tested positive for Covid (and did again today a week and a half later).

 

[Waquoit]

Drink extra fluids, chicken soup, Sudafed and Advil.

 

[2Infinity]

I had that exact symptom develop last Friday night and tested positive for Covid over the weekend. The Covid was not mild either…ugh! Peacefrog is right, get yourself tested, bc otherwise you’ll be in the perfect situation to pass this to many others if you have it.

As for help, if positive, your doctor will likely recommend Paxlovid, which I’m taking now. Supposedly works pretty well, but needs to be started within 5 days of onset. Otherwise, chicken soup, LOTS of water, increase vitamin C to 3-4,000 mg/day and take Zicam asap to stop viral replication. Hope you don’t have it!

 

[8893]

Test yourself for Covid. There's a fair chance that's what you have in which case you're not going anywhere on Monday. Those are the exact symptoms my wife has had and she tested positive for Covid (and did again today a week and a half later).

Drink extra fluids, chicken soup, Sudafed and Advil.

Exactly what I was going to recommend in both instances.

For the soup, I get a quart of chicken and rice with no onions or scallions from our local Chinese place and I swear it has medical qualities to it. Always makes me feel better.

 

[bigknight3]

Test yourself for Covid. There's a fair chance that's what you have in which case you're not going anywhere on Monday. Those are the exact symptoms my wife has had and she tested positive for Covid (and did again today a week and a half later).

Unfortunately this was my immediate take. I don't think seeking quick cold remedies is a thing now a days because we want to think it's just a cold, I can push through, when in likelihood it's another case of Covid.

If we have symptoms we have to air on the side of caution still and limit or exposure to others.

Can you get a rapid test to more definitively know if you're positive or negative? Otherwise, chaperoning a school trip isn't advised.

 

[98Uconn]

Zinc lozenges. (Cold-EEZE).. I’m not much of a believer if homeopathic (natural yes, but not the less is more homeopathic dilution concepts).. but Zinc is a proven immune stimulator.

 

[bendm]

probably nothing but start taking zycam. the nasal spray is the most effective form of delivery. the main ingredient is zinc and that is the only thing that has been proven to shorten the length of colds. also start chugging liquids to keep yourself hydrated.

 

[bendm]

edit- you dont get a fever with the common cold but you do with covid or the flu....godspeed.

 

[Hey Adrien!]

I took a covid test around lunch time and it came back negative, I had covid in December, if that makes a difference.

What's weird is that I had a nasty cold just three weeks ago, so the timing of this is strange. Obviously there's a variety of cold viruses, but I haven't been double whammy-ed with colds this quickly since my first year of teaching. Makes sense though, since I imagine all of our immune systems have been out of practice these last few years.

I definitely feel guilt/shame even though this is totally out of my control. If I miss part of or all of the trip, it will be more taxing for the other teachers (just six of us in total), so maybe one option is take a train down Tuesday to give it another day's rest and just wear a mask all trip to avoid infecting others.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

My dad's "cold medicine" was whiskey, lemon jiuce, and honey. He swore by it.

Oddly enough, to people outside the family, he bragged about never being sick.

 

[ctchamps]

I had that exact symptom develop last Friday night and tested positive for Covid over the weekend. The Covid was not mild either…ugh! Peacefrog is right, get yourself tested, bc otherwise you’ll be in the perfect situation to pass this to many others if you have it.

As for help, if positive, your doctor will likely recommend Paxlovid, which I’m taking now. Supposedly works pretty well, but needs to be started within 5 days of onset. Otherwise, chicken soup, LOTS of water, increase vitamin C to 3-4,000 mg/day and take Zicam asap to stop viral replication. Hope you don’t have it!

Are you in the high risk category to develop serious Covid-19?

 

[uconnfan68]

Exactly what I was going to recommend in both instances.

For the soup, I get a quart of chicken and rice with no onions or scallions from our local Chinese place and I swear it has medical qualities to it. Always makes me feel better.

It’s the fentanyl.

 

[Edward Sargent]

Late last night, I woke up with a wicked sore throat and have slogged through today in a general sense of yuck (low fever, aches, headache, etc). Compounded to this is my seasonal oak allergies, which are sky high due to all the gross stringy stuff and dust everywhere.

Normally, I wouldn't care, but I'm chaperoning a school trip to DC starting early on Monday through late Thursday and need to recoup fast.

What's your quick fix remedy?

Test for Covid. There also is no real remedy for a "cold". I always say take some medications for a cold and it lasts 7 days don't take anything and it lasts a week. But do test for Covid, it is rampant right now.

 

[uchusky32]

My dad's "cold medicine" was whiskey, lemon jiuce, and honey. He swore by it.

Oddly enough, to people outside the family, he bragged about never being sick.

It's called a Hottie Tottie. Named by grandma's throughout the ages.

 

[Edward Sargent]

I took a covid test around lunch time and it came back negative, I had covid in December, if that makes a difference.

What's weird is that I had a nasty cold just three weeks ago, so the timing of this is strange. Obviously there's a variety of cold viruses, but I haven't been double whammy-ed with colds this quickly since my first year of teaching. Makes sense though, since I imagine all of our immune systems have been out of practice these last few years.

I definitely feel guilt/shame even though this is totally out of my control. If I miss part of or all of the trip, it will be more taxing for the other teachers (just six of us in total), so maybe one option is take a train down Tuesday to give it another day's rest and just wear a mask all trip to avoid infecting others.

Test again and people are reporting getting Covid 2 or three times. The other thing we forget is that we wore masks for a year and some of us still do in certain indoor situations. We also didn't go out a lot so we weren't exposed to the normal soup of bugs and pollen. My wife had the first symptom free pollen season of her life.

 

[Deepster]

Airborne, Zicam, Coldeez, Emergenc-e. Neti pot your sinuses and take one of those zinc cold stoppers. And plenty of fluids with electrolytes.

 

[Hoophound]

My dad's "cold medicine" was whiskey, lemon jiuce, and honey. He swore by it.

Oddly enough, to people outside the family, he bragged about never being sick.

An online remedy is ginger, honey, lemon juice and a good dose of cayenne pepper made into a hot drink taken a shot at a time. My daughter was really sick several years back and even though she was only 8-9 years old at the time, she promised she’d slam a shot of that mixture if I made it for her. Within minutes of downing it her ears unclogged, nose started draining and her hacking cough was 80% gone. She went from a train wreck to happy in 20 minutes.

The shot of cayenne was probably the key and I’ve used it with some success for my own congestion since.

Otherwise, my 6th grade science teacher said to mix 1 part OJ with 5 parts water and drink like a gallon a day and in 48 hours most sicknesses flush away.

 

[CCSUblue]

Have an aunt that at the first sign of a cold would stand at the kitchen sink and drink a gallon of water. Swore by it. Can't comment on effectiveness.

 

[Kathy]

Late last night, I woke up with a wicked sore throat and have slogged through today in a general sense of yuck (low fever, aches, headache, etc). Compounded to this is my seasonal oak allergies, which are sky high due to all the gross stringy stuff and dust everywhere.

Normally, I wouldn't care, but I'm chaperoning a school trip to DC starting early on Monday through late Thursday and need to recoup fast.

What's your quick fix remedy?

Lots of Covid around and doesn't matter if you had it in December. Considering a trip to DC with students - try and get a PCR - the rapid are good but I have known some that tested negative a couple times with the rapid, but PCR was positive.

 

[2Infinity]

Are you in the high risk category to develop serious Covid-19?

There is one thing that could be considered borderline, which is why I decided to take the Pax.

 

[CL82]

My dad's "cold medicine" was whiskey, lemon jiuce, and honey. He swore by it.

Oddly enough, to people outside the family, he bragged about never being sick.

It’s some logic to that. Citrus is it immune system booster. Gargling with alcohol piece mouthwash has been shown to knock down a cold yes started early enough. Really wouldn’t drinking whiskey be more or less the same thing. I believe honey is an antibacterial as well.

 

[Greedo]

edit- you dont get a fever with the common cold but you do with covid or the flu....godspeed.

My son had a 103 fever back in the fall. We took him to the doctor and had him tested for COVID and the flu, negative for both. The COVID test was PCR.

Edit to add: Emergen-c works really well for me. Get the immune + with zinc.

 

[2Infinity]

The Zinc idea (Zicam, Cold-eez, Airborne) has worked numerous times when I've felt cold-like symptoms coming on, along with doubling your normal water intake.

 

[Peacefrog]

That’s good news but I would say to keep testing daily. My daughter’s boyfriend was symptomatic and tested negative for 3-4 days before ultimately testing positive. If it’s just a cold I agree with the zinc recommendations. I am also not a big believer in homeopathic remedies but Coldeeze consistently work for me if I get it early.