Cold...

[hannahjo]

I think I might be coming down with a cold� I've got a busy few days coming up though and really don't want to be ill!!! Has anyone got any tips on how to beat a cold before it gets bad? Many thanks.

[kikimon]

im afraid not much you can do to stop a cold but i suggest drink lots of fluids and if you can get a bowl of hot water and steam in the evenings, this will keep your pores open and your sinusses clear. eat citrus fruits too, lots of vitamin c. good luck

[jeanette1976]

Also, eat lots of chillies to sweat it out before hand and take lots of baths... and don't forget the citrus fruit... I've not had a bad cold for year and thankfully, only caught the flu once when I was about 10yrs old!

[China Doll]

I always take a few vitamin C tablets for a a couple of days when I feel one coming, seems to do the trick.

[chazza]

Get some echinacea tablets from Holland and Barrett (highly recommended by GPs) and also take some zinc, vitamin C, multivitamins, garlic and an anti histimine.

Drink lots of water too as it is supposed to shorten the length of the cold

[Backdrifter]

I don't mean to sound too dismissive but a lot of the above advice won't have much, if any, effect. The steaming is good, not because of pores opening but simply that viruses aren't good at higher temperatures - part of the reason we associate colds with cold wet weather is that cold viruses like those conditions. That's why the steaming, and hot drinks (yes, in this weather!) are good.

Zinc that you can actually get into your throat, either by a drink, powdered form or a suckable/chewable tablet, is very good - it's one of the few things that's been shown to have an actual biochemical mechanism for de-activating cold viruses.

Someone said about GPs recommending echinachea? That conflicts with research findngs I read about 2 years ago saying that no evidence had yet been found for any positive effect of echinachea. But make your own mind up. It's never seemed to do anything for me. I've done quite a bit of research on the common cold (I've been writing a book about it), and here's something I bet no-one here will believe - there has NEVER been any evidence to support the idea that vitamin C does anything to keep colds at bay or lessen the symptoms. Citrus fruit and other vitmain C rich foods are good as it is an important vitamin for lots of other things but nothing's ever been found to support the notion that it helps to battle colds.

Unfortunately, given that you're busy for a few days, the other helpful thing to do is rest and take it easy - but it sounds like that's not going to be possible for you. And, ultimately - as has been said - once you have the cold, all you can do via the above suggestions is make yourself as comfortable as possible and keep the symptoms under some control but you can't escape it.

[hannahjo]

Thanks for all your advice guys� I�ve actually just been outside of my artic temperature air conditioned office for an hour and feel soooo much better! But I�ll be following some of your advice anyway just in case the cold creeps back!

[chazza]

Well they definitely work for me which is why I'm recommending them! I never get the cold when i'm taking echinacea, and before I discovered it, i took the other things I recommended and it shortened the length and lessened the severity of my colds.


Maybe they work for some people and not for others? I think it's worth a try anyway!

[Backdrifter]

That was quite a shopping list of things you recommended there and unless someone just happens to have all those lying around I'd advise against shelling out on all that lot just for a few initial cold symptoms. Plus, echinacea doesn't exactly come cheap for something that has all-over-the-place research trial results and inconsistent results among its users. It's great that it seems to work for you but there's no guarantee it'd work for other people. Hot drinks, some steaming, some zinc, get some rest - that's all you need. If you're on a reasonable diet you should be getting all your vitamins anyway - multivitamins should only be used in special circumstances.

One of the best ways of cold prevention is to be a bit more sensible with hygiene. It doesn't take much - making sure you wash your hands if you've come off public transport or have been out & about - people can be a bit clueless with simple stuff like that. No, it won't prevent breathing in someone's sneezed-out or coughed-up viruses but it will eliminate the hand-to-hand transfers.