PersonalFriday, 30 March 2007 07:54 pm
Home remedies for the common cold
Wontons, anyone?
I am still suffering the common cold and these are my home remedies which I find works for me.
- Drinking lots of water - the body loses a lot through the mucus and phlegm; peeing a lot gets rid of the toxins and reduces fever.
- You are not supposed to drink cold drinks because it exacerbates the coughing but it relieves hot flushes and fever. Depending on how I feel at the time, it’s a choice of the lesser of two evils.
- Breathing in steam with a little bit of Vicks helps a lot. Chinese parents would say to not shower when you are sick, but the shower steam clears my sinuses. Relieves some of the body aches too.
- Hot Toddy - an English concoction of brandy or whiskey with warm water and honey. It soothes the throat and makes me sleepy. Mili taught me this.
- A little of alcohol is good to help me sleep, but I know not to drink like I would normally. It weakens the immune system.
- I don’t smoke regularly anymore but this is an obvious no-no. I don’t know how some smokers can continue smoking when they’re coughing their lungs out. Any kind of smoke - burning, BBQ, cigarettes or incense gives me a coughing fit and runny nose instantly.
- I find it easier to fall asleep if I sleep in a semi-upright position, like on a reclined car seat, or with high double-pillows, especially when I’m coughing badly. Neck pain is possible but a good night sleep is worth it.
- Avoiding the TV and computer - concentrating on the screens give me a headache.
- Vicks Vaporub really helps, and so does strong mints. The mints help soothe a sore throat too.
All that and moderate amounts of Cold+Flu tablets - I don’t like feeling high all the time, especially when I’m at work. It just doesn’t feel right. Heh. I should be back 100% hopefully tomorrow - it’s the weekend! 
How do you treat the common cold?
13 Responses to “Home remedies for the common cold”
Leave a Reply
You might also be interested in these
- Being cold and single
- Fever cures, anyone?
- Cold shoulder-ed and new opening?
- Winter is the time
- I’m a blog whore?!
I forgot all about hot toddy:).I was wondering how come you knew about it until i read the next sentence.Hahaha…glad it worked for you,the alcohol helps you to passoutasleep huh.
btw,when I was still doing my pack-a-day, I find that cigarette smoke when exhaled through the nose clears up the snot…but if done too much will make your chest feels like its been sat on by an elephant.Now,even walking into the pub makes me feel like I’m going to suffocate - can’t imagine I’d ever be saying this,but can’t wait till july when it is all smoke-free indoors ala california style.
I got into vicks vaporub as well now!You can use it when you steam your face - even better.And lau hau eew (nutmeg oil) is traditionally penang…vicks have some of it as well
Too bad i also don’t know what is the best remedy as i hardly got flu but when i do usually i do take bath and just take the flu medicine. ANyway hope u get well soon and shud be ok by this weekend.
When I’m sick with a cold or whatever, I usually drink a lot of cordial. Though water should probably be better, most of my colds tend to come with a sore throat, and nothing will go down but cordial. I end up gagging and coughing water back up. It’s odd.
I also sleep up-right, I cannot lay down when I’m sick. I end up feeling like I’m going to choke and die or something, I find I can’t breathe properly. My neck hurts soooo much after but I’d rather have neck pain than lack of sleep.
Even when I’m not sick, perfumes, smoke and all that smelly crap don’t go well with me, but when I’m sick, oh boy. I HATE smelly crap when I’m sick.
Drinking lots and lots and lots of water, sleep, and Clarinase. Then grab my phone and SMS everyone, moaning about how miserable I am, and wait till they send me back sympathetic SMSes. Lol.
Hmmm… all i did when I get cold is… get plenty of sleep… like really plenty of sleep…
then my recovery kinda speeds up.. ahahahaha.. that just works for me lar.
plenty of sleep. plenty of water. plenty of TLC helps a lot. hot hot soup. If you want a cheap fix, use wasabi in moderate amounts to clear the nose (for 1 sec).
Drinking a lot of hot water helps. Pi Pa Gao works for me, only in this method: Put it very very thick (but not ‘neat’) in very hot water. The water must be just hot enough not to scald you.. anything cooler than that not good enough.. must be really hot, just not too hot to scald you. It really clears the nose and throat and makes one feel really good…
rest alot.
u shdnt b blogging bah…
when i’m down with cold, the only thing i’d do is to stay in the whole day burying myself under layers of blankets till i get better. not sure abt you guys, but it somehow worked for me… if not, i’ll just pop those purple pills and get high…
get well soon.
sourrain: for some reason, I’m turned off now by the smell of Tiger Palm even though I’ve used it a lot when I was a kid. Maybe that’s why.
Smoke-free indoors is actually quite good - I love clubbing in these environs.
DeV|LisH: thank you!
Christina: if drinking cordial helps get the amount of water that you need, then it’s all good. I prefer those instant sugarcane/chrysanthemum tea mixes that you mix in with water.
bunnygoeszen: hahah now that would be annoying.
robin: if you can sleep in all day then good lah. I wished I didn’t have to work this whole week. Heheh.
rationalneurotic: I might try the wasabi and pi-pa-gao in hot water - sounds logical.
mf: perhaps, but force of habit lah. Hahah!
explicist: basically you believe in sweating it out. That would work too but I don’t like feeling damp from the sweat. As for those pills, sometimes it’s very tempting just to take them when you don’t really need to.
Hi. I really like your blog. Was wondering if you want to add it to my directory? Thanks Shelly
Weblog index
I find that if I get drunk I usually get better. lol. But if I can’t get drunk, I settle for a lot of gatorade. It helps with the electrolytes.
When i am feeling sick (or even just a bit flat or run-down) I love nothing more than a nice bath! It helps me relax, it feels great, and it often clears up the nose, if only temporarily. If you’ve got a bath at home, i recommend you try it!
shelly: haha I do know about Gatorade being good to have after a drinking session - eases the hangover the next day. But I didn’t know it’s good for the cold as well.
girlstar7: yeah it’s the steam effect - wonder how would it feel if you mix in a gob of Vicks into the bath water????