How to survive a cold!

[Snuffan]

The cold. It hits unexpectedly. It's a merciless curse that hits young and old, rich and poor. I think. They suck and they make you feel like a miserable pile of shit.

Soo, I thought we could have a thread for sharing tips on how to survive, or just share home remedies for the symptoms. You probably won't need this thread in your everday life, but when you need it...
You. Will. Need. It.

SO, do you have any remedies or tips to share?

Tip 1: Drink. A lot. Drinking helps you with several things. For startes, it helps you flush out the bacteria / virus through peeing (yay, peeing!). It also helps to dissolve mucus! Yay, less mucus! It also rehydrates you... as usual, and usually helps with eventual headaches. Tea and soups are good too. Fluid is good, warm fluid is better.

Tip 2: Vitamines! Eating vitamines is the shizznizzle when you're sick. It helps your body battle the bacteria / virus and it makes you feel more energetic. Uh, a bit at least.
Don't eat those shitty vitamine pills you get in a tube. Eat a fruit! Orangess, peaches and apples are all good. Berries such as blueberry, strawberry and rasperry are good too.

Tip 3: Spices and salt. They are good. How the salt helps I have no freaking idea, honestly. Spices help you through dissolving mucus and raising your body temperature. A raised body temperature is good, because it helps you flush out the bacteria / virus. Again. You don't want the bacteria and virus. A spicy chicken soup is to recommend.

Tip 4: Try keeping warm. Again, sweating = flushing out bacteria and virus. You'll feel like a boiled hotdog, but you'll get better sooner!

Tip 5: How to know if you're infected by bacteria or virus.
Spit some mucus out. No, seriously. Spit it out where you can see it (preferrably a toilet, a sink or a paper towel). If it's green or yellow, you've got yourself some nice bacterias in your body. Congrats! If it's white or grey, it's a virus.

Oh, and not to forget...
THE DELICIOUS MINT TEA!
Mint tea is one of those things that helps you flush out things and it dissolves mucus, and hydrates you, and all that jizz. If you can get a hold of some fresh green mint or peppermint leaves, brew some tea. Add some melissa for tastyness!
Step 1. Boil water. Master chef.
Step 2. Rub the leaves between your palms.
Step 3. Put the leaves in a container of some sort. Pour water over the leaves.
Step 4. Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
CONGRATULATIONS! You made some tea!

[Froken Keke]

I keep on like normal.

[redandblack64]

Hah! I found out about flushing out viruses and bacteria by accident. I was VERY close to getting sick after eating some poisoned/undercooked spaghetti, and found that my body temp dropped the next morning, my stomach was bloated, and I felt quesy. So, naturally, I decided to not eat anything for 10 hours, drink nothing but water, and walk several miles in 100 degree heat. By the time I got to my destination, I was covered in sweat, and flushed out the rest by peeing it out. Strangely, I the sweat fluid was... cloudy instead of clear (it got on the lens of my glasses, and it looked that way instead of the usual clear), and I felt better after doing that.

I was starving on the way back home, though, and had to force feed myself. My body gets too used to not eating anything but water sometimes.

[mitchellbravo]

Turn to sleep as a recreational activity. Sleeping helps your body repair itself, and also has the added benefit of making the time go faster (especially as there's not much else you can do).

Whenever I'm knocked down with something, that's about all I ever want to do, anyway. Maybe put some interesting (but not overwhelmingly intriguing) show on television or read some magazines, but mostly I just wind up sleeping.


Semi-related anecdote

Spoiler! :

The worst was back in March, I came home for spring break and out of nowhere had a horrible cough, no phlegm or anything, just this horrid hacking like something was caught in my throat. I had headaches from the constant coughing and it was so bad I could barely say ten words without having to cough. I left my house exactly once that whole break, and that was to go to the doctor. When I went back to school, it stayed with me for exactly two more full weeks. It was awful, I'd be hacking up a lung all through the night, my friends worriedly asking if I was alright. It got to be one of those things where everyone else feels worse than you do.

It got to where my throat was so fucked up from the constant coughing that if I coughed too hard, my epiglottis was like LOL I'M FLAPPIN and I would actually gag. Led to me having something that I imagine was similar to what an asthma attack must feel like, for about thirty seconds I couldn't take any air in or out and was just wheezing, honestly felt like something was stuck right in my eustachian tube. And I had a lot of mucous in my lungs that I couldn't cough up, so I had to sleep propped up in an almost seated position because transitioning from vertical to any other angle or vice versa would lead to the mucous resettling and moving around and give me this tickling cough again.

Taking honey lemon or lozenges or any kind of throat remedy didn't help, because the problem wasn't in my throat, it was a lung thing. But because I wasn't coughing up anything, the doctor didn't have anything to prescribe, really. Cough medicine didn't do anything, Nyquil should have helped but didn't even do much in the way of helping me sleep. I just had to wait until it was gone, and then it was gone.

Feel better soon, Snuffan!

[Ddraigeneth]

Tip 3: Spices and salt. They are good. How the salt helps I have no freaking idea, honestly. Spices help you through dissolving mucus and raising your body temperature. A raised body temperature is good, because it helps you flush out the bacteria / virus. Again. You don't want the bacteria and virus. A spicy chicken soup is to recommend.

Strong spices can be really nice when you're congested. I usually go with a spicy chili, while keeping a box of tissues handy. If I don't have spicy food around, I've even swallowed a spoonful of chili powder directly.

Nasal rinses, uncomfortable though they may be, can also be a big help to relieve sinus pressure sometimes.

[F-ck The Rest]

Have a fever?


**If you have had your fever for a couple of days (1-2), don't worry about it. It'll probably go away. Your body created it to dispel the unfortunate virus that decided to enter your body.

**"In our house, we will accept a daytime fever up to 103.5 degrees [Fahrenheit] without medication. We like to see it under 102 at night. This mostly comes from our worrisome nature as parents. When our kids were very little, we slept a lot better knowing the fever was down before bedtime. To reliably lower the fever, we used vitamin C and plenty of it. The biggest plus for vitamin C is that it is remarkably safe. Another advantage of high-dose vitamin C therapy is that, while it is an excellent antipyretic, vitamin C acts as a natural antibiotic and also strengthens the immune system. Vitamin C lowers a fever by eliminating its cause. The vitamin must be given very frequently and in sufficient quantity to get results. When sick, I think one should take vitamin C as often as humanly possible, even every ten minutes if necessary. Bowel tolerance and/or cessation of symptoms indicates sufficient quantity." ~http://www.doctoryourself.com/fever.html

**Keep warm! If you are shivering, then you need some blankets. Add enough until you're sweating, then sweat it out while drinking generous amounts of water.

**Fevers come with infection. A fever is the first sign that something is wrong.

**A body temperature of about 40*C means YOU IN DANGER GURLL

Staying hydrated is probably the biggest thing, so I'll reiterate it again to annoy you. You should feel as though you must generally have to pee all the time because you are drinking so much water/soup and eating so many veggies.

~lol this is my first and probably most helpful post on SJ so hi everyone :3

[Extreme5000]

Lol I don't get colds, but I got stomach flu, and I was throwing up like crazy.

[kevansevans]

I just deal with my colds. I tried those remidies when I had the Rhino Virus (Cold on steroids). Which lasted for an entire year. None of them worked. Also survide h1n1.

[Palutena]

Eeh. I get colds way to often. Like, so often, they don't bother me anymore and I just let it run its course. Just keep yourself warm, get plenty of fluids, and don't stress yourself.

And was it just me, or was Swine flu like, almost like a cold? I had Swine Flu 2 years ago, and it felt almost like a cold. Had it's obvious flu part, but it wasn't that bad for me..

[Snuffan]

LKSGJDLK, I'm asking this in panic right now actually. Is there anything to do when your ears are swollen? My ears are currently swelling like balloons, and they are not stopping. I burped earlier and started crying because it hurt my swollen-ness so much, HAHAHA. I've taken some of those... Uh, tsscch tsssccchhhs up the nose (sounds deliciously wrong), and I'm trying to sit upright. Buuut its not helping D:

EDIT: OH LE GREAT. if the infection spreads like 1 mm more I'll have to pierce my ear drum. GREAT FUN! So I'll be in one insane amount of pain for a few hours, then A LOT of pain for like one second and then just a little pain for a day or two. My cold is br00tal.

Feel better soon, Snuffan!

Thank you c:

[quote=Palutena]Eeh. I get colds way to often. Like, so often, they don't bother me anymore and I just let it run its course. Just keep yourself warm, get plenty of fluids, and don't stress yourself. [/quote]
You and me both. I have periods where I get so. many. colds. I'm too much of a baby to just "let them run their course". Hell, I just cried when I burped!
Maybe we'll grow toughened and strong like vikings.

[Nikkinoodles]

The most annoying thing about my colds is that colds always come with a stuffy head. It ends up feeling like my head is full of cotton wool and I can't absorb anything, not even TV or a simple book. In the last few years this had lead to me having to miss lectures as I can't absorb the information I'm being told and the notes I make are complete rubbish. I know because I tried this and ended up having to borrow someone else's notes to learn it all again. There's often nothing I can do to get rid of this although I've found a good hot shower and olbas oil (eucalpytus, mint and tea tree oil all combined I think) work well towards clearing my head.

[earlw]

I think that the best way to "survive" it is to hydrate yourself properly bordering drinking a lot.

You should also try those citrus fruits or juices as they hold much good to help you with your cold.

I like the 4th tip with keeping warm though the awkward feeling that you feel so sticky. I think that you would end up hitting the showers which I think is not that good.

[Ddraigeneth]

I think that you would end up hitting the showers which I think is not that good.

Hot showers can be great when you're sick. The steam can help to clear your head, and it washes away some of the germs that collect on your skin. On that note, washing all of your bedclothes once you start to get better is good for the same reason.

[Amante]

Definitely read this topic as "how to survive a child" at first. Yeah, I need to go to bed.

[ElSmitty]

Get a bunch of sleep.
Eat good food and take your vitamins.
Stay warm.
Wash your hands and cover your mouth when you cough. There's no need to give it to everyone you know.
Do all of this and your body will naturally take care of the virus you contracted.
And, I personally like to smoke marijuana. It's the only medicine I take when I have a cold.