What do use?
 

I am currently sitting here sniffling, sneezing, coughing and spluttering.
Generally feeling sorry for myself.
However things need to be done, so the Vicks Sinex nasal spray comes out, tub of Vicks embrication by the bed for use at nighty night nights time.
Oh and these new fangled tissues that Mrs Leader has acquired for me, enriched with Balsam, Aloe Vera and vitamin E.
Stops the old hooter getting too red and sore apparently.
I’ll let you know how I get on.

However, my question is this, apart from the above, what old wives tales, potions and lotions, and so forth do you use to relieve the symptoms of the good old common cold?

Any other old remedies could also be mentioned if you wish.
I remember years ago when my Grandparents were alive, they used to grow all sorts of things in the back garden.
The only one that I can remember for sure was Comfrey that they used to boil and then apply to bruised appendages.


:sad:

ML,

Try a good shot of whiskey and then off to bed with a hot water bottle. You'll sweat like a b*****d but the cold should be gone within 24 hours.

PS, Mrs Leader will probably want to sleep elsewhere, unless she is a good swimmer!!

Vage!

The juice of a lemon, honey to taste, a generous slug of dark rum, hot water - may not make you better, but it will make you feel better:ok:
Of the herbals. echinacea is supposed to be good for colds. You can get it in teabags or pills.
Good luck, keep milking the sympathy by moaning gently at regular intervals...

Common Cold?
 

1> Don't take it to work with you!

2> According to Mrs Hat, men don't get colds, they get the flu (as a minimum) rapidly worsening to double pneumonia.

3> The sore throat (according to my friendly MO) is not usually the result of a throat infection, but is often caused by the sinuses (sp?) or nasal passages continually leaking mucous into the throat (nice!).

4> Notwithstanding 3, above, I have always found the best throat treatment to be DEQUACAINE (Not Dequadine). I think this is the only over-the-counter treatment that has a local anaesthetic (Benzocaine) and it really works! (No I am not on commission!). Give it a try. Although it won't cure the other symptoms, you should at least be able to swallow the Whiskey suggested by Vage.

5> DON'T TAKE IT TO WORK WITH YOU!

ML
I thought that you knew the only real cure is a couple of engine running offloads followed by a trip to the CS chamber!

"Safeguard, Safeguard " Hot whisky with a spoonful of sugar..

:ok:

Gran's Old Cure, take just before bed

Chop raw onion into pint of milk, simmer for about 5 min, discard onion, drink liquid while hot. You'll sweat like a mover at a loadie re-union. :)

Eating raw onion is good for sore throats. Enjoy.

Echinacea and Garlic tablets, as long as you take them when you first feel that grotty sensation in the back of your throat.
Fortunately for those at work the garlic is odourless (and therefore, I guess, probably ineffective... but it works, even if only for the placebo effect)

Agree with SirToppamHat, don't take it to work! :sad:

Also, whisky works a treat in some hot water with a little sugar - termed "Hot Toddy". A few straight single malts will not actually cure you but they'll make such that you don't care. :rolleyes:

Favourite rubbing-on stuff though is Tiger Balm, the dark coloured mix from Singapore. Saw me, the wife and the kids through many a sniffle over the years. Smear it on your top lip. Cures everything from sniffles to tiger bites - but you've got to believe in it! :)

:ok:

1. Get half pint glass.

2. Boil kettle.

3. Get a sachet of Lemsip Nutter Turbo Bastard or whatever the strongest variety is called.

4. Slice a goodly thick piece of lemon, put into glass.

5. Add a dessertspoon of cut comb honey.

6. Add sachet of LNTB

7. Add one measure of Jockistani Whisky.

8. And one of Drambuie.

9. Make up to half pint with hot water from previously boiled kettle.

10. Sip slowly.

11. Don't do this at work!!

And then squirt a Karvol capsule into a pyrex bowl, add a pint of almost boiling water, get a towel, then stick your head over the bowl and the towel over your head to stop the vapour escaping. Breathe, sneeze, cough, splutter and get the nice Karvol fumes up your tubes... Anyone watching will probably think you've gone mad - but WTF!

ML,

Just so happens my sinuses are well blocked and I'm almost deaf as a post in one ear.
Went to the local chemist yesterday and the Pharmacist presented me with a small white jar marked "Menthol" and "Irritant". You only need a little he said.
Got home prepared the bowl of almost boiled water and had the towel ready. Sprinkled a (generous) pinch of the crystals into the bowl and - JEEZUS - nearly blew my head off . I'm still almost deaf but my eyes have had a good watering !!

Sorry to here your not feeling A1 G1 Z1 but I recommend:

1. Go to the pub.
2. Drink 15 Pints of strong beer followed by 15 whisky chasers.
3. Go to bed.
4. Wake up feeling like shi* but you will anyway.

Get well soon.

Bugge*

Sorry about the spelling mistake!! Let that be a lesson to me to read the damn thing first.

Echinacea and vitamin C in the morning - after the single malt the night before, of course.

vitamin c+zinc 1 mane 1 nocte
Fluids like Lemsip with honey.


WATCH THE DOSEAGE OF PARACETAMOL

This year’s Cold isn’t fun at all.

I’ve managed to work through Colds for the last ten years but this one is a complete bu99er. I’ve taken eight days off and I’m self-employed, so losing money.


It’s not ‘flu though – I once had Flu and that stopped me ever saying that I had ‘a touch of Flu’…..someone told me that if you could climb a fence to pick up a fifty pound note, then it wasn’t Flu.

But this year’s cold is a real bu99er

Not that I’m a tight B’stard or anything, but I hate spending money on corporate driven potions, with bright shiny packaging and slick logos such as B]“this linctus is so strong that you only need to take half of one millicapsule every 74 years diluted with a quarter of a thimble full of water and you will instantly turn into a ravishing fit healthy lothario and live for another two hundred and forty years”.
No time to get to a chemist yesterday, so I thought that I would run with what we had in the house.

Started off with Gainseys’ Grans’ old “Onion in a pint of milk” trick.

Gainsey, I’ve got to ask, How old did your Gran live to be?

Drinking this I guess she didn’t make thirty-five!


Beeayeate – found an old tub of tiger balm in the cupboard – best before 1993!
Still smells as good as I remembered, so on it went.
Mrs Leader was then despatched to the kitchen to search for the fish slice, to aid my removal from the ceiling.

Beags.
I know you mostly speak words of wisdom, so I eventually tried your method – twice.

Didn’t give a toss after the second one was consumed, so I guess it must work.

Must be on the downhill slope now, as my voice has bu@@ered off today.

I’ll keep you updated.

More sympathy needed please.

:sad:

My nurse daughter advises: at the first sign of trouble, take 2 paracetamol and one ibuprofen every 4 hours (max 8 and 4 respectively per 24 hours). Paracetamol brings down the fever and ibuprofen kills the aches - or maybe it's the other way round.

A good hot toddy is whisky (or whiskey) mixed equally with undiluted lemon squash, heated in the microwave. Seems to work well when taken with above (not necessarily sound medical advice).

My mum used to make a linctus for my dad by sprinkling sugar over sliced onions and leaving in the fridge for a couple of days to go syrupy. My dad used to prefer Liqufruita (sp?), the one made with garlic, more garlic and most garlic. He would sniffle and stink for days.

BTW Muppet, the title of this thread doesn't make any sense, so you're potentially losing much valuable advice.

Zoom says A good hot toddy is whisky (or whiskey) . . .

Don't use whiskEy! That's Irish is that. You turn green, get a strange longing for potatoes and become very argumentative. :rolleyes: :hmm: :hmm:

:ok:

Zoom,
I know the thread title is cobblers.

What do you expect from someone in my condition.
However I have no idea how to change it.

Can anyone help?

Muppet,

Take Zoom's nursie daughter 3 times a day - then you'll feel much better!!!

:p