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Thu 12 Feb, 2004 12:32 am
What are some really good remedies for treating a cold?
I've managed to avoid the worst colds for the last year by taking a couple of vit C tablets every day.
As far as I know though, the only treatment is aspirin for the aches (or a suitable alternative), fluids and sleep.
I have found zinc to work. There have been times when everyone in my house is getting a cold, and I don't because my multivitamin has the RDA of zinc in it.
Zinc is also supposed to shorten the length of it when started at the onset of a cold.
Zinc, from what I understand, boosts the immune system. So it's not actually fighting the cold, but allowing your immune system to fight the cold better.
A hot bath, lots of sleep and over the counter medicine that will dry the nasal pasages, so you can breathe, ahhhhhhhh!
There is a Canadian company that makes a cold product called Cold FX, which is made from an extract of North American ginseng. Right now the company is in the middle of a US FDA clinical trial with Cold FX. The one thing that makes it different than other herbal remedies is that each dose contains the same amount of the active ingredient.
I've never tried it myself, but I know it has been in the media quite a bit here as being effective at diminishing cold and flu symptoms, if not eliminating them.
Here is a quote from their web site:
Quote:What is COLD-fX®
* Scientifically proven to strengthen the immune system to prevent the onset of virus and reduce risk by 89%
* COLD-fX® is backed by 10 years of laboratory studies and clinical trials, that show COLD-fX® is a safe natural and effective remedy against all forms of germs such as virus, bacteria and fungi through strengthening one's own immune function.
* COLD-fX® works to protect against all strains of virus not just one strain like the flu shot.
Where you can get it:
http://www.cvtechnologies.com/coldfx/wheretobuy.htm
For reasons still unknown, chicken soup is suppose to help.
I drink orange juice every day and I don't get sick often.
Cold-fx is good stuff, it has to be. It was invented in Edmonton and at the moment I'm convinced it is the coldest damn place on the planet.
Please hurry up and get here summer!
Thanks, keep'em comin!
I hear about edmonton just about everyday on the new, only been there twice, but be damned if I could ever find my way around.
Echinacea.
At the first sign of a cold take 3 - 5 softgels per day until the symptoms subside.
That prescription will all depend on the brand you are recommending. I've used echinacea when I was just at the start of a cold. I had just the slightest hint a cold was coming on and it did squat for me.
It pretty easy to find your way around here, most of the city is built on a grid pattern with streets and avenues, going from 1st street and 1st avenue in the far southeast of the city to the largest numbers in the far northwest corner. Jasper avenue (100 avenue) and 100 Street being the dead centre of town.
Cease taking vitamin C (and healthy foods in general) once you've got a cold. The virus needs vitamins (aka cofactors) to replicate. Junk food is as bad for it as it is for you.
Take hot chicken soup slowly, otherwise see your doctor.
At the first sign of a cold I take echinacea and zinc. I also use Zicam, a zinc nasal spray, that you can get in the super market. The zinc makes me feel ill for about 1/2 hour, but after that, I always feel better.
I don't take the echinacea for more than a couple of days. Read somewhere that overuse can decrease the efficency of your immune system.
Patiodog, you da man!
Like Turner, zinc works for me. Lozenges are better than tablets. I've also used vitamine c, to no noticible effect. Thanks to Patiodog, I now understand why.
At a certain point in the progress of a cold, a hot concoction of about equal parts lemon juice, honey, and blended whisky followed immediately by a nights sleep is helpful.
Not sure you are right, Phoenix. Is it possible you are raising your body temperature above the tolerance level of the virus?
Not sure, but I had used that method when I was a kid, and it always seemed to improve my health!
Some studies have shown that elevated body temperature increases the activity of the immune system -- hence fever. If true, its really a very simple and elegant regulatory mechanism. So, maybe not so much about hurting the virus (which is just pirating your cellular machinery to replicate itself, anyway) as about enhancing your ability to deal with it.
roger wrote:Not sure you are right, Phoenix. Is it possible you are raising your body temperature above the tolerance level of the virus?
The "tolerance level" of the virus is not going to be any different than that of a human being's.
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