So, having reached for a tissue for the third time in 5 minutes, I have a sneaking suspicion I'm getting a cold. Great. I thought I'd got through this winter without one, but then I stopped taking my zinc tablets (placebo or not, they do seem to work) and now this...

*resigns self to feeling lousy for a while*

So what's everyones favourite ways to survive the inevitable?

When I was home, a decent sized glass of whiskey did the trick, but now I'm an overdraft ridden student, that isn't an option. (Not to mention the fact I firmly believe keeping spirits in a student house is asking for trouble!)

*Digs out herbal teas and decongestant, and carries on with maths coursework.*

how about honey and lemon? put a big dollop of honey in a mug, add boiling water and then squeeze a little lemon into it. I know that works for sore throats and coughing but it can also make you feel better when ill.

Also, SLEEP!

but not too much, because then it makes it harder to get up and stay active. so move around a bit as well, don't just stay in one place covered in tissues and blankets.

Hope you get better!

Being slap bang in the middle of a horrendous cold (thanks to OH who brought it home from work last week and then spent the week at home with a chest infection)...

My number one is Lemsip. I think the hot drink and paracetamol is very soothing and paracetamol makes me drowsy anyway so although I don't sleep I do feel more relaxed. This time I've had really sore joints and skin too so it eases the aches.

OH brought home a jar of Vicks Vapo'rub (!) tonight - haven't had that since I was a kid and my Mum used to rub it on my top lip which was usually so frayed with blowing my nose that it stung like a burn! OH made a bumbling gesture to help me rub it on my chest but found himself swiftly out-manoeuvered and I did it myself ( apologies for smutty content). I honestly don't find it helps and it smells ghastly.

I read somewhere you can try taking huge doses of Vitamin C ans zinc together but I never have any in the house and am too sick to go out. When I feel better I forget. OH takes all kinds of painkillers, vitamins and potions but his cold lasts exactly the same as mine does without.

I think you just have to ride it out

Oh and I always try to get out into the cold air and go for a walk as I'm sure that kills off more bugs than being wrapped up inside.

Interesting you should say that - when I have a cold, I always use Vicks Vaporub, for me, it's far and away the best thing. Apart from the sniffles, you can tell when I have a cold, you can smell the Vicks at about 500 metres...

If I really *have* to get through the day without blowing my nose every 5 minutes, then I use Contact 400 tablets. They really do dry me up and it lasts for several hours. I don't use them unless I have to though because I find that they just stave it off rather than cure it and when I stop taking them, the cold comes out.

For a cough, last autumn I discovered Potter's Pholcodine cough pastilles. I've never bothered before with cough medicines but I was driving everyone mad so I asked the pharmist to recommend something and it stopped my cough within a few minutes and lasted about 3 hours

Hope everybody gets better soon, especially if you're doing exams or have got on something else that's important

Know how you feel lottie, daughter brought horrible virus coldy thing back from school trip to Germany. Eldest vanished to Grandparents and holed up in the front room in an attempt to avoid it . Those of us that caught it are still doing battle.

I've done the Vick bit, Day and Night Nurse all the usual suspects and nothing has touched it. I even bought one of those electronic vapourisers. Just wish I could smell it

Paracetamol or lemsip usually do the trick. There are some pretty hefty lemsips on the market these days and they do help you to feel better.

Am just wondering what to do with elderly (87) mother who seems to have picked up a nasty virus. I think it'll just have to be paracetamol because she's on a lot of other things.

Best of luck Tamsin - looks like you'll just have to ride it out.

Brisk walk in bracing fresh air followed by hot bath with some nice bubbles. Temporary relief only, but nice while it lasts

Plenty of clear fluids - hot squash is nice

Regular doses of paracetamol and nurofen

Soak feet in bowl of hot water

Apply hot flannel to face

Vaseline to nose and lips to prevent soreness.

Prop yourself up in bed with lots of pillows

Resign yourself to a few disturbed nights of poor quality sleep and plan to do less during the day to make up for it

Solidarity from your fellow sufferers

There is not very much paracetamol in Lemsip, so I take the cheap paracetamol, and make proper lemon and honey drinks.
All of you be careful when you take cold/flu remedies that you don't have more than the recommended dose of paracetamol. It is in a lot of remedies and is not a good thing to overdose on.
Beverley.

I've got the same thing and feel lousy - Lemsip seems to work the best for me, and lots of the ordinary blue pack Lip Salve (not the menthol stuff, that stings like mad) on my poor old red nose. I'm off for a sleep now with a cup of tea and a hot water bottle.

Put a bit of vaseline round your nose every time you blow it so it doesn't get all chapped

Hope you feel better soon xx

Another vote here for Lemsip

I swear by Echinacea every time - mostly it helps boost my immune system so I can fight off the cold, but if I do go down with a cold, then it's usually much milder and shorter than without taking echinacea........plus making sure you get a good night's sleep, drinking plenty of fluids, and eating healthily (especially vitamin C)......but it's the echinacea I fall back on for me...... (Bioforce does it in liquid form - 15 drops in a little water - the bottle seems very expensive and there are cheaper brands on the market but I don't think they're quite as effective, and a whole bottle usually lasts for a good while - as soon as I feel the cold "warnings" or even symptoms starting to lessen I ease off again so I don't use it every day, except before and during a cold....)

I swear by Beechams flu powders, I keep a box of 10 blackcurrant and a box of 10 hot lemon in the cupboard. I probably only average two colds a year, but they always start on a day when it's impossible to get to a chemists

I take them religiously once I realise I've got a cold, 4 a day for 3 days and a couple of days'-worth spare in case the cold drags on, but it rarely seems to! They make two sorts, one is more expensive but has more of the active ingredients. As Bev says, don't mix them with any other remedies (eg Sudafed) as some of these also contain paracetamol, and if you've bought the stronger flu powders you're already at your maximum daily dose.

Then lots of hot drinks, a hot wheat and lavender pillow round my neck, and an extra pillow in bed so I sleep more upright.

Hope you feel better soon

I think that almost all remedies will contain either paracetamol, aspirin or ibuprofen, so there's no need to pay a lot for the 'well known' brands. Medicine like Lemsip and Beechams powders sell by virtue of their 100 years of clever marketing, not because of the active ingredients!

Sudafed is great for drying up the nose, but the old Sudafed contains pseudoephidrine (spelling?) which can put up your blood pressure and make it difficult to sleep. As a long time hay fever sufferer, I've tried just about everything you can find in a pharmacist!

My ukrainian colleagues told me that hot vodka with black pepper works wonders. Well, they would, wouldn't they!

I always think that a day in bed is the best cure. The cold virus doesn't like cold, that's why they infect your nasal passages, so keep very warm, drink plenty of fluids and sweat it out for a day.

Steve

PS Anyone remember the old adverts for Tunes where a person with a 'cold in da dose' takes Tunes and proclaims "Tunes!" in a loud irritating voice to the poor soul that happens to be near the git at the time.

I remember that!

I try and keep warm by the fire when I have a cold. Lemsip is OK but hot orange juice is cheaper...provided you've already fired plenty of paracetemol/aspirin/drug of choice into you

p.s - wasn't there another old "tunes" ad where the woman with the cold was putting on loads of perfume, and the man came to pick her up at the door and fainted?

Echinacea and high dose vitamin C for me. And at night, honey and lemon in hot water with a generous spoonful of ground ginger. Works a treat.
But I rarely get colds because I start everyday with a couple of spoonfuls of lemon juice (Jif) in hot water and take a multi-vitamin and mineral tablet every day.
PS the echinacea is so good I got rid of shingles in two weeks with it.

Yes, I remember the Tunes advert too.

I have to admit lemsip does nothing for me. Honey and lemon is good, plus normal dose paracetamol ( I think lemsip has only a half dose in - although maybe they vary).

AnnC - that's interesting, because I start each day with lemon in hot water (real lemon, not jif ), and I get quite a lot of colds. It must be something in the jif! Or the other stuff that you take makes a difference.

Echinacea is good, and I seem to think the bioforce drops are better than other kinds too.

I seem to have got lucky this time, and be recovering relatively quickly, but then I tend to be pretty resiliant.

Have been taking things easy, but I can't really seem to stop and wallow in being ill when I can't afford to miss lectures etc. Feeling slightly bad about passing the germs on though.

I had a German speaking assessment yesterday where I was completely out of it. (Paracetomol had worn off, resulting in a return of my fever.) German teachers says I made less grammatical mistakes than normal, although kept using English pronouciation. Makes me think I'm right in saying I speak better German when I'm not thinking about it...

I can't take lemsip, or any of those drinky-cure things. They just make me feel nauseous. My biggest cold medicine complaint though it that they all seem to contain caffine. So I'm either awake all night because breathe, or awake half the night bouncing off the ceiling due to the caffine. Thats why I tend to end up mixing decongestant with paracetomol. Most of the combination medicines don't contain as high a dose of the active ingredient.

Sympathies to fellow cold-sufferers, and thanks for the sympathy given.

I like Tesco max strength cold and flu tablets... the only thing that's been working for me this time round! Although I've been taking Ibuprofen too, so I'm pretty out of it