“Please, HELP ME!!!

Man, I hate taking over-the-counter cold meds. I mean, they help, but then I get an upset stomach, so you're into the Pepto Bismal as well.

Anyone else joining me in the misery of a late spring cold? Hitting at JUST the right time to negate any exercising and conditioning I've been doing??????

Ughhhhhhhh-achooo!! hack, hack”

“Not me, just spring allergies. Ginger and mint tea made from scratch helps my nose, throat and rumbly stomach. Have any friends that could bring you the ingredients? Anything hot is good. You're sure it's not allergies? Here in the east, they were having an asthma epidemic due to the hot dry spring. Buddur sent us rain though, so we are better now.”

“Don't know where your're from, but get to a good chinese herb store. I take some stuff called "yinchiao"(YIN-CHOW). Comes in two forms, pill and the more effective and totally foul tasting extract. The stuff comes from several kinds of flowers and herbs. The claim is use it at the onset of a cold to turbo charge your own immune system into fighting the cold.
Works for most folks not all, but worth a try for the price, 3-5 dollars per 120 tablets.”

“Lizs I got a spring cold too. Just wait it out,only 7-10 days. Regarding excercise I always say that if the cold is above the shoulders then workout,if its below the neck then rest.”

“I had spring allergies, which has similar cold symptoms. You can ignore them and let them pass, but the runny nose part was giving me throat problems, so I take over the counter stuff, like sudifed.

I also used a regular nose spray with a steriod nose spray, cause I couldn't sleep at night without being able to breath normally.
After 3 days of regular nose spray, the steriod spray kicks in, then you stop using the regular nose spray, because it's addictive.”

“sleepy time tea, wild turkey, and lemon. Yum.”

“Well, I just did a 20-minute workout, split between the Stairmaster and the treadmill. Then the GOOD part! Sauna and whirlpool. Don't see any worse for wear. Didn't pass out on the Stairmaster!! Didn't even hack all over it! LOL!!! hack...hack.. achoo!!!!!!”

“I haven't felt good ever since the weather got hot.
I WANT WINTER BACK!!!!!”

“Lizs, the unfortunate part of colds is that pretty much anything you take to make yourself feel better will take a couple of days to reach full effectiveness. By then, your cold is starting to go away anyhow....

Having said that, taking 500-1000mgs of vitamin C daily when you feel your cold starting, along with Echinacea tincture(health food stores have it) will usually help kill it a little more quickly.

As a preventative measure, you might also try taking Ginseng & Garlic(you can get odourless now)... they've been shown to help boost your immune system as well as your metabolism and haven't got any nasty side effects either.

LH, be careful with the steriod nasal spray! It can cause thinning of the mucous membranes and nosebleeds. As well, the long-term effects on the immunologic responses of the respiratory passageways still aren't known. Corticosteroids can mask signs of infection and new ones can occur because of decreased resistance to localized infections during therapy.

Yeah, yeah, I'm so full of good news, aren't I?? ;->”

“Wow, MG, that was impressive! :^)

I always just drink green tea by the gallon.”

“each day(while you're sick) take:
50mg zinc
2 doses euchennachia(sp?) EXTRACT
2000mg vitamin C”

“Medic Girl, Are you trained to diagnose and prescribe meds. Are you licenced? I am really alarmed when people who are representing themselves as medical personel start prescribing meds without ever seeing a patient or at least asking about her symptoms. Did you ask her if her mucous was yellow? ( An indication of infection) Or clear? ( An indication of allergies) Do you have a stethoscope up to her chest to listen for wheezing? ( An indication of asthma)

As far as the megadose of Vitamin C goes, did you tell her this is a extremely high dose? Did you caution them that as of the year 2000 the American Heart Association is cautioning people against this megadose of Vitamin C because they have found that people who do this are showing up with thickened artery walls. (clogged arteries) Or how about that it can cause dependence or diarrehea. Did you tell them that chewable vitamin C can cause tooth enamel problems? Did you tell them if they did decide to do this, for goodness sakes, don't try to get this high dose from a multivitamin with iron, because high doses of iron can kill you. No you didn't.

Then you come along prescrbing meds from a health food store. Did you tell her about any side affects? What it is made of? Did you tell her that most products in a health food store are not FDA approved and because of this they do not have the stringent guidelines that pharmaceutical companys have. This means that the dose in each pill can vary significantly. Just because its labeled as all natural does not mean it is safe.

On top of all this, Lipstick Hiker comes along talking about meds that were probably prescribed by an MD with at least 12 years of training. Most medical personnel in the US believe that inhaled steroids do not have the side affects that steroids taken orally have. What if someone out in cyberspace who is being treated for asthma reads your post, gets scared and stops her steroid inhaler, has an asthma attack and dies. You really need to cover yourself and think before you post. If you were in the U.S. and made the same statement as above you could be sued, unless you are licensed to prescribe and diagnose. Even then you could be sued.

And anyone else out there who is considering taking advice from someone online. Really think about this and do research on what you are doing to your body first. The most dangerous people are those with a little bit of medical knowledge. I am also in the health care industry and I would never ever attempt to give medical advice of this kind over the internet And I do not know any coworkers who would either.

Medicgirl, I am not going to get in a flaming contest with you, but you really need to be more careful for your sake and others.”

“Under advise of legal council, I have no comment.”

“Yeah, just go pay your doctor $75 to write out a useless prescription. That's the ticket.”

“Willow, GEEZ, is all I have to say. Mellow out!!!

OK, I guess you feel I am the dolt who started this all. I was feeling miserable and wanted a little commiseration. As far as remedies, I take everything with a grain of salt (GOD, NOT LITERALLY!) . It's interesting to hear the remedies. You can read the same kinda stuff in magazines.

Maybe I better run before I tell you this. BEFORE going to the dr. on something that's a non-emergency, I first try to call my friend who's a public health nurse. YES, GASP, TRUE!! She hasn't steered me wrong yet. (Let's see, her "you can't do anything about a broken little toe, no use in seeing the dr.".... well, I am fine and saved hundreds in dr. bills!) And no, I wouldn't plan to sue her ass off if I got some bum advice. Geez, are you assuming all people in the world are @ssholes??? A great many, sure, but certainly not ALL!

That reminds me. Maybe you better not post here. I don't wanna see anything --NOTHING!!! -- on what might be the best hiking boots (could make ya fall off a cliff -- lawsuit!); the best tent (could be impaled by a pole! -- lawsuit!); nor the best place to hike (could be killer bees -- lawsuit!!!). Get the picture??!?!

There... that's the best I've felt all frickin' day!!!!!!!!!”

“Liz, I am sorry you are so upset. But if you called your friend, she would ask you about your symptoms before saying anything, right? I have no problem with people passing benign remedys to each other. You know this person or that is not a medical person, so you do take it with a grain of salt. But when someone is in the medical field they have to be more careful because people take everything they say as gospel. This was not meant to be a slam against you.”

“This hit a nerve with me because I lost someone dear to me because he got advice similar to this from someone. Sorry, I won't post again.”

“Advice from a guy that is not a doctor, or healthcare worker. Suffer a bit, don't take those damned pills, and the hell with lawyers, bankers, politicians, insurance con artists, "health" food peddlers and nosey health care workers. Your body is built to fight colds, let it do what is was naturally built to do!”

“I mentioned what my doctor did for me and why, but I figure everyone that gets advise should double check it. I try to double check my own doctors advise. Not everyone does this, but I highly recommend it.

Yes, even herbal remedies should be run by your doctor/pharmacist. Herbal remedies can alter the effect of other medications you may be taking. I believe they are just discovering new info on herbal remedies so it is quite the unknown solution to illness.”

“i see the doctor for my skin cancer.

for a cold, i see ron bacardi.”

“My grandfather used to tie an old, dirty sock around his neck and drink uisgeabeagh. Time is the only thing that works, just as Medic girl said. If high fever persists and especially if you have major aches - particularly in the neck - see a doctor.

My cure for the SYMPTOMs of a cold is a hot toddy with about three or so ounces of gin, Nyquill or Neocitran and about six ounces of hot water. Drink it while sitting on the bed because you are not going anywhere. Voila, the primary use of a pseudonym - avoiding law suit for irresponsible advice. I know, I know...”

“Lizs, this is what works for me: a daily half gallon of oj, a good dose of echinacea in small cup of hot water 3x/day, cups of herbal throat tea with honey all day, and sleep. If I do this consistently as soon as I feel a cold coming on, it runs its course in 2-3 days. I hope you feel better soon!”

“hope you feel better soon Lizs . I just read in a backpacker magazine(even though we have all known this for some time ) that chicken soup( the dehydrated kind )actually relives swelling in the nasal passages. so get out some hiking food! and get well soon. also, apple cider vinager is said to clear mucus from your throat very well. try adding a dash of cayane pepper to it to help sweet it out.”

“Lizs, well my cold has migrated south to my lungs. I have an infection. Now I am on antibiotics.”

“Ahhhhhh Hyperpacker, mine worked just the opposite, always seems to start with sore throat and head up.

Today the cold is a lot better, although I still have a hacky cough that shows up at the most inopportune times.

FWIW, I've heard around here strep throat is keeping a lot of kids out of school.

And Willow, oh c'mon back and post. And get a thick skin for Trail Talk. ;-)”

“This subject reminds me of an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. Granny kept saying she had the cure for the common cold. Finally it comes out that the cure takes 7 days to work, so obviously it just runs it's course. You had to see, it was funny”

“Nettles -

And a cabana boy to wait on you!!”

“Willow, I would've responded to your post sooner, but I was off working on my ambulance. Yes, I AM trained and licensed through my medical officer to diagnose, treat, prescribe and counteract the effects of medications, some of which I'm sure you wouldn't see on a daily basis. It would be a little foolish of me to call myself 'medic_girl', if I wasn't in the profession, now wouldn't it??

Could you please tell me where in my post I 'prescribed' anything to Lizs. If you go back & actually READ what I wrote, you'll see that I suggested she might TRY taking these things and that they might just help her with her cold. I'd like you to tell me where I told her to take this stuff based solely on my advice & NOT see a doctor.

Since you say you're also in the health care profession, I'll assume you have access to some sort of pharmaceutical compendium. You might look up corticosteroids and read the contraindications and adverse effects attributed to steroidal nasal sprays... NOT steroid inhalors meant for asthmatics. When I was talking to LH, I was referring to her comments. I never once said she shouldn't take it, just that she should be careful while taking it since it can mask other infections. It would be stupid for me to tell an asthmatic not to use their puffer since it could do more harm than good!! LH isn't talking about puffers though, now is she?

I understand your bitterness over the loss of your friend who chose to listen to faulty advice, but at the same time don't you think it would be prudent for someone who read information that alarmed them to consult with their doctor first??? You say that someone with only a little bit of medical knowledge can be dangerous... what then would you consider ignorance to be?”

“medic girl, I do appreciate your bringing up the possibilities of adverse reactions to nasal steriod inhalers. It's funny, but I always look up contridictions & adverse reations to meds I have prescribed to me, but I never did for my nasal inhaler.”

“Three straight days on the couch whining at the wife and watchin' sports. I seam to get a cold every time I walk out of the house this year.”

“Take a shot of Bourbon then whack your thumb with a hammer. Cold? What cold?”

“Isn't it great. Tis the season to get sick. I can laugh about it now, I'm getting better. However, rest assured you have my sympathies.”

“Sorry, forgot to give you any real useful info. When I feel it starting I make sure not to forget my multi vitamin, I take extra C all day, I take Zink (I've heard there is a fast acting mouth spray now that is great), and I take Ecanasia (SP?) that boosts the emunities. I've taken to doing this the week before I do a cold weeeknd hike and it's helped so far.

And don't even worry about the doctor's office or anti-biotics until yer snot turns from clear to green or yellow.”

“I take ibuprofen for the fever and headaches. The fever part is what seems to make to spacey. Decongestant as needed. Usually keeps me doing what I need/want to do. Hot tea with honey for the throat.

My wife swears by echinacea.”

“Try hot lemonade with honey in it. It's very soothing for your throat.”

“a tall glass of rum, then hot tea.”

“Hike the approach trail to the AT and chase Rad and TownDawg for the first 12 miles.”

“I have had a cold for 8 days now. Its on its way out,finally.

I take sudafed during the day and nighttime alka-seltzer for bedtime. If the cold is above my neck I do what I normally do, run, hike,work etc....If its below the neck I rest (sick days) and see a doc. My snot is finally clear after too many greens and yellows.”

“A quart of water an hour.”

“Birch, thats what I did on the Springer to Hightower hike. Worked pretty well.

Get better soon dude.”

“As EVERYONE reading this ALREADY knows, ALL DISEASE is caused by chemical impurities/imbalances which BUILD UP in your system. The most EFFECTIVE way to overcome this and regain your health is through fasting.

ONE POSSIBLE REMEDY is: THE 7-DAY FAST.

1st day: Eat as much fresh fruit as you want, one kind at a time, preferably grapes.

2nd day: Eat all the vegetables you want, at least half raw, including GARLIC; also, whole kernel corn to help scrape clean the intestinal linings.

3rd day: Drink all the fresh fruit and vegetable juice you want. Preferably start with 16 to 32 ounces of prune juice WITH PULP, followed by a gallon of pure (NOT from concentrate) apple juice, then grape juice. (Stay close to your home bathroom.)

4th day: Eat all the UN-salted nuts (NO peanuts) and dried fruit you want, preferably raisins and almonds.

5th day: ONE GALLON OF LEMONADE. Squeeze the juice from two lemons into a gallon of water (preferably distilled), and add 2 to 4 tablespoons of locally-made honey, (NO sugar). Drink one glass per hour. [EVERYone, including healthy people, should do this one day every week, preceded by a large glass of prune juice WITH PULP.]

6th day: Same as 5th day.

7th day: Same as 6th day.

All 7 days, eat ONLY the foods listed above for each day, along with your usual vitamin and mineral supplements, plus as much DISTILLED WATER as you want.

Besides acting on a person biologically and chemically, this remedy sends a strong message to one's subconscious mind, PROGRAMMING it to CURE the cold.


DISCLAIMER: This list was compiled from unorthodox sources that have shown themselves to be reliable. The compiler of this list is NOT a doctor of any kind, but is exercising his First Amendment Constitutional RIGHT of FREE SPEECH on the subject of his choice.”

“amputation! it's the only way to go.”

“I was dehydrating through my right nostril yesterday, and this morning have a sore throat. UGH!”

“Oh Buddur...my throat hurts for you..I thought I was gonna die last Wednesday!!!

Hot tea with honey was recommended for me. It worked..lots of advil too.
Hope you feel better.”

“Oh Buddur...my throat hurts for you..I thought I was gonna die last Wednesday!!!

Hot tea with honey was recommended for me. It worked..lots of advil too.
Hope you feel better.”

“I have a slight cold now for over a week. Plain old vicks helps me. Also a cup of hot tea with some rum and honey in it will help too. (hey and it tastes good too) They call this grog in germany.”

“hmmmmm I never tried tea and honey with my rum”

“Can you say booze? Just wanted to help.”

“anybody ever heard of boiling pine needles (green of course)and drinking it hot for a cough?”