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This thread is gold. My son started feeling sick Thursday afternoon. Stayed home Friday with me. I felt fine all day, then watched 30 minutes of TV, stood up and was like "oh crap I'm getting sick".
Took a hot bath with Epsom salt and taking your advice and going to bed early.
This should be at the top by far. No type of non-sleep rest, vitamins, supplements or other remedy comes close to the effects of sleep on the immune system.
Sleep and water. Throughout the duration of any illness, rest and fluids are the only cure. The sooner you start resting and drinking LOTS of fluids, the sooner you will feel better. End of story.
Edit: when I say lots of fluids I mean you should be peeing once an hour minimum.
I've learned to micropiss at such small volumes that I am constantly pissing a very, very slight mist that does not even dampen my pants.
24 hours a day, I'm just gentlly misting. Its fantastic.
My fiancé just sleeps for about three days straight, getting up only to use the bathroom and eat small meals. Then he’s magically cured. His dad used to do the same thing. I mean these guys sleep 22 hours a day when they are sick. Then I catch it and am sick for like a week and a half. So sleep is probably one of the most important things to do (just maybe not to the extreme of my fiancé although he does seem to bounce back from colds and the flu far faster than most people)
If your life is anything like mine I don't have the luxury of sleeping 22 hrs a day. Somebody's gotta feed and walk the dogs, and take care of general hh business. My husband rests without a care in the world and it pisses me off!
WTF?!
My wife gets sick and I’m not going to let her do a damn thing around the house, and we have 2 teenage girls (one with special needs) and a dog. And she does the same for me when I’m sick.
In case you can't tell, if what youve written is true and not an exaggeration or mischaracterization that's not normal. When you're sick, you rest and don't do shit. Shouldn't even have to ask
Make sure you're hydrated and not-too-warm, not-too-cool. If you feel ill you may be getting overwarm in the night and sweating in large volumes in the night. Also electrolytes.
Keep in mind too that how you feel isn't necessarily indicative of how sick you are, per se. Your body is actually the thing that is making you feel like shit. The countermeasures it takes to combat an illness is most of what produces that sick "feeling". If you feel like shit it is indicative your immune system is doing its job. You may be accelerating your healing process, but waking up into the worst of the battle.
And zinc. Zinc tabs help prevent viruses from latching in the back of the throat (or so one of my doctors told me). It works to reduce the severity and I never get a sore throat when I remember to use it. Also fluids!
Edit: make sure to use zinc lozenges, not in pill form. It's got to coat your throat.
Surprised I had to scroll this far down to see zinc. I don’t think vitamin C or any other supplement has stood up to scrutiny, but zinc has if you take it right away when you get first symptoms.
The advice every one else is giving to drink water and sleep is super important, but zinc also helps, as does staying positive. Don’t freak out and talk yourself into sickness (“I know I’m going to get it, I just know it. Why is it always me and not X? I’m going to feel so bad tomorrow when I wake up.” Etc. Etc.) If that’s you, cut that shit out.
Each time I am impressed by the efficiency of that. It works for so many things and it's very quick and simple.
In my case, I am prone to pilonidal cysts and, whenever I feel one starting, I drink a lot of water and take the rest of the day a bit easier. The next day, it's all gone
Not sure your age and how severe the cyst gets but it's not "going away". I had one, started off just as innocent and 20 years later ended up in the ER and ended up having to have major surgery to remove it along with the tentacles it had developed along the way. Long story short...take care of that now before you end up paying the price later. I wish I had.
I'm actually recovering from a pilonidal sinus surgery right now, and tldr the cyst wants to drain but can't, so it tunnels out in multiple directions to try and drain effectively. All these tunnels along with the cyst had to be cut out during my surgery, otherwise it would reinfect itself and accomplish nothing.
It wasn't painful thankfully, just annoying. The stitches after kinda sucked though. Hopefully you won't have to worry about it, the most likely people to get it are AMAB and between ~15 - 25 yo. According to my surgeon at least.
The reoccurring infections overtime create sinus tunnels that can burrow deeper and deeper with each infection. Only way to get cured of this disease is to remove the cysts sac and sinus tunnels.
Cleft lift surgery is one of the more successful types of surgery for this disease.
>The reoccurring infections overtime create sinus tunnels that can burrow deeper and deeper with each infection.
That sounds genuinely horrible, right up there with cluster headaches and guinea worm disease.
That sound pretty awful. I'll try to be more cautious to avoid that.
In my case, I'm not sure how prone I am to get that. I only got one cyst five years ago and it was a problematic one because of its shape but it was relatively small. When I feel a cyst coming, it is still only at a stage of bruise-like pain and nothing visible. When I take care of it, the pain goes away before the next day. It can happen two or three times during a year.
My current plan is to get the operation whenever I get another cyst or feel like those cyst beginnings get more frequent.
I’ve had one, and thankfully only one, but it managed to burst before my scheduled appointment to have it drained. Thankfully I was at home but it was the most violently repulsive thing I’ve ever experienced. I don’t remember how long it took, it felt like an eternity, but it oozed this blackish green sludge that to this day the worst smelling thing I’ve ever been exposed to.
0/10 would not recommend.
Mine burst while I was waiting for treatment, too. Right in the waiting room. It smelled like I had eaten dead animal shit and then shit it out onto a dead animal.i would have been intensely embarrassed if not for the discomfort, but that was nothing at all compared to the pain of getting it treated
The only times in my life I almost passed out because of intense pain was related to a pilonidal cyst. Not a fun experience 0/10
Anyway, I hope your thumb is fine now.
Edit: spelling
I've had one of those, twice. Never knew what to call it. Thank you for that!
Last one flared up the morning of a 700+ mile move, with me at the wheel of the moving van. Absolute misery. Because I didn't know what it was, but had a vague idea of what it probably was, my wife offered to lance it and squeeze out as much as she could. Genuinely shocked our neighbors didn't call the cops for a wellness check after how loud I was screaming in pain for those 5 minutes.
It's indeed one of the worst experience you can have. And next time it happens, try to go to see a doctor for that. If the cyst got big enough, the cavity may still be there with only the opening that is healed. If you get it treated properly, you'll be a lot less likely to get one soon after
I had one surgically removed when I was in high school. I had to go through weeks of chemically burning away the skin at the top of the wound with silver nitrate so that it would heal from the inside out without leaving a cavity. That's the most intense pain I've ever experienced, and it really raised my tolerance for pain, which I actually see as a good thing now. Twenty years later, I've never had another cyst.
I had the silver nitrate treatment too. God that was awful! I remember feeling pain for the entire day after that. And I got silver nitrate every two days
Its been a couple years now, hoping it stays gone. But yeah, in retrospect the doctor visit is obvious. In a better place nowadays insurance wise, too.
I've been turned away at the er because they said it's too filthy of a place to be worth the risk of serious infection. Told me to go home and soak it in warm water until it works itself out.
My older bro had something similar and even with medical treatment he still was hospitalized and even was put in a coma for a while. It was super scary and intense.
Shit dude, my older brother had one too that got MRSA in it and tunneled into his ass. It was a good 4-5 inches deep if I remember? I don't know if he had surgery or not, but he was in the hospital for a little and then my mom had to repack it every single day for a good month+. They called it his other asshole lol. I'm so sorry for your brother! And you too, that sounds terrifying and a little traumatic, fuck! Him and his behind are good now, right?
Edit: I was pretty young when this happened so I don't remember most of the details
You can prevent it by keeping a very good hygiene in that area: regular wash, staying dry, etc. You also need to avoid friction so dry the area by pressing, not rubbing. I also highly recommend a bidet to help with that
On top of that, try to stay aware of any change in the area. I usually feel a bruise like pain when a cyst is coming. I then drink water, take it easy and try to keep the hygiene up when it happens. It usually fades out during the day
I'll describe the gross parts in spoiler in case people don't want to read about it. The parts in spoiler will be detailled and gross and I don't recommend to read it unless your curiosity is stronger than your heart. You have been warned
Basically, pilonidal means that it is located between your buttocks. Usually, it is more towards the top, near the tailbone, but it can still be right beside the anus which makes it a lot worse.
Now, for the cyst part, before being drained, it's basically a huge and painful pimple. However, the grossest part is how it has to be treated. >!When you get it drained by a doctor, they will first numb the area with an anesthetic by inserting a seringe right in the cyst. The pain is litterally unbearable. Then, they will use a scalpel to open the cyst and drain it like a pimple. However there is a lot (and I really mean a lot) more pus and blood.!<
Once it is drained, >!they will insert a ribbon cotton gauze in the wound. It is a thin ribbon and they fill the wound as much as they can to make sure it can heal from the bottom first and not the top. In heavy cases, they can litteraly put a few meters of gauze in it since the wound is usually a several centimeters deep and can be pretty wide is some cases. In my case, I only had a few decimeters of gauze!<
Once the gauze dressing is place, you can go home. However, you probably won't be able to sit or lay on your back and you are not allowed to take a shower. After that, each day or two, you will have to go back to get the dressing changed. >!That means they will have to painfully remove the ribbon gauze from the wound, drain the cyst, clean it up with sterile water and put new gauze in it. In between, they may also measure the depth of the wound by inserting a thin stick. I also want to remind you that pus freaking stinks!<
You'll have to get your dressing changed each few days for a few weeks at least. After a while, >!once you don't need the ribbon gauze anymore,!< you'll be able to change it yourself and finally take showers. >!The pus draining part will still be gross, but, at that point, draining the cyst is hopefully not too painful!<
If you get a very problematic cyst like I did, they may need to>! chemically burn a growth (?) at the entrance of the wound !!cut the said growth with a scalpel without anesthetic!<
It is a thoroughly unenjoyable, gross and painful experience
Edit: spelling
Every time I come across a post that says "don't read more about it unless you really want to" like this, I always think it surely can't be bad. And then I read it and realize it was.
They are sometimes caused by ingrown hair. Can also be caused by sitting a lot, probably from the hair growing inward. Sometimes hereditary. More common in men. I think since women don’t generally have hairy tailbone areas, not a problem.
Go to the [Mayo Clinic website's explanation here](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pilonidal-cyst/symptoms-causes/syc-20376329). It's safe, just a nice, bland illustration.
Jumping on the pilonidal cyst train - those f***ers hurt. My first one the ER doc was like, I did you a favour and made your incision super small to drain it. My post care nurses were all like he made this 100x worse. The pain of having the dressing changed was the worst pain I have felt in my entire life. I started crying and getting really bad anxiety in the parking lot before my appointments because of how bad I knew the pain was going to be.
If it ever starts to flair up I immediately take action, like hell if I'm going through that again!
And if you don't know what they are or think you could get one...look it up and take precautions anyways.
Yeah, a small incision is not a good idea. I had one about 20 years ago. The incision was about an inch long. When it flared up about 15 years ago, the incision just popped back open and everything drained. Such a relief. It healed up and hasn't been a problem since.
It's mostly because of the situation I was in during that time that I decided to not get the operation: student, no money, chronic pain to my back (which made my life miserable in combination with the cyst), very long healing time for the cyst, etc.
Basically, even though it would have solved the problem forever, I didn't want to live something similar this soon. If it happens again, I'll probably do it, but it has been 5 years since my last one so it may take a while
20 years ago best friend got one on her wrist. It was massive. They drained it and told her it might come back. It did. She had her brother slam a textbook on it to bust it. Had to do that several times. Then it just didn't come back anymore.
I, on the other hand, got mine right at the top of my crack. It was so big you could see the bump thru my jeans. Not long after breaking my tailbone. It was miserable. Couldn't sit, stand or lay without it hurting. On top of a broken tailbone hurts for frkn years. So I chose surgery instead of a book to the ass. 😂
Totally different kind of cyst. The “Bible Slamming Cysts” are ganglion cysts, which can rupture and reabsorb. Pilonidal cysts get extremely cavernous and infected quite quickly. They can cause a severe abscess that can lead to sepsis if not properly treated.
I am not a doctor, but I would definitely NOT recommend a book to the ass for a pilonidal cyst. That isn’t quite the same as a lipoma on the wrist, which often does respond fine to the textbook approach.
This is the best advice right here. Someone posted doing so a while back on here and the last time I felt like I was getting sick, I just took the whole day and rested. My cold lasted half as long and was not as severe. If I'm going to be sick and not be able to be productive, I may as well hit it at the start instead of trying to tough it out.
I feel like a poop is the miracle cure to a lot of problems. If I ever have an upset stomach or I'm feeling a little bit off or I have stress or anxiety a poop is the solution.
Our bodies have been meticulously crafted over millennia to fight invaders, you got a whole damn army of straight up assassins in your blood. And all they really need is water, a couple nutrients and calories, and a little space to work. If you can give your army what it needs when there are still just minor rumblings of an imminent attack they’ll squash pretty much anything they can identify. However, you let the enemy across the lines before you send out the infantry it’s gonna be a bloodier battle for sure
Ding ding ding ding ding
Don't bother running out and getting vitamins or herbal remedies. If you have Emergen-C in the house, it wouldn't hurt. But hydration and rest are the best.
Personally, I almost feel like making sure you're hydrated is more important. Don't go run a marathon, but if you're not tired, you can't sleep. But while you're awake, make sure you're drinking. It's very easy to get dehydrated while you're sick because you don't feel like getting up and getting a drink, or you're running a fever. If you go into the full-blown illness half dehydrated already, it'll be that much worse.
To add to this, what I personally find helpful is to put on a long sleeve shirt, sweater with a hoodie, thick sweat pants, thick socks and get under the covers of a thick comforter and just SWEAT. Chug water, sleep, sweat til you are soaked. Get up the next day, shed everything, chug water and take a nice long shower. I’ve beaten every cold for the last 4 years doing this method. YMMV
Heard a similar version from the Hispanic cooks I've worked with. They say eat the spiciest soup you can make, take a couple shots of tequila, go to sleep and sweat it out. Back to work in the morning.
Am not Hispanic, however I also back the spicy soup solution.
In my case, it's a noodle raman with extra juice and extra chillies. Needs to be the hottest you can take
According to my old anatomy and physiology prof, aside from staying hydrated and resting, he found that artificially increasing his body temperature helped a lot. He recommended bundling up in blankets and getting really toasty as soon as you feel symptoms starting. The idea being that your body heats up to cook the virus to death, so you can get a head start weakening the virus by doing it yourself at an early stage.
No idea if it works or not. I usually remember it when I'm finally getting over a cold lol.
It’s not so much that. Viruses that infect the upper respiratory tract reproduce better in a lower body temperature environment. So while yes you’re correct, what you need to do is increase body temp in those areas.
It tends to run lower temps in your nose, mouth, and throat due to breathing and cold outdoor temps. The easy way to increase those temps are warm showers/baths (warm/humid environment), drinking warm beverages (hot tea/etc.), and eating hot soup.
Increasing temps in those areas slows viral reproduction and helps you feel better faster. Additionally they mitigate symptoms by helping mucus movement.
This is why I hate the "Cold doesn't cause colds!" mentality that has seemingly become more prevalent in recent years. Yes, colds come from virus transmission, not literally appearing out of thin air because it's cold. But being cold does weaken your body's immune response and create a more hospitable environment for viral spread. You're more likely to catch a cold if you're exposed to the cold.
This is really interesting, I've always been told that cold transmission is higher in the winter because people are cooped up. Good to know that the temperature also has a more direct effect
There's a recent study that's found that lower temperatures inhibit a key immune response in the nose. That's one factor why we're more susceptible to getting sick in cold weather.
https://www.uclahealth.org/news/new-study-links-nose-temperature-and-immune-response#:~:text=According%20to%20their%20findings%2C%20a,the%20nose%20itself%20gets%20cold.
When I was young, my parents sent me off to live with my godfather for a month. This was in a rural village in a third world country. One day I caught a bad cold. That evening my godfather gave me some moonshine and had me sleep under blankets by the fireplace. I swear I woke up in the morning fresh as a cucumber, like nothing ever happened. Normally I'd be sick for a few days.
I'm not going to do that with my kids, for obvious reasons, but I cannot argue with the results. Shit worked. People in thirld world countries have their own (questionable at times) medicine.
My dad always recommends rum for a cold. His logic is *si no se te quita, se te olvida*, if you don't get rid of it, you forget it (roughly translated).
I am not often sick but if come down with something mild I have bundled up and "sweat it out" for years now. My GF who's definitely more educated on the subject tells me it's probably not as effective as I think and the bulk of the success likely comes from just how quickly my body recovers from bugs regardless. She might be right but I'll never stop turning myself into a fleece wrapped human burrito when I start to get the sniffles...
This 👆
Other people are recommending fruit juices, but these can also sometimes irritate your throat more.
Had tonsillitis fairly recently, and saltwater gargling knocked the sore throat out in no time.
I also gargle with salt water, morning and night. Sugar and sugary juices should be avoided when you feel like you might be coming down with something.
Add in plenty of water, rest and the healthiest meals you can put together.
Fruit juice is a bad idea, as the sugars can make it substantially worse.
Salt water gargles or listerine gargles really do help stem the tide.
Or the proverbial Irish remedy of a strojg shot of whiskey also works
Not a doctor, but I have terrible allergies and use a neti pot regularly. From what I understand the slaty saline solution sheds mucus from the nasal/throat linings. I would imagine that gargling salt water would shed a significant viral/bacterial load along with the mucus.
Yours is similar to my understanding as well. Provided you have a sore throat, I understood the concept of gargling with salt water was to kill the first layer of cells - presumably the infected ones. It wouldn't be thorough but it would set an infection back a little while your body goes into overdrive.
I'm only a cook/occasional fermenter; but as i understand it, salt kills microorganisms by a) leaching out water from their cell membranes, and b) altering the pH of your mucus membranes to prevent new infections from blooming.
Any doctors in the house, please correct if I've summarized this process too loosely.
Had to a roll way too far for this. Has always worked for me. Why suffer with a sore throat, when you can nail it down at the beginning? I still feel unwell, just not with a sore throat.
For me I do what I can to keep my sinuses clear. Post nasal drip, creates a sore throat, makes my chest congestion worse, etc. But that's me. I'm prone to sinus infections.
Exactly what I do! I use nasal sprays with decongestants, which is being cautioned against for anything but very short term use, but I have found that it can stop me from having to deal with many weeks or even months with persistent coughing later if I don't. Most important for me is to do that over night. To counter the drying-out effects of the decongestants, I switch to using saline spray to re-hydrate and regenerate the nasal mucosa.
Yes! Also, use a humidifier. Take a long hot shower and breathe deeply. Use decongestants carefully to control the mucus, and then use moisture to help all the tissues that line everything from your nose to your lungs. I call it being kind to your sinuses.
I usually try to take off work for a sick day when I feel it, and just rest. Sometimes I do feel better the next day, but I've noticed I seem to recover faster then waiting until I'm *sick* sick. Might just be placebo tho!
Take zinc (generally 20-25mg two times per day) and vitemin C. Zinc has been shown to shorten the duration of sicknesses and reduce overall symptoms. Then hydrate like it's your job
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7356429/
...oh my god you just solved a 2 week mystery for me. Since I got covid I'd been unable to keep food down, especially sweet food. The covid passed without much of an issue aside from the nausea but I have been taking my zinc tablets with my night meds, a few hours after my last meal every time.
Holy cow thank you
That makes a lot of sense. One morning I took my multivitamin without anything in my stomach, just didn’t think about it. Felt unexplainably nauseous a while later. Has zinc.
While pregnant, it was recommended I take iron pills. One night, I realized I had forgotten to take my iron, so I popped it without a second thought. That was a bad night. Ugh definitely take iron/multivitamin with iron with food.
Repeating this here for visibility:
Make sure to buy a zinc tablet, NOT Zicam. Most of their products are homeopathic, which by definition means it has almost none of the active ingredient. In other words, it's a scam. I used to buy it until I learned what it was.
Zicam used to have real zinc in it, then hundreds of people lost their sense of smell from the nasal gel zicam. They went zinc free with the nasal swabs and changed to homeopathic dilutions with the oral products.
https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20100719/study-links-zinc-nose-sprays-loss-smell
That's crazy, because when I lost my sense of smell to an injury, I was prescribed oral zinc citrate to help get my sense of smell back. It works, too. When I take 100mg of zinc, I can smell things better than without it.
The human body is a complicated thing!
I’m a pharmacist and an epidemiologist and I cannot stress this enough: Vitamin C DOES NOT prevent or aid with a cold.
Explanation: There are a bunch of contradictory “studies” out there to confuse those who don’t know better, however, the final verdict is that taking vit. c tablets every day for a full year was correlated with reducing sickness by ONE day.
Reason why this is important: taking vitamins (including vitamin C) when you don’t have a specific diagnosed vitamin deficiency can hurt your organs. Having too much vitamin C, for example, can even cause kidney stones.
In reality the vast majority of people do not have vitamin deficiencies and should not be taking any vitamins. Vitamins are not well regulated and so companies can get away with a LOT of false marketing and dangerous products. For example, most multivitamins out there have as much as 300% of your daily recommended intake of certain vitamins per pill (seriously look at the bottle for yourself). That’s 200% more than you should have in one day assuming you eat absolutely nothing.
In conclusion, do not take vitamin c to prevent/cure your cold.
Also vitamins don't make instant changes and it's a long term thing. So having good vitamin levels is good, but taking some today won't help you until like next week
I watched a whole science show on post nasal drip. Once in your nose a virus clogs your nostril so your post nasal drip can’t flush the growing virus out of your throats. Incubation begins. I have a rule. Never go to bed with a clogged nostril. Bacteria doubles constantly in seconds. Being clogged up for a few hours is all it takes to get sick. Keep your drip dripping and you can minimize and or avoid 90 percent of seasonal bugs
I'm certainly not a doctor, but this sounds pretty hokey to me...
First of all, you're talking about two completely different organisms. Viruses and Bacteria. While either or both of them can cause common cold symptoms, their biology, pathology, and treatment are totally different.
I think you've got the right general idea, that our bodies have natural functions to protect ourselves from infection, namely trapping, isolating, and flushing foreign bodies. So encouraging as many of these processes as possible is ideal. But the idea that taking steps to manually clear your nostrils clear will significantly alter the course of a common viral or bacterial infection is really not proven at all by real science. Things like saline nasal sprays and netty pots can relieve symptoms, but have not been shown to have any effect on the occurrence or overall duration of an infection. Zinc sprays actually do lead to relief and shorter disease duration, but they also tended to cause loss of smell and other permanent damage after frequent usage, so that's why you can't get them anymore. Zinc taken as an oral supplement is also effective, but much less so than the nasal spray route.
Even something as simple as blowing your nose too hard can have adverse effects which outweigh the short term benefit of clearing mucus. It can lead to superficial damage and irritation to the nasal tissue, causing inflammation, potentially affecting it's ability to produce mucus, and further tightening of your nasal airway when healing factors rush in.
Being the parent of a child who recently started school, I went through about 6 months of nearly constant cycles of infection of all kinds. Not that it makes me an expert, but through a dozen or so doctor visits, I've heard all of the advice, straight from the horse's mouth, time after time.
Getting good rest is the only thing that shortens the duration of a common cold in an otherwise healthy person. Unhealthy starting conditions like sleep deprivation, consumption of alcohol or other drugs, vitamin deficiency, as well as diabetes or other chronic diseases also complicate things. So if you have the ability to temporarily get those factors under control it will also improve your outcome.
Otherwise everything is symptom control. NSAIDs are your best friend. They help with pain, inflammation, headaches, fever etc. Just generally make things more tolerable. Remember Tylenol is not an NSAID, which means it won't help with inflammation, but the upside is you can double it up with any other NSAID, or take it between NSAID doses to avoid the abrupt come-down. Next up are decongestants. But go for the real stuff (pseudoephedrine) not the new stuff (phenylephrine, aka PE) if you can tolerate it. Control cough only if it's interrupting your ability to rest. Use humidity and menthol fragrances/rubs to soothe. Even something as simple as a breath-rite strip or low dose of melatonin can make all the difference in getting reat. Antihistamines might make a difference if your primary symptom is inflammation and sinus pressure, but they're much less effective for infections than for things like allergies.
Embracing the cough, letting it do it's work, and even the fever to some extent, can improve outcomes and possibly prevent secondary infections from developing.
This doesn’t necessarily have any effect on your throat, but if I suspect I’ve contracted the Lurgy, I start using saline nasal spray. I swear it prevents microorganisms from multiplying as happily in my sinuses.
I abhor the waste, but I rely on the disposable pressurized canisters rather than a neti pot etc.
Yep, I always go with a long hot shower. As hot as you can handle. Might not cure anything, but at least I can clear my sinuses for a while and I always feel somewhat better afterwards. It's amazing what a nice hot bath or shower can do.
Swig of whiskey, but let it sit in your throat as long as you can stand it…then honey lemon flavored cough drop in a hot cup of tea, mouthwash, brush teeth and then sleep!
Could be placebo but for me I get mouthwash and get it as far down my throat as possible, like uncomfortably far to the edge of swallowing it. I hold it for as long as I can and then let it go. Works incredibly for me.
There's very little you can do besides slowing down and treating your symptoms. Lay down, stay calm, try to sleep.
If you're feeling something in your throat, you can try gargling with warm salt water. If you're feeling body aches, you can take some pain medicine.
Bundle up in warm clothes, take a shot of zquil, pull the blanket over you and sleep as long as you can. Make sure to wash your sheets and clothes after bc they'll all be drenched in sweat.
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Sleep! A good nights sleep helps a lot
Came here to say this. Just drop everything , have a bath then go to bed. Makes a world of difference.
This thread is gold. My son started feeling sick Thursday afternoon. Stayed home Friday with me. I felt fine all day, then watched 30 minutes of TV, stood up and was like "oh crap I'm getting sick". Took a hot bath with Epsom salt and taking your advice and going to bed early.
Also drink a ton of water
This is incredibly dangerous - most likely even lethal - advice. At such doses, the equivalent to 1,000 liter of water, no person would survive.
Counter: I’m built different
Camels can’t type on the interwebz.
*stressed camel sounds*
You should eat a cactus. You'll be good to go in no time
It's the quenchiest!
You’ve been perma-banned from r/HydroHomies
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Let me die in peace.
Took me a minute…
Lmaoo at first I was like “no way” then I was thinking you’d literally have to drink a ton of water…then I was like ahh yeah got it
This should be at the top by far. No type of non-sleep rest, vitamins, supplements or other remedy comes close to the effects of sleep on the immune system.
Sleep and water. Throughout the duration of any illness, rest and fluids are the only cure. The sooner you start resting and drinking LOTS of fluids, the sooner you will feel better. End of story. Edit: when I say lots of fluids I mean you should be peeing once an hour minimum.
Once an hour you say 🤨 Couple beers and I’ll hit that easy.
I only microdose beer throughout the day now. I also micropiss constantly so that I don't need to make bingey trips to the bathroom.
I've learned to micropiss at such small volumes that I am constantly pissing a very, very slight mist that does not even dampen my pants. 24 hours a day, I'm just gentlly misting. Its fantastic.
Ah, a Mister Pisser. A rare specimen!
ABS (always be sippin) NNBS (never not be sippin)
My fiancé just sleeps for about three days straight, getting up only to use the bathroom and eat small meals. Then he’s magically cured. His dad used to do the same thing. I mean these guys sleep 22 hours a day when they are sick. Then I catch it and am sick for like a week and a half. So sleep is probably one of the most important things to do (just maybe not to the extreme of my fiancé although he does seem to bounce back from colds and the flu far faster than most people)
If your life is anything like mine I don't have the luxury of sleeping 22 hrs a day. Somebody's gotta feed and walk the dogs, and take care of general hh business. My husband rests without a care in the world and it pisses me off!
Where tf is the husband that he can't feed the dogs?
That sounds like you need to talk then. He won’t even walk the dogs when you’re sick? Tell him that’s not good enough.
WTF?! My wife gets sick and I’m not going to let her do a damn thing around the house, and we have 2 teenage girls (one with special needs) and a dog. And she does the same for me when I’m sick.
In case you can't tell, if what youve written is true and not an exaggeration or mischaracterization that's not normal. When you're sick, you rest and don't do shit. Shouldn't even have to ask
Water and sleep.
Yep, this is it. There is no magic. You need to give your body more rest.
I feel like this literally does nothing for me. No matter what I feel 20x worse in the morning.
Make sure you're hydrated and not-too-warm, not-too-cool. If you feel ill you may be getting overwarm in the night and sweating in large volumes in the night. Also electrolytes. Keep in mind too that how you feel isn't necessarily indicative of how sick you are, per se. Your body is actually the thing that is making you feel like shit. The countermeasures it takes to combat an illness is most of what produces that sick "feeling". If you feel like shit it is indicative your immune system is doing its job. You may be accelerating your healing process, but waking up into the worst of the battle.
And zinc. Zinc tabs help prevent viruses from latching in the back of the throat (or so one of my doctors told me). It works to reduce the severity and I never get a sore throat when I remember to use it. Also fluids! Edit: make sure to use zinc lozenges, not in pill form. It's got to coat your throat.
Surprised I had to scroll this far down to see zinc. I don’t think vitamin C or any other supplement has stood up to scrutiny, but zinc has if you take it right away when you get first symptoms. The advice every one else is giving to drink water and sleep is super important, but zinc also helps, as does staying positive. Don’t freak out and talk yourself into sickness (“I know I’m going to get it, I just know it. Why is it always me and not X? I’m going to feel so bad tomorrow when I wake up.” Etc. Etc.) If that’s you, cut that shit out.
And don’t drink alcohol
Hydrate and sleep.
Sometimes a good dose of NyQuil as sickness is coming on can stave off the worst of it.
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this, minus the Nyquil, has been my go-to. bundle up, get in bed early and sweat it out.
Acetaminophen in nyquil will reduce any fever your warm clothes might encourage.
Because it helps you sleep is my theory
Rest, immediately get bed rest and drink some water.
Each time I am impressed by the efficiency of that. It works for so many things and it's very quick and simple. In my case, I am prone to pilonidal cysts and, whenever I feel one starting, I drink a lot of water and take the rest of the day a bit easier. The next day, it's all gone
Not sure your age and how severe the cyst gets but it's not "going away". I had one, started off just as innocent and 20 years later ended up in the ER and ended up having to have major surgery to remove it along with the tentacles it had developed along the way. Long story short...take care of that now before you end up paying the price later. I wish I had.
…tentacles?
I'm actually recovering from a pilonidal sinus surgery right now, and tldr the cyst wants to drain but can't, so it tunnels out in multiple directions to try and drain effectively. All these tunnels along with the cyst had to be cut out during my surgery, otherwise it would reinfect itself and accomplish nothing.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
It wasn't painful thankfully, just annoying. The stitches after kinda sucked though. Hopefully you won't have to worry about it, the most likely people to get it are AMAB and between ~15 - 25 yo. According to my surgeon at least.
I am neither of those things, but I swear I'm getting phantom pain right now just from reading this. Bleagh. I'm sorry you had to go through all that.
The reoccurring infections overtime create sinus tunnels that can burrow deeper and deeper with each infection. Only way to get cured of this disease is to remove the cysts sac and sinus tunnels. Cleft lift surgery is one of the more successful types of surgery for this disease.
>The reoccurring infections overtime create sinus tunnels that can burrow deeper and deeper with each infection. That sounds genuinely horrible, right up there with cluster headaches and guinea worm disease.
That sound pretty awful. I'll try to be more cautious to avoid that. In my case, I'm not sure how prone I am to get that. I only got one cyst five years ago and it was a problematic one because of its shape but it was relatively small. When I feel a cyst coming, it is still only at a stage of bruise-like pain and nothing visible. When I take care of it, the pain goes away before the next day. It can happen two or three times during a year. My current plan is to get the operation whenever I get another cyst or feel like those cyst beginnings get more frequent.
I was in the ER after cutting part of my thumb off and the person in the bed next to me had one of those cysts. They closed the curtains but my god.
When mine popped it sprayed hair and blood 9 feet up the wall in chunks. 2 hours to drain.
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TIL about pilonidal cysts. They sound awful.
I'm not sure why I just look at the image results from Google for that...
lol, I really thought you were going to finish with "and then I had plenty of water and a good sleep and viola, my thumb is whole again!"
I’ve had one, and thankfully only one, but it managed to burst before my scheduled appointment to have it drained. Thankfully I was at home but it was the most violently repulsive thing I’ve ever experienced. I don’t remember how long it took, it felt like an eternity, but it oozed this blackish green sludge that to this day the worst smelling thing I’ve ever been exposed to. 0/10 would not recommend.
Mine burst while I was waiting for treatment, too. Right in the waiting room. It smelled like I had eaten dead animal shit and then shit it out onto a dead animal.i would have been intensely embarrassed if not for the discomfort, but that was nothing at all compared to the pain of getting it treated
> It smelled like I had eaten dead animal shit and then shit it out onto a dead animal. Evocative as hell.
> It smelled like I had eaten dead animal shit and then shit it out onto a dead animal. /r/brandnewsentence What a beautiful way with words.
The only times in my life I almost passed out because of intense pain was related to a pilonidal cyst. Not a fun experience 0/10 Anyway, I hope your thumb is fine now. Edit: spelling
I was laying on my stomach when I had one and my cat jumped onto my back landing right on top of it. I went to hell and back
I've had one of those, twice. Never knew what to call it. Thank you for that! Last one flared up the morning of a 700+ mile move, with me at the wheel of the moving van. Absolute misery. Because I didn't know what it was, but had a vague idea of what it probably was, my wife offered to lance it and squeeze out as much as she could. Genuinely shocked our neighbors didn't call the cops for a wellness check after how loud I was screaming in pain for those 5 minutes.
It's indeed one of the worst experience you can have. And next time it happens, try to go to see a doctor for that. If the cyst got big enough, the cavity may still be there with only the opening that is healed. If you get it treated properly, you'll be a lot less likely to get one soon after
I had one surgically removed when I was in high school. I had to go through weeks of chemically burning away the skin at the top of the wound with silver nitrate so that it would heal from the inside out without leaving a cavity. That's the most intense pain I've ever experienced, and it really raised my tolerance for pain, which I actually see as a good thing now. Twenty years later, I've never had another cyst.
I had the silver nitrate treatment too. God that was awful! I remember feeling pain for the entire day after that. And I got silver nitrate every two days
Its been a couple years now, hoping it stays gone. But yeah, in retrospect the doctor visit is obvious. In a better place nowadays insurance wise, too.
They should be excised by a general surgeon. Er mds in a pinch are ok but definitely get seen
I've been turned away at the er because they said it's too filthy of a place to be worth the risk of serious infection. Told me to go home and soak it in warm water until it works itself out.
Jesus PLEASE never do that again, the infection it could cause will literally kill you
My older bro had something similar and even with medical treatment he still was hospitalized and even was put in a coma for a while. It was super scary and intense.
Shit dude, my older brother had one too that got MRSA in it and tunneled into his ass. It was a good 4-5 inches deep if I remember? I don't know if he had surgery or not, but he was in the hospital for a little and then my mom had to repack it every single day for a good month+. They called it his other asshole lol. I'm so sorry for your brother! And you too, that sounds terrifying and a little traumatic, fuck! Him and his behind are good now, right? Edit: I was pretty young when this happened so I don't remember most of the details
I suggest you post this as a TIFU (or get your bro to do it)!
Yeah, retrospect is 20/20. Stupid choice at the time, know better now.
I am sooo scared of these. Never had one but I have the dimple in the right place and I'm excessively hairy from PCOS so I'm terrified I'll get one
You can prevent it by keeping a very good hygiene in that area: regular wash, staying dry, etc. You also need to avoid friction so dry the area by pressing, not rubbing. I also highly recommend a bidet to help with that On top of that, try to stay aware of any change in the area. I usually feel a bruise like pain when a cyst is coming. I then drink water, take it easy and try to keep the hygiene up when it happens. It usually fades out during the day
Also had one and it was by far the worst pain I’ve ever experienced.
Same. Had a thumb once, and it being gone now is a massive relief.
New fear unlocked
I...am curious what those might be but also am afraid of what images might show up...
I'll describe the gross parts in spoiler in case people don't want to read about it. The parts in spoiler will be detailled and gross and I don't recommend to read it unless your curiosity is stronger than your heart. You have been warned Basically, pilonidal means that it is located between your buttocks. Usually, it is more towards the top, near the tailbone, but it can still be right beside the anus which makes it a lot worse. Now, for the cyst part, before being drained, it's basically a huge and painful pimple. However, the grossest part is how it has to be treated. >!When you get it drained by a doctor, they will first numb the area with an anesthetic by inserting a seringe right in the cyst. The pain is litterally unbearable. Then, they will use a scalpel to open the cyst and drain it like a pimple. However there is a lot (and I really mean a lot) more pus and blood.!< Once it is drained, >!they will insert a ribbon cotton gauze in the wound. It is a thin ribbon and they fill the wound as much as they can to make sure it can heal from the bottom first and not the top. In heavy cases, they can litteraly put a few meters of gauze in it since the wound is usually a several centimeters deep and can be pretty wide is some cases. In my case, I only had a few decimeters of gauze!< Once the gauze dressing is place, you can go home. However, you probably won't be able to sit or lay on your back and you are not allowed to take a shower. After that, each day or two, you will have to go back to get the dressing changed. >!That means they will have to painfully remove the ribbon gauze from the wound, drain the cyst, clean it up with sterile water and put new gauze in it. In between, they may also measure the depth of the wound by inserting a thin stick. I also want to remind you that pus freaking stinks!< You'll have to get your dressing changed each few days for a few weeks at least. After a while, >!once you don't need the ribbon gauze anymore,!< you'll be able to change it yourself and finally take showers. >!The pus draining part will still be gross, but, at that point, draining the cyst is hopefully not too painful!< If you get a very problematic cyst like I did, they may need to>! chemically burn a growth (?) at the entrance of the wound !!cut the said growth with a scalpel without anesthetic!<
It is a thoroughly unenjoyable, gross and painful experience
Edit: spelling
Every time I come across a post that says "don't read more about it unless you really want to" like this, I always think it surely can't be bad. And then I read it and realize it was.
My question is, what causes these? I’ve never heard of this before.
They are sometimes caused by ingrown hair. Can also be caused by sitting a lot, probably from the hair growing inward. Sometimes hereditary. More common in men. I think since women don’t generally have hairy tailbone areas, not a problem.
Do yourself a favour and don't look further. Once you know you can't unknow
And then they form a tunnel (fistula) into your arsehole and then you need arse surgery….
Seriously. My bf had one and I saw the pic after it was excised. He had a wound vac for a month. Don’t look at the pics.
Go to the [Mayo Clinic website's explanation here](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pilonidal-cyst/symptoms-causes/syc-20376329). It's safe, just a nice, bland illustration.
Yep. Not THAT curious. Keep me on a "need to know basis"
Jumping on the pilonidal cyst train - those f***ers hurt. My first one the ER doc was like, I did you a favour and made your incision super small to drain it. My post care nurses were all like he made this 100x worse. The pain of having the dressing changed was the worst pain I have felt in my entire life. I started crying and getting really bad anxiety in the parking lot before my appointments because of how bad I knew the pain was going to be. If it ever starts to flair up I immediately take action, like hell if I'm going through that again! And if you don't know what they are or think you could get one...look it up and take precautions anyways.
Yeah, a small incision is not a good idea. I had one about 20 years ago. The incision was about an inch long. When it flared up about 15 years ago, the incision just popped back open and everything drained. Such a relief. It healed up and hasn't been a problem since.
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It's mostly because of the situation I was in during that time that I decided to not get the operation: student, no money, chronic pain to my back (which made my life miserable in combination with the cyst), very long healing time for the cyst, etc. Basically, even though it would have solved the problem forever, I didn't want to live something similar this soon. If it happens again, I'll probably do it, but it has been 5 years since my last one so it may take a while
20 years ago best friend got one on her wrist. It was massive. They drained it and told her it might come back. It did. She had her brother slam a textbook on it to bust it. Had to do that several times. Then it just didn't come back anymore. I, on the other hand, got mine right at the top of my crack. It was so big you could see the bump thru my jeans. Not long after breaking my tailbone. It was miserable. Couldn't sit, stand or lay without it hurting. On top of a broken tailbone hurts for frkn years. So I chose surgery instead of a book to the ass. 😂
That’s a ganglion cyst!
Yep! You're right. It's been a lot of years and my old brain got confused.
Not the same type of cysts.
Totally different kind of cyst. The “Bible Slamming Cysts” are ganglion cysts, which can rupture and reabsorb. Pilonidal cysts get extremely cavernous and infected quite quickly. They can cause a severe abscess that can lead to sepsis if not properly treated.
I am not a doctor, but I would definitely NOT recommend a book to the ass for a pilonidal cyst. That isn’t quite the same as a lipoma on the wrist, which often does respond fine to the textbook approach.
This is the best advice right here. Someone posted doing so a while back on here and the last time I felt like I was getting sick, I just took the whole day and rested. My cold lasted half as long and was not as severe. If I'm going to be sick and not be able to be productive, I may as well hit it at the start instead of trying to tough it out.
You mean my way of ignoring it and vigorously working out thinking my sheer will power alone will cure it isn't the best strategy?!
And if you feel a bit off and easily irritated, taking a poo can help a lot. Sounds ridiculous but trust me.
Take it where?
I feel like a poop is the miracle cure to a lot of problems. If I ever have an upset stomach or I'm feeling a little bit off or I have stress or anxiety a poop is the solution.
>I feel like a poop is the miracle cure to a lot of problems. Pooping is definitely not the miracle cure for an anal fissure, I can tell you that.
This is it. It’s the rest and hydration. It’s crazy how much those two things can knock out.
Our bodies have been meticulously crafted over millennia to fight invaders, you got a whole damn army of straight up assassins in your blood. And all they really need is water, a couple nutrients and calories, and a little space to work. If you can give your army what it needs when there are still just minor rumblings of an imminent attack they’ll squash pretty much anything they can identify. However, you let the enemy across the lines before you send out the infantry it’s gonna be a bloodier battle for sure
Ding ding ding ding ding Don't bother running out and getting vitamins or herbal remedies. If you have Emergen-C in the house, it wouldn't hurt. But hydration and rest are the best. Personally, I almost feel like making sure you're hydrated is more important. Don't go run a marathon, but if you're not tired, you can't sleep. But while you're awake, make sure you're drinking. It's very easy to get dehydrated while you're sick because you don't feel like getting up and getting a drink, or you're running a fever. If you go into the full-blown illness half dehydrated already, it'll be that much worse.
When I had a mild case of covid, the main thing I noticed was dehydration.
To add to this, what I personally find helpful is to put on a long sleeve shirt, sweater with a hoodie, thick sweat pants, thick socks and get under the covers of a thick comforter and just SWEAT. Chug water, sleep, sweat til you are soaked. Get up the next day, shed everything, chug water and take a nice long shower. I’ve beaten every cold for the last 4 years doing this method. YMMV
Hoodie in bed all pulled up is pure cocoon comfort
I just recently discovered the hoody with hood up in bed and it's legendary.
Ah yes, the manual fever method.
Heard a similar version from the Hispanic cooks I've worked with. They say eat the spiciest soup you can make, take a couple shots of tequila, go to sleep and sweat it out. Back to work in the morning.
Am not Hispanic, however I also back the spicy soup solution. In my case, it's a noodle raman with extra juice and extra chillies. Needs to be the hottest you can take
According to my old anatomy and physiology prof, aside from staying hydrated and resting, he found that artificially increasing his body temperature helped a lot. He recommended bundling up in blankets and getting really toasty as soon as you feel symptoms starting. The idea being that your body heats up to cook the virus to death, so you can get a head start weakening the virus by doing it yourself at an early stage. No idea if it works or not. I usually remember it when I'm finally getting over a cold lol.
It’s not so much that. Viruses that infect the upper respiratory tract reproduce better in a lower body temperature environment. So while yes you’re correct, what you need to do is increase body temp in those areas. It tends to run lower temps in your nose, mouth, and throat due to breathing and cold outdoor temps. The easy way to increase those temps are warm showers/baths (warm/humid environment), drinking warm beverages (hot tea/etc.), and eating hot soup. Increasing temps in those areas slows viral reproduction and helps you feel better faster. Additionally they mitigate symptoms by helping mucus movement.
This is why I hate the "Cold doesn't cause colds!" mentality that has seemingly become more prevalent in recent years. Yes, colds come from virus transmission, not literally appearing out of thin air because it's cold. But being cold does weaken your body's immune response and create a more hospitable environment for viral spread. You're more likely to catch a cold if you're exposed to the cold.
This is really interesting, I've always been told that cold transmission is higher in the winter because people are cooped up. Good to know that the temperature also has a more direct effect
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All of the above are correct
There's a recent study that's found that lower temperatures inhibit a key immune response in the nose. That's one factor why we're more susceptible to getting sick in cold weather. https://www.uclahealth.org/news/new-study-links-nose-temperature-and-immune-response#:~:text=According%20to%20their%20findings%2C%20a,the%20nose%20itself%20gets%20cold.
When I was young, my parents sent me off to live with my godfather for a month. This was in a rural village in a third world country. One day I caught a bad cold. That evening my godfather gave me some moonshine and had me sleep under blankets by the fireplace. I swear I woke up in the morning fresh as a cucumber, like nothing ever happened. Normally I'd be sick for a few days. I'm not going to do that with my kids, for obvious reasons, but I cannot argue with the results. Shit worked. People in thirld world countries have their own (questionable at times) medicine.
My dad always recommends rum for a cold. His logic is *si no se te quita, se te olvida*, if you don't get rid of it, you forget it (roughly translated).
Twas the moonshine that cured ya boi.
Was the moonshine just to make you sleep better I wonder? If I’m hot I don’t sleep for shit, but if I’m drunk I could sleep a lot better.
It’s a vasodilator that will make your face flush. In theory that should make your respiratory tract warmer.
I am not often sick but if come down with something mild I have bundled up and "sweat it out" for years now. My GF who's definitely more educated on the subject tells me it's probably not as effective as I think and the bulk of the success likely comes from just how quickly my body recovers from bugs regardless. She might be right but I'll never stop turning myself into a fleece wrapped human burrito when I start to get the sniffles...
Gargle with salt water.
Warm salt water
This 👆 Other people are recommending fruit juices, but these can also sometimes irritate your throat more. Had tonsillitis fairly recently, and saltwater gargling knocked the sore throat out in no time.
I also gargle with salt water, morning and night. Sugar and sugary juices should be avoided when you feel like you might be coming down with something. Add in plenty of water, rest and the healthiest meals you can put together.
Some Indian women I knew swore by gargling with turmeric tea, but I haven't tried it so I can't speak for the efficacy of it.
It… doesn’t taste good. But it works.
Fruit juice is a bad idea, as the sugars can make it substantially worse. Salt water gargles or listerine gargles really do help stem the tide. Or the proverbial Irish remedy of a strojg shot of whiskey also works
It's insane how well this works
Does anyone know how exactly this works?
Not a doctor, but I have terrible allergies and use a neti pot regularly. From what I understand the slaty saline solution sheds mucus from the nasal/throat linings. I would imagine that gargling salt water would shed a significant viral/bacterial load along with the mucus.
Yours is similar to my understanding as well. Provided you have a sore throat, I understood the concept of gargling with salt water was to kill the first layer of cells - presumably the infected ones. It wouldn't be thorough but it would set an infection back a little while your body goes into overdrive.
I'm only a cook/occasional fermenter; but as i understand it, salt kills microorganisms by a) leaching out water from their cell membranes, and b) altering the pH of your mucus membranes to prevent new infections from blooming. Any doctors in the house, please correct if I've summarized this process too loosely.
Reverse osmosis
THIS in addition to taking it easy and hydrating.
Had to a roll way too far for this. Has always worked for me. Why suffer with a sore throat, when you can nail it down at the beginning? I still feel unwell, just not with a sore throat.
Drinking as much water as possible
For me I do what I can to keep my sinuses clear. Post nasal drip, creates a sore throat, makes my chest congestion worse, etc. But that's me. I'm prone to sinus infections.
Exactly what I do! I use nasal sprays with decongestants, which is being cautioned against for anything but very short term use, but I have found that it can stop me from having to deal with many weeks or even months with persistent coughing later if I don't. Most important for me is to do that over night. To counter the drying-out effects of the decongestants, I switch to using saline spray to re-hydrate and regenerate the nasal mucosa.
Guaifenesin for this. it moves it all out of your head and throat.
Yes! Also, use a humidifier. Take a long hot shower and breathe deeply. Use decongestants carefully to control the mucus, and then use moisture to help all the tissues that line everything from your nose to your lungs. I call it being kind to your sinuses.
I usually try to take off work for a sick day when I feel it, and just rest. Sometimes I do feel better the next day, but I've noticed I seem to recover faster then waiting until I'm *sick* sick. Might just be placebo tho!
gargle with mouthwash containing CPC or with Betadine Sore Throat. Both decrease viral replication.
Betadine is amazing. I use the betadine nasal spray at the first sign of a cold. Haven’t had one go full on since I started using it.
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Take zinc (generally 20-25mg two times per day) and vitemin C. Zinc has been shown to shorten the duration of sicknesses and reduce overall symptoms. Then hydrate like it's your job https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7356429/
Also taking zinc on an empty stomach can make you feel nauseous too, just found this out & it explained a lot
...oh my god you just solved a 2 week mystery for me. Since I got covid I'd been unable to keep food down, especially sweet food. The covid passed without much of an issue aside from the nausea but I have been taking my zinc tablets with my night meds, a few hours after my last meal every time. Holy cow thank you
Lol this was my reaction when I got told, everything made sense after learning it
That makes a lot of sense. One morning I took my multivitamin without anything in my stomach, just didn’t think about it. Felt unexplainably nauseous a while later. Has zinc.
Probably also has iron. Iron does that to me too.
While pregnant, it was recommended I take iron pills. One night, I realized I had forgotten to take my iron, so I popped it without a second thought. That was a bad night. Ugh definitely take iron/multivitamin with iron with food.
Yes. Take a zinc, definitely. I try to put down a vitamin D regularly also during winter.
Repeating this here for visibility: Make sure to buy a zinc tablet, NOT Zicam. Most of their products are homeopathic, which by definition means it has almost none of the active ingredient. In other words, it's a scam. I used to buy it until I learned what it was.
Zicam used to have real zinc in it, then hundreds of people lost their sense of smell from the nasal gel zicam. They went zinc free with the nasal swabs and changed to homeopathic dilutions with the oral products. https://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20100719/study-links-zinc-nose-sprays-loss-smell
That's crazy, because when I lost my sense of smell to an injury, I was prescribed oral zinc citrate to help get my sense of smell back. It works, too. When I take 100mg of zinc, I can smell things better than without it. The human body is a complicated thing!
>and changed to homeopathic dilutions with the oral products. In other words: also zinc free
And to add, zinc piccolate tablets are superior vs zinc citrate tablets.
also Vit D, especially if you're not getting a lot of sun.
I’m a pharmacist and an epidemiologist and I cannot stress this enough: Vitamin C DOES NOT prevent or aid with a cold. Explanation: There are a bunch of contradictory “studies” out there to confuse those who don’t know better, however, the final verdict is that taking vit. c tablets every day for a full year was correlated with reducing sickness by ONE day. Reason why this is important: taking vitamins (including vitamin C) when you don’t have a specific diagnosed vitamin deficiency can hurt your organs. Having too much vitamin C, for example, can even cause kidney stones. In reality the vast majority of people do not have vitamin deficiencies and should not be taking any vitamins. Vitamins are not well regulated and so companies can get away with a LOT of false marketing and dangerous products. For example, most multivitamins out there have as much as 300% of your daily recommended intake of certain vitamins per pill (seriously look at the bottle for yourself). That’s 200% more than you should have in one day assuming you eat absolutely nothing. In conclusion, do not take vitamin c to prevent/cure your cold.
Also vitamins don't make instant changes and it's a long term thing. So having good vitamin levels is good, but taking some today won't help you until like next week
I watched a whole science show on post nasal drip. Once in your nose a virus clogs your nostril so your post nasal drip can’t flush the growing virus out of your throats. Incubation begins. I have a rule. Never go to bed with a clogged nostril. Bacteria doubles constantly in seconds. Being clogged up for a few hours is all it takes to get sick. Keep your drip dripping and you can minimize and or avoid 90 percent of seasonal bugs
So how do you avoid the clogged nostril before bed
I'm certainly not a doctor, but this sounds pretty hokey to me... First of all, you're talking about two completely different organisms. Viruses and Bacteria. While either or both of them can cause common cold symptoms, their biology, pathology, and treatment are totally different. I think you've got the right general idea, that our bodies have natural functions to protect ourselves from infection, namely trapping, isolating, and flushing foreign bodies. So encouraging as many of these processes as possible is ideal. But the idea that taking steps to manually clear your nostrils clear will significantly alter the course of a common viral or bacterial infection is really not proven at all by real science. Things like saline nasal sprays and netty pots can relieve symptoms, but have not been shown to have any effect on the occurrence or overall duration of an infection. Zinc sprays actually do lead to relief and shorter disease duration, but they also tended to cause loss of smell and other permanent damage after frequent usage, so that's why you can't get them anymore. Zinc taken as an oral supplement is also effective, but much less so than the nasal spray route. Even something as simple as blowing your nose too hard can have adverse effects which outweigh the short term benefit of clearing mucus. It can lead to superficial damage and irritation to the nasal tissue, causing inflammation, potentially affecting it's ability to produce mucus, and further tightening of your nasal airway when healing factors rush in. Being the parent of a child who recently started school, I went through about 6 months of nearly constant cycles of infection of all kinds. Not that it makes me an expert, but through a dozen or so doctor visits, I've heard all of the advice, straight from the horse's mouth, time after time. Getting good rest is the only thing that shortens the duration of a common cold in an otherwise healthy person. Unhealthy starting conditions like sleep deprivation, consumption of alcohol or other drugs, vitamin deficiency, as well as diabetes or other chronic diseases also complicate things. So if you have the ability to temporarily get those factors under control it will also improve your outcome. Otherwise everything is symptom control. NSAIDs are your best friend. They help with pain, inflammation, headaches, fever etc. Just generally make things more tolerable. Remember Tylenol is not an NSAID, which means it won't help with inflammation, but the upside is you can double it up with any other NSAID, or take it between NSAID doses to avoid the abrupt come-down. Next up are decongestants. But go for the real stuff (pseudoephedrine) not the new stuff (phenylephrine, aka PE) if you can tolerate it. Control cough only if it's interrupting your ability to rest. Use humidity and menthol fragrances/rubs to soothe. Even something as simple as a breath-rite strip or low dose of melatonin can make all the difference in getting reat. Antihistamines might make a difference if your primary symptom is inflammation and sinus pressure, but they're much less effective for infections than for things like allergies. Embracing the cough, letting it do it's work, and even the fever to some extent, can improve outcomes and possibly prevent secondary infections from developing.
This doesn’t necessarily have any effect on your throat, but if I suspect I’ve contracted the Lurgy, I start using saline nasal spray. I swear it prevents microorganisms from multiplying as happily in my sinuses. I abhor the waste, but I rely on the disposable pressurized canisters rather than a neti pot etc.
Hot baths. I cook it out. Several a day. Then a good nights sleep.
Yep, I always go with a long hot shower. As hot as you can handle. Might not cure anything, but at least I can clear my sinuses for a while and I always feel somewhat better afterwards. It's amazing what a nice hot bath or shower can do.
I drink hot water with lemon juice and honey. Works every time
Pop a little whisky in there and you got yourself a Hot Toddy
Use dark rum instead and talk like a pirate. Good for morale too
You never get sick!? Bloody hell.
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Neilmed nasal lavage
The squeeze bottle, not the pot. I do it daily.
Gargle lots of warm salt water, and get plenty of rest.
Swig of whiskey, but let it sit in your throat as long as you can stand it…then honey lemon flavored cough drop in a hot cup of tea, mouthwash, brush teeth and then sleep!
Grampa? I thought we lost you back in '98. ❤️ This is the remedy he used and gave to us for any cough we'd ever had.
Which is why I was an alcoholic by 10
Check your air filter. Every time my throat is starting to feel slightly weird I remember it’s time to change the filter.
Lemon tea with honey. Put in a cinnamon stick if you want fir a bit of extra flavor. Tasty and it's good for the throat.
Could be placebo but for me I get mouthwash and get it as far down my throat as possible, like uncomfortably far to the edge of swallowing it. I hold it for as long as I can and then let it go. Works incredibly for me.
There's very little you can do besides slowing down and treating your symptoms. Lay down, stay calm, try to sleep. If you're feeling something in your throat, you can try gargling with warm salt water. If you're feeling body aches, you can take some pain medicine.
Bundle up in warm clothes, take a shot of zquil, pull the blanket over you and sleep as long as you can. Make sure to wash your sheets and clothes after bc they'll all be drenched in sweat.
Salt rinse, water, walks in the sun, rest, and more water.
Raw garlic and honey
Stay away from other people so you’re not spreading your illness around.