There was an episode from a very famous, very well-done, critically acclaimed television show with a world-renowned doctor that addressed the common cold.
Of course, I'm referring to "Dr. Granny" on "The Beverly Hillbillies."
Granny, part of the Clampett clan (although her name was Granny Moses, I think) had all kind of cures that generally revolved around some homemade moonshine. I remember one episode where some big city-slicker type, or maybe banker Drysdale, heard about her common cold cure and had to have it.
Anyway, the long and the short of it was take her recipe, and in 7-10 days, you'd be well...of course, the length of many colds anyway.
So take this as you will. But I've studied this intently over the years, and arrived at what I truly--truly--believe is the best way to attack a cold. I am 100% convinced the duration of my colds are shortened, and the symptoms accelerated and minimized. But I think you have to do all of this for it to work as described. Shortcutting it won't work.
Here are the keys.
Day One
a) Begin taking zinc lozenges immediately. Take one every 3 ours, allow it to melt in your throat. It will take 15 minutes to completely melt (yes, I have timed it). Do not get the zinc rapid melt--they do not work as well. There is something about the coating that just works better when it does that for 15 minutes.
b) Do not drink anything for 15 minutes or more after it dissolves. So that's at least 30 minutes with no liquid intake (or food, really.)
c) Do not take any citrus or orange juice, etc. for at least an hour.
d) Bombard yourself with Vitamin C. Yes, my doctor (and yours too) will say it's expensive urine. It works. I like to drink orange juice, or Emergen-C coctails, rather than just take pills. Again, I think it works better.
e) Continue to drink fluids. I drink tons of water to keep mucus thinned and clean.
a) through e) continue each day, but some of the symptoms will change according to where you are with your cold, and that will dictate what you take when you take it.
Continuing day 2-4
f) There's not much you can do about the sneezing. It will happen for a day. Mine does. Don't try benadryl or some OTC antihistamine to stop it; it's not an allergy; it won't work. Plus you'll need to use benadryl later, and your body builds up a benadryl tolerance fairly quickly, so you need to stay away from it.
g) When you are sneezing and your nose is running, use a Neti-Pot up to 4 times a day. That's aggressively attacking it. Your water is probably fine, but recommend using purified water or boiling your water before putting it in your sinuses and risking brain-eating amoeba.
I thought that was the most disgusting thing imaginable until I was desperate a few years ago and tried it for summer allergies/sinusitis. It is actually soothing, feels very good and helps get the gunk out and keep the mucus thin. I use Simply Saline salt/baking soda combination as the additive, which is very soothing. The salt shrinks the nasal membranes and the baking soda is soothing to the nose so that it doesn't get tender during all of the nose-blowing/sneezing/running nose stages.
h) After day 1, my sneezing stops. Day 2 my running nose stops. Day 3 is approaching the end of my colds, but at the end cycle of the cold is when the worst congestion and post-nasal drip stage starts. It's a bear. Causes you to cough, makes it difficult to get sleep.
The way to combat that is to continue (every day, a) through e) your procedures. But now you're going to add additional lthings to do.
i) Take Sudafed. Generic is fine, but you will want to take the "real" sudafed, and not that PE crap they sell. You need the stuff the meth-makers use--if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for you. I usually get the 24-hour Sudafed and take it around noon. That doesn't seem to affect my sleep much at night (sudafed is a stimulant--for some people--including me--you'll get a "wired" feeling when you take it that will keep you awake).
j) 20 minutes after taking sudafed, use the Neti-pot. When you're extremely congested, as you are in the last cycle of the cold, the Neti-pot is more difficult to use. If you use Sudafed, though, it will help break that up a little before using the Neti-pot.
k) At bedtime, take 1-2 benadryl (will help you sleep, and may--may--help slow the drip a little), plus take a Mucinex-type guafenissin expectorant drug to thin the mucus and allow the post-nasal drip to not be so thick. If you want, you can take something like Robitussin DM, which has both a cough suppressant and the expectorant that thins the mucus. Now, caveat--I have also been told that guafenissin is of questionable value, but again, it absolutely works for me to make the drip more easily manageable.
l) For symptom relief and sleeping, at bedtime take a 12-hour Afrin spray. There's a way to do this properly, and it took me awhile before learning. First, don't use this more than 3 days in a row. It has a rebound affect that will cause more problems than it cures if you do. I never use it during the day, but only use it at night. I still don't use it more than 3 days in a row, although I think using it like that I could go a little longer (4 or 5 days of only 1x per day).
Anyway, the trick is this. First, squeeze the bottle--don't have to do it hard--ONE time in a nostril while you pinch the other one shut. DO NOT "sniff" the spray. It won't hurt, but you don't need to, and you'll see in a minute why trying to sniff it up your nose is not a good idea.
Switch nostrils, do the same thing for the other nostril.
Wait 5 minutes.
Repeat the process for both nostrils.
Wait 5 more minutes.
Now do a 3rd spray in each nostril. A doctor told me the rationale here. Basically, you are opening up the nasal passages in stages. You don't want (or need) to try to open the upper nasal passages until the lower ones are unblocked first. That's the first squirt. The 2nd squirt gets a medium range, and the 3rd squirt--after the nasal passages really feel great by them--will take care of you through the night.
Do all of this, and the severity and duration of your cold will be lessened to manageable. And yes, I am a big, huge, gigantic believer in taking the zinc logenzes throughout. Warning--it will make a lot of foods taste bad. I find my taste buds all screwed up while I'm taking them, but it does work. And the vitamin c all-out attack on it? Also helps.
The rest is symptom relief, but I highly recommend it. Of course, if you want to add Kentucky bourbon at each step, that's up to you, and also highly recommended.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by dethbylt
Bookmarks