Big night, weekend coming. Feel cold coming on.

All suggestions for preventative or mitigating measures (for cold, not going out on lash) – the less based on any sort of science or even common sense the better.

Eye of newt , wing of bat, 3 shots brandy and a sprig of garlic. Blend well, then throw over left shoulder.

Sore throat part of it? Chew a bit of raw garlic and swallow. You’ll probably throw up, but it does work if you catch early enough (the sore throat, not the chunks)

Echinacea tablets. Obtain from pharmacist, start taking now.

Try some of DrP’s magic white powder – If you paypal (why “gift“, of course) £60, I’ll make sure my uniquorns (vegetarian friendly) fly by and sprinkle some over your house….

DrP

(Little evidence on this subject – you COULD try high dose vit C, but TBH you’ll end up pi$$ing most of it down the loo, and it’s unlikely to change what’s going to be inevitable…)

Sore throat? I find this very helpful (I know, I know it looks daft, but it really works for me): http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/1705 EDIT: Actually, it’s step 3 I do, rather than the whole thing. But doing the whole thing makes it more effective IME

Otherwise just feeling a little sluggish, I go out for a blast on my bike/run. It always seems to blow the impending germs away.

I also used to find a sauna quite helpful.

No scientific explanation for any of them working as far as I know.

I did the yoga thing, being a bit of a yoga saddo. It definitely clears the nose and throat of phelgm, not really advisable to do in bogs at work though 🙂

Cloves, Ginger, lemon, honey, whisky hot water . . . in a mug . . .

Nothing. You’re either going to get a cold or not.

Zinc:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_gluconate

(Zinc and the common cold)

Allegedly.

Anecdotally, I tried the First Defence stuff the last time I started with a cold. Normally with colds I spend three of four days coming down with it, three or four feeling like death warmed up, and three or four with it leaving again. Using the spray, I had the former and the latter but seemed to skip the bit in the middle.

Obviously, this is a sample of one so it could just be a total coincidence. But it seemed to help.

Yes, Vicks First Defence definitely works. At the same time, get some Corsodyl mouthwash and gargle with it three times a day. Don’t waste your money on vitamin C tabs, that’s a fallacy.

Using these I was able to fight off a sore throat and the ensuing cold at the begining of a two-week trip to East Africa; I got them from the bloke sitting next to me on the flight out who sneezed all over me and waved his handkerchief in my face then very kindly reached my laptop bag down from the locker, thus covering the handles with his virus.

Whisky.

Seems to work

My psuedo scientific explanation is that the alcohol kils the nasty bacteria in your throat*

*May be bollocks

Whisky will probably work as well as Corsodyl, except that it doesn’t contain the medication.

As said above …….Zinc

+1 whathaveisaidnow said

Paracetamol at the first sign of a cold usually works for me.

Rub nob furiously with Brillo pad. I can guarantee you won’t be worried about your cold anymore 🙂

A very very hot bath works as well, it raises the body temperature and makes the viruses unhappy – which is why you get a temperature, by the way…

Squeeze half a lemon, shake in a healthy amount of cayenne pepper, add a little honey or maple syrup and neck it!

Imagine you were really ill – it’s all relative.

Oh and HTFU