Quote Originally Posted by FollowTheSun View Post
ugh sorry you are sick!! :-(

I really really try to rest. I call off work to rest, and to avoid "spreading the love" to my co-workers during the worst part . It's just really rude to go to work sick if you are around other people.

A nice hot steamy shower, and using the cool mist humidifer.

I drink lots of Gatorade and sprite-- I know these are not essential, but somehow I have childhood connection to drinking these when I'm sick. Along with Vicks Vapo-rub.

As an asthmatic I use my rescue meds as needed.

Sudafed is great! At first it totally drains you so you are like a faucet, but then it also shrinks those swollen tissues in your nose to prevent more mucous production for the rest of the cold. Plus it helps stuffy ears. So if you can stand the initial clean-out, it's great stuff for a cold.

Benedryl is terrible. It initially stops the waterfall of snot, but it thickens the mucous, causes sinus and ear infections, and makes some people like me really loopy and zombie-like. This is one of the main ingredients in Nyquil by the way.
I appreciate your explanation...if I catch a cold, I may go for the Sudafed. I vaguely remember using it some years ago. I really hate to use OTC's that dry you up so
much that your congestion stays in your sinuses & you can't breathe...and then the stuff to clear your sinuses makes things worse if used more than 3 days. Come
to think of it, I've also used Ayr, a saline nasal mist that has no such complications.

Funny you mention drinking Sprite...when I was a kid, my mom believed in 7-Up & soda crackers for flu/colds & this worked out for the best: I grew up disliking drinking
any & all sodas (Coke, Pepsi, etc) since I associate it with being sick, & the carbonation gives me hiccups anyway, so I've never gotten hooked on drinking that stuff like
so many have. Once in a blue moon, I'll have some root beer...I really live dangerously!