The Pharmacy in the Cupboard
October 23, 2023 10:07 PM Subscribe
It's cold and flu season - buckle up and watch yourself on trains and subways, because if you get what I've had, it's a doozy!.
Let's bone up on how to make yourself (or your loved ones) feel better when you/they feel terrible. And by all means, share your favorite remedies!
The Mayo Clinic is out there with the booring recommendations:
The Mayo Clinic is out there with the booring recommendations:
- Stay Hydrated
- Sleep
- Drink Hot Beverages
- Take a pain reliver
- Albondigas: Mexican Meatball Soup to beat back the germs
- Avgolemono (Greek): For when you want your chicken soup to include eggs and zippy lemon juice
- Arroz con dulce (Puerto Rico): I had a roommate in college who only wanted this coconut infused rice pudding when he was sick
- Chicken Noodle Soup: So many different chicken soup recipes from around the world for fighting colds. Sure the effect may be part placebo, part hot liquid and part nutrition
- Chicken Tinola (Phillipines): Chicken, chayote, ginger soup.
- Congee: As talked about back in the chicken and rice post - this stuff is straight up comfort food for a good portion of the world. (It's a good enough thing it deserves a reminder - actually almost all of those chicken/rice dishes make an appearance on the world's "I'm sick, feed me" lists.)
- Gogol Mogol (Jewish/Eastern European): A cold dessert or a hot drink!
- Hot and Sour Soup (Chinese): This is what I absolutely crave when I've got a bad cold with the combination of broth, soothing texture and nasal sear of white pepper. (If I suspect I'm about to be sick, I'll make a batch to keep ready)
- Hot Toddy: The classic mixture of lemon, honey, hot water and spirit. The proto cough syrup (the non-alcoholic version shows measurable impact).
- Khichdi (India/Pakistan): a porridge of lentils (dal) and rice that is sought out when not feeling well
- Matzoh Ball Soup: How about instead of noodles, we get our starchy goodness with incomprehensibly wonderful matzoh meal balls?
- Pho: I will admit, I'm too lazy, even when not sick, to make pho from scratch, but it works like a charm
- Pozole (Mexico): Pork and hominy stew that cures most ailments
- Rasam: Indian tamarind and tomato soup
- Garlic Honey: A Hungarian cure: Mix garlic paste with honey and eat by the spoonful
- Ginger ale: sweet, spicy, people love ginger when they're not feeling well and it can settle your stomach
- Pastina: Tiny Italian pasta cooked and sauced very blandly for the sick
- Saltines: so many saltine crackers
- Umeboshi: Japanese pickled plums
Reading through these recipes with a sick toddler breathing (and farting, ugh) next to me in my bed.
I love avgolemono soup and pozole and pho… all so good.
My go to sick foods are: ginger ale or diet 7up, fresh bread and SO MUCH butter, and pho with sriracha and hoisin sauce. My other sickness tips are: shower daily, even if you’re too tired; gargle saltwater for a mucousy throat; give yourself the gift of a 2x/daily spoonful of fancy manuka honey if it’s in your budget because it theoretically can help a sore throat and cough; wear a scarf (even indoors) for a sore throat.
I’ve actually never had congee despite having lived with Korean roommates for years (I did develop a taste for kimchi though!) - I actually thought it was Korean but now see it’s Chinese, my apologies! I have to give it a try. Thanks for the push.
posted by samthemander at 11:24 PM on October 23, 2023 [5 favorites]
I love avgolemono soup and pozole and pho… all so good.
My go to sick foods are: ginger ale or diet 7up, fresh bread and SO MUCH butter, and pho with sriracha and hoisin sauce. My other sickness tips are: shower daily, even if you’re too tired; gargle saltwater for a mucousy throat; give yourself the gift of a 2x/daily spoonful of fancy manuka honey if it’s in your budget because it theoretically can help a sore throat and cough; wear a scarf (even indoors) for a sore throat.
I’ve actually never had congee despite having lived with Korean roommates for years (I did develop a taste for kimchi though!) - I actually thought it was Korean but now see it’s Chinese, my apologies! I have to give it a try. Thanks for the push.
posted by samthemander at 11:24 PM on October 23, 2023 [5 favorites]
Yikes! I think I'll just stick with your chicken noodle soup suggestion.
posted by fairmettle at 11:33 PM on October 23, 2023 [3 favorites]
what am i chopped reliver
posted by lalochezia at 11:39 PM on October 23, 2023 [20 favorites]
posted by lalochezia at 11:39 PM on October 23, 2023 [20 favorites]
*sigh* I knew I should have proofread the part I wrote while sick.
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:51 PM on October 23, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:51 PM on October 23, 2023 [9 favorites]
Samthemander, I didn't grow up with it but fell in love with it the first time I had it. In retrospect, the easy stuff I make at home is so. Much. Better.
It's nothing complex - rinsed and fozen Thai jasmine rice thrown in an instapot or simple rice cooker with water or chicken stock, cooked until creamy. (Freezing the washed rice makes it cook faster - like 5m on high in an IP vs several hours). Maybe half a cup of uncooked rice to a quart or three of stock/water?
When I first started eating it I knew it as 'juk', but congee seems to be more widely recognized in the US.
Apparently juk is Korean, congee is at least some parts of China and Chao is Vietnamese.
And I learned Swedes apparently do a cold rice version with raisins and maybe apple, sugar, and cinnamon - it sounds weird since I think of rice porridge as savory, but I might need to try it!
posted by esoteric things at 12:08 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
It's nothing complex - rinsed and fozen Thai jasmine rice thrown in an instapot or simple rice cooker with water or chicken stock, cooked until creamy. (Freezing the washed rice makes it cook faster - like 5m on high in an IP vs several hours). Maybe half a cup of uncooked rice to a quart or three of stock/water?
When I first started eating it I knew it as 'juk', but congee seems to be more widely recognized in the US.
Apparently juk is Korean, congee is at least some parts of China and Chao is Vietnamese.
And I learned Swedes apparently do a cold rice version with raisins and maybe apple, sugar, and cinnamon - it sounds weird since I think of rice porridge as savory, but I might need to try it!
posted by esoteric things at 12:08 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
reliver is what I do after drinking
posted by Hairy Lobster at 12:40 AM on October 24, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by Hairy Lobster at 12:40 AM on October 24, 2023 [9 favorites]
As a variant on hot toddy, hot buttered rum is definitely restorative: go easy on the sugar and get it down quick before the butter sticks to the glass.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:50 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:50 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
Hot toddy is the "maybe I should try getting drunk" option.
posted by pracowity at 1:20 AM on October 24, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 1:20 AM on October 24, 2023 [9 favorites]
Protein, protein, protein.
What I learned in my nutrition masters, and was reinforced working as a dietitian in a hospital, is that your protein needs increase any time you have an infection or your body is trying to heal. You know how you lose weight when you're sick? That's muscle mass you're losing. Your immune system needs protein and will make your body break down muscle tissue to get it. You can't fully arrest this process, but you can minimize it, by increasing your protein intake.
So how much? You can calculate what you need when you're health by looking at your body weight in kg. That's how many grams per day you need. And that should be spread throughout the day because there's a limit to how much protein your body will use at one time (your body is capable of pulling the nitrogen off the hydrocarbon chain of the protein so it can burn that backbone as a carb or store it as a fat if you give it too much in one go.. usually more than 20-24 grams at once but it's a very squishy number that hasn't been studied in all populations).
If your immune system is active (or if you're healing from an injury) then instead of 1 g of protein per kg of body weight, you want closer to 2 g of protein per kg of body weight. Yeah, I know, that's a lot. The idea is to do your best and try to include protein in every meal.
How much protein do various foods have?
- 3 oz meat/poultry/etc (size of a deck of cards) = 20-22 g
- 1 cup cooked lentils = 18 g
- 1 cup beans = 15 g
- 1/2 cup tofu = 10 g
- 1 thumb-sized piece of cheese = 8 g
- 1 egg = 6-7 g
- a serving of grains (slice of bread, 1/2 cup cooked rice or pasta) = 2 g
- 1/2 cup cooked quinoa = 4 g
- 1 cup leafy greens = 2-4 g
Also, cook your protein. You'll get half the protein from a raw egg as you will from a cooked egg (Rocky was wrong).
posted by antinomia at 2:25 AM on October 24, 2023 [29 favorites]
What I learned in my nutrition masters, and was reinforced working as a dietitian in a hospital, is that your protein needs increase any time you have an infection or your body is trying to heal. You know how you lose weight when you're sick? That's muscle mass you're losing. Your immune system needs protein and will make your body break down muscle tissue to get it. You can't fully arrest this process, but you can minimize it, by increasing your protein intake.
So how much? You can calculate what you need when you're health by looking at your body weight in kg. That's how many grams per day you need. And that should be spread throughout the day because there's a limit to how much protein your body will use at one time (your body is capable of pulling the nitrogen off the hydrocarbon chain of the protein so it can burn that backbone as a carb or store it as a fat if you give it too much in one go.. usually more than 20-24 grams at once but it's a very squishy number that hasn't been studied in all populations).
If your immune system is active (or if you're healing from an injury) then instead of 1 g of protein per kg of body weight, you want closer to 2 g of protein per kg of body weight. Yeah, I know, that's a lot. The idea is to do your best and try to include protein in every meal.
How much protein do various foods have?
- 3 oz meat/poultry/etc (size of a deck of cards) = 20-22 g
- 1 cup cooked lentils = 18 g
- 1 cup beans = 15 g
- 1/2 cup tofu = 10 g
- 1 thumb-sized piece of cheese = 8 g
- 1 egg = 6-7 g
- a serving of grains (slice of bread, 1/2 cup cooked rice or pasta) = 2 g
- 1/2 cup cooked quinoa = 4 g
- 1 cup leafy greens = 2-4 g
Also, cook your protein. You'll get half the protein from a raw egg as you will from a cooked egg (Rocky was wrong).
posted by antinomia at 2:25 AM on October 24, 2023 [29 favorites]
My husband swears by (and I swear at) garlic slices infused in brandy. Sip as required, eat the garlic. No-one will come close enough to catch anything because of the garlic reek (which will come out your pores) and the brandy will make you feel better. He's of Irish/Lithuanian background but I suspect this is entirely his own invention. I will be showing him this list in the hopes of finding a less stinky alternative.
posted by ninazer0 at 2:26 AM on October 24, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by ninazer0 at 2:26 AM on October 24, 2023 [7 favorites]
When I'm ill, I generally crave spices. There's a local place that does an amazing sambar which is just perfect. Need to try making it myself, but I'm rarely up for a big cooking project when I'm ill, and delivery is very easy...
posted by Dysk at 2:51 AM on October 24, 2023
posted by Dysk at 2:51 AM on October 24, 2023
I remember my dad used to make me some sort of drink with spices, honey, and a little bourbon when I was growing up, and maybe a little bit of lemon. I've never been able to recreate it.
My four-year-old daughter has been down with RSV since Wednesday, and aside from pain relievers it's been juice, Pedialyte pops, Italian Wedding Soup (it freezes well, so there's always some on hand), chicken noodle soup, the Sick Bag (I keep a tote of special activities she can play with while sick, like sticker books, to encourage bed rest), PBS Kids, and humidifiers.
posted by champers at 2:54 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
My four-year-old daughter has been down with RSV since Wednesday, and aside from pain relievers it's been juice, Pedialyte pops, Italian Wedding Soup (it freezes well, so there's always some on hand), chicken noodle soup, the Sick Bag (I keep a tote of special activities she can play with while sick, like sticker books, to encourage bed rest), PBS Kids, and humidifiers.
posted by champers at 2:54 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
I haven't had a solid cold since I started wearing a mask religiously on public transport.
Lemon, honey, hot water and paracetamol is still my standby though.
posted by WhackyparseThis at 3:29 AM on October 24, 2023 [4 favorites]
Lemon, honey, hot water and paracetamol is still my standby though.
posted by WhackyparseThis at 3:29 AM on October 24, 2023 [4 favorites]
I got a covid shot yesterday and thus I'm feeling kinda drained and shitty today. Went back to bed for a bit after doing my most urgent work stuff this morning, only to find our neighbours were having a screaming row on the other side of that wall. Not even slightly relaxing.
As a vegan who doesn't drink, that combination seems to rule out at least 70% of the world's sickness remedies. I'm going to do the opposite of drinking garlic in brandy and go play Vampire Survivors for a little while.
posted by terretu at 3:41 AM on October 24, 2023 [5 favorites]
As a vegan who doesn't drink, that combination seems to rule out at least 70% of the world's sickness remedies. I'm going to do the opposite of drinking garlic in brandy and go play Vampire Survivors for a little while.
posted by terretu at 3:41 AM on October 24, 2023 [5 favorites]
0. Don't assume it's a cold. Test for covid. More then once.
posted by Dashy at 4:16 AM on October 24, 2023 [12 favorites]
posted by Dashy at 4:16 AM on October 24, 2023 [12 favorites]
No one has shared the instructions for a hot toddy as yet. You have to put a red sock on one of the bedposts and stare at it intently while sipping the hot toddy. When there are two socks, (so it is said) the toddy is taking effect. Since I no longer drink alcohol I am finding it harder to make this part of the regimen effective. Send lemons.
posted by aesop at 4:30 AM on October 24, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by aesop at 4:30 AM on October 24, 2023 [4 favorites]
Gogel mogel is, it seems, part of my cultural heritage, but I've never heard of it. I can only presume this is due to Americans' aversion to raw eggs.
In Germany, circa 2000, I encountered grog, which was endorsed as a cure-all: pour a generous portion of the liquor of your choice into a mug, fill with hot water, drink as quickly as possible, go to bed.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:31 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
In Germany, circa 2000, I encountered grog, which was endorsed as a cure-all: pour a generous portion of the liquor of your choice into a mug, fill with hot water, drink as quickly as possible, go to bed.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:31 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
A vote for a medication - Buckley's Mixture. It was sold in the US for a while and a local pharmacist recommended it to me once then, and it worked tremendously well. I'd had a cough that just plain wouldn't stop no matter what, but one dose of Buckley's and it stopped me coughing only ten minutes later. These days I can only get it via Amazon for about $20 a bottle, and when I had Covid I used some to alleviate my symptoms - and only later did I notice that the bottle had expired six months prior, and it had still worked just as well.
It does taste like yeti spooge, but I don't care, it works so damn well and I will be a Buckley's Stan for life.
...As for the foods - really, I just go with whatever I can make easily. I do cook a lot so a pozole or some chili would definitely be do-able.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:43 AM on October 24, 2023 [5 favorites]
It does taste like yeti spooge, but I don't care, it works so damn well and I will be a Buckley's Stan for life.
...As for the foods - really, I just go with whatever I can make easily. I do cook a lot so a pozole or some chili would definitely be do-able.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:43 AM on October 24, 2023 [5 favorites]
Having just come off a four-week illness that my COVID tests insisted wasn't COVID, can I tell you that if I never taste lemon and ginger tea again, it'll be too soon.
My secret cold remedy advice: don't buy Mucinex. Don't buy the store-brand Mucinex either. For some unfathomable reason Mucinex--active ingredient guaifenisen--costs ten times more than it should. Stick with store-brand Robitussin, or better yet, look around the cold medicine shelves for generic guaifenisen tablets. I was able to get the same dose as Mucinex, for 88 cents (vs, y'know, 20 bucks or whatever).
If you wind up with a bacterial infection and they put you on something heavy-duty like Augmentin (as they did me), take some probiotics, live-culture yogurt, whatever you can stand; this seems to calm down the upset stomach the antibiotics can cause a few days in.
One of my big symptoms at the end was persistent postnasal drip which caused me not to be able to talk. Literally I spent a week with a voice that kept cutting out on me, or croaking, or otherwise embarrassing my socially-anxious self. Because it wouldn't go away even when the rest of my symptoms were gone, I called the doc back and she prescribed Atrovent nasal spray. Atrovent is usually an asthma inhaler--it's an anticholinergic, which means it dries things up. Within a few days I had my voice back, and now I don't sound like a muppet left in a damp basement. That's going in my little "next time i'm sick" planning too.
For those of us too amoeba-phobic to use a neti pot, pressurized saline mist pumps are a godsend for mucus clearance and comfort. Just make sure you clean off the nosepiece and give it a few sprays before and after you use it, to clear out the nozzle. No sense sending your bugs straight into your brain or whatever.
Also, get a humidifier! But clean that thing out. What I found was a very light bleach solution (like, literally only enough bleach to barely be able to smell it) helped keep the grossness inside the humidifier at bay.
Also...is it weird to really enjoy having a fever? That was my favorite part of being sick. It seemed so luxurious. Maybe I'll erase that before hitting the button.
posted by mittens at 4:44 AM on October 24, 2023 [11 favorites]
My secret cold remedy advice: don't buy Mucinex. Don't buy the store-brand Mucinex either. For some unfathomable reason Mucinex--active ingredient guaifenisen--costs ten times more than it should. Stick with store-brand Robitussin, or better yet, look around the cold medicine shelves for generic guaifenisen tablets. I was able to get the same dose as Mucinex, for 88 cents (vs, y'know, 20 bucks or whatever).
If you wind up with a bacterial infection and they put you on something heavy-duty like Augmentin (as they did me), take some probiotics, live-culture yogurt, whatever you can stand; this seems to calm down the upset stomach the antibiotics can cause a few days in.
One of my big symptoms at the end was persistent postnasal drip which caused me not to be able to talk. Literally I spent a week with a voice that kept cutting out on me, or croaking, or otherwise embarrassing my socially-anxious self. Because it wouldn't go away even when the rest of my symptoms were gone, I called the doc back and she prescribed Atrovent nasal spray. Atrovent is usually an asthma inhaler--it's an anticholinergic, which means it dries things up. Within a few days I had my voice back, and now I don't sound like a muppet left in a damp basement. That's going in my little "next time i'm sick" planning too.
For those of us too amoeba-phobic to use a neti pot, pressurized saline mist pumps are a godsend for mucus clearance and comfort. Just make sure you clean off the nosepiece and give it a few sprays before and after you use it, to clear out the nozzle. No sense sending your bugs straight into your brain or whatever.
Also, get a humidifier! But clean that thing out. What I found was a very light bleach solution (like, literally only enough bleach to barely be able to smell it) helped keep the grossness inside the humidifier at bay.
Also...is it weird to really enjoy having a fever? That was my favorite part of being sick. It seemed so luxurious. Maybe I'll erase that before hitting the button.
posted by mittens at 4:44 AM on October 24, 2023 [11 favorites]
My husband swears by (and I swear at) garlic slices infused in brandy. ... I suspect this is entirely his own invention
I learned a similar thing from my mother, which is two or three cloves of garlic crushed into a glass of red wine and steeped for 10 or so minutes. I drink the wine but leave the bits of garlic, and proceed directly to bed. I call it The Old Italian Remedy and it is the worst cocktail I make.
I have a notion that the wine carries some beneficial compound from the garlic into the liver and the bloodstream, but I have no scientific evidence behind this.
posted by gauche at 5:11 AM on October 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
I learned a similar thing from my mother, which is two or three cloves of garlic crushed into a glass of red wine and steeped for 10 or so minutes. I drink the wine but leave the bits of garlic, and proceed directly to bed. I call it The Old Italian Remedy and it is the worst cocktail I make.
I have a notion that the wine carries some beneficial compound from the garlic into the liver and the bloodstream, but I have no scientific evidence behind this.
posted by gauche at 5:11 AM on October 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
Please wear a mask. Especially after you get symptoms and even when it's "just a cold".
Don't be another part in a chain of infections that prevents anyone from being with their families this season. Remember that your night out now might lead to someone else missing Thanksgiving or Christmas. Don't be selfish. Don't steal Christmas. Wear a mask!!!
It really sucks when someone can't come because they're sick. It sucks even more when it's something that could have been prevented. And it sucks most when someone is sick and they come anyway and other people get sick and the cycle just repeats.
Remember: If you are attending any event with other people, it's your obligation to mask up and take precautions BEFOREHAND. Want to go to that wedding? Stop eating out for a few weeks beforehand. Choose your exposure carefully so we can all enjoy being with loved ones this year.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:30 AM on October 24, 2023 [24 favorites]
Don't be another part in a chain of infections that prevents anyone from being with their families this season. Remember that your night out now might lead to someone else missing Thanksgiving or Christmas. Don't be selfish. Don't steal Christmas. Wear a mask!!!
It really sucks when someone can't come because they're sick. It sucks even more when it's something that could have been prevented. And it sucks most when someone is sick and they come anyway and other people get sick and the cycle just repeats.
Remember: If you are attending any event with other people, it's your obligation to mask up and take precautions BEFOREHAND. Want to go to that wedding? Stop eating out for a few weeks beforehand. Choose your exposure carefully so we can all enjoy being with loved ones this year.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:30 AM on October 24, 2023 [24 favorites]
Oh hang on I can come in to offer a cookbook that has some recipes where there are some steps you can prepare in advance and then FREEZE FOR LATER. And they're all EASY, so you could conceivably stock your freezer now for cold-curing ingredients for later.
Slow Cook Modern is an awesome book - it's all slow-cooker recipes, but the author tried to create something that would be different from your average slow-cooker cookbook in three ways -
1. all the recipes are for smaller families of about 3-4 people, instead of being a family of 6-8.
2. For each recipe, she also offers a recipe for a simple side dish and also suggests two others from elsewhere in the book.
3. All the recipes cook for AT LEAST 8 HOURS on low. (She remembers that most of us work from 9-5, and so we aren't home to babysit a slow cooker that only cooks for 4 hours on high or whatever.)
She also has a section of "ingredient" recipes using your slow cooker - i.e., how to use your slow cooker to make soup stock, cook beans, make ghee even. I used that section to cook up some dried hominy, and also used it for a "chili base" - which was just dumping some dried chiles and sun-dried tomatoes into the cooker and then letting that go all day, and pureeing the results. That made about eight cups of chile-tomato puree which is in my freezer now - that is, there's only about four cups in the freezer now, because I've used some. Three cups went into a chili recipe and a generous cup went into a pozole . I also made the "side dish" for the pozole, which was just slicing up some radishes and letting them sit in a bowl of ice water in the fridge while the pozole was cooking. The radish greens also got chopped up and added to the pozole.
Having some stuff banked in the freezer and this cookbook will be a boon on a day when I'm sick and would only be able to cook by throwing things into a slow cooker and hitting a button.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:37 AM on October 24, 2023 [7 favorites]
Slow Cook Modern is an awesome book - it's all slow-cooker recipes, but the author tried to create something that would be different from your average slow-cooker cookbook in three ways -
1. all the recipes are for smaller families of about 3-4 people, instead of being a family of 6-8.
2. For each recipe, she also offers a recipe for a simple side dish and also suggests two others from elsewhere in the book.
3. All the recipes cook for AT LEAST 8 HOURS on low. (She remembers that most of us work from 9-5, and so we aren't home to babysit a slow cooker that only cooks for 4 hours on high or whatever.)
She also has a section of "ingredient" recipes using your slow cooker - i.e., how to use your slow cooker to make soup stock, cook beans, make ghee even. I used that section to cook up some dried hominy, and also used it for a "chili base" - which was just dumping some dried chiles and sun-dried tomatoes into the cooker and then letting that go all day, and pureeing the results. That made about eight cups of chile-tomato puree which is in my freezer now - that is, there's only about four cups in the freezer now, because I've used some. Three cups went into a chili recipe and a generous cup went into a pozole . I also made the "side dish" for the pozole, which was just slicing up some radishes and letting them sit in a bowl of ice water in the fridge while the pozole was cooking. The radish greens also got chopped up and added to the pozole.
Having some stuff banked in the freezer and this cookbook will be a boon on a day when I'm sick and would only be able to cook by throwing things into a slow cooker and hitting a button.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:37 AM on October 24, 2023 [7 favorites]
Just started augmentin for my sinus infection yesterday
posted by potrzebie at 6:42 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by potrzebie at 6:42 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
I like hot things, spicy hot, for cold symptoms. My friend in Mexico swears by a noxious-sounding tea you make from fresh ginger, honey, lemon, garlic, and hot peppers. You throw all this in a teapot or a big mug and keep pouring hot water over it all day and drinking the resulting horrorbrew. I haven't tried it, yet, but I admit it seems promising. I think it works by encouraging you to go to sleep because when you're asleep you get a break from drinking it.
If you have a fever, don't take NSAIDs, let it roar! And help it along with lots of blankets. (I mean, unless it's superhigh, in which case probably hit up the doctor.) As soon as the fever breaks, take all the NSAIDs. By which I mean take reasonable doses of Ibu or aspirin, not uncontrolled cataracts of acetaminophen, which is in all cold-and-flu preparations for some reason and which will wax your liver if you take too much of it--particularly if you've been especially liberal with the rum/brandy in your hot toddies.
Re. hot toddies, I think alcohol is probably counterproductive: just more bullshit for your beleaguered body to try to contend with, but if the stupid cold has been going on for days and days and days and you're sick of babying it along, nothing's better than a good mule kick of cheap bourbon or similar to tell the cold to fuck off for now. One of my best bad cold memories was helping my terrible boyfriend schlep around his swamp redoubt in the middle of the night in a tropical storm digging channels for floodwater to route it around his pole barns so that his fleet of annoying successfulwhiteguy vehicles wouldn't be inundated. I had the whole Morton Salt girl rig: yellow rubber slicker, yellow rubber boots. And a headlamp, a shovel, and a bottle of Old Crow. A pinnacle of rhinovirus style.
I recently learned that for anything muscular, it's gotta be naproxen sodium. Three weeks post-COVID I blitzed my back trying to use my sad, withered-away muscles to pull up a wispy little weed about the size of an eyelash. My friend gave me some of her naproxen sodium, and it was revelatory. A problem that in previous experience reliably took a couple of weeks to resolve was entirely gone in a few days.
It is apparently possible to get Bronkaid over the counter at some pharmacies in some states. It's guaifenesine and ephedrine, for asthma, but it works on cough and congestion. This might be apocryphal, but my mom swears she got some relatively recently when she was in North Carolina. If no Bronkaid, storebrand sudafed.
posted by Don Pepino at 6:55 AM on October 24, 2023 [5 favorites]
If you have a fever, don't take NSAIDs, let it roar! And help it along with lots of blankets. (I mean, unless it's superhigh, in which case probably hit up the doctor.) As soon as the fever breaks, take all the NSAIDs. By which I mean take reasonable doses of Ibu or aspirin, not uncontrolled cataracts of acetaminophen, which is in all cold-and-flu preparations for some reason and which will wax your liver if you take too much of it--particularly if you've been especially liberal with the rum/brandy in your hot toddies.
Re. hot toddies, I think alcohol is probably counterproductive: just more bullshit for your beleaguered body to try to contend with, but if the stupid cold has been going on for days and days and days and you're sick of babying it along, nothing's better than a good mule kick of cheap bourbon or similar to tell the cold to fuck off for now. One of my best bad cold memories was helping my terrible boyfriend schlep around his swamp redoubt in the middle of the night in a tropical storm digging channels for floodwater to route it around his pole barns so that his fleet of annoying successfulwhiteguy vehicles wouldn't be inundated. I had the whole Morton Salt girl rig: yellow rubber slicker, yellow rubber boots. And a headlamp, a shovel, and a bottle of Old Crow. A pinnacle of rhinovirus style.
I recently learned that for anything muscular, it's gotta be naproxen sodium. Three weeks post-COVID I blitzed my back trying to use my sad, withered-away muscles to pull up a wispy little weed about the size of an eyelash. My friend gave me some of her naproxen sodium, and it was revelatory. A problem that in previous experience reliably took a couple of weeks to resolve was entirely gone in a few days.
It is apparently possible to get Bronkaid over the counter at some pharmacies in some states. It's guaifenesine and ephedrine, for asthma, but it works on cough and congestion. This might be apocryphal, but my mom swears she got some relatively recently when she was in North Carolina. If no Bronkaid, storebrand sudafed.
posted by Don Pepino at 6:55 AM on October 24, 2023 [5 favorites]
Hot and sour soup is my go-to.
posted by Sparky Buttons at 6:59 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Sparky Buttons at 6:59 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
When I feel something coming on, here's what I do. I put a few drops of oregano oil and minced raw garlic in a spoon, cover it up with as much honey as will fit, and put it in my mouth, coating the back of my throat as much as possible. It tastes awful and I have to choke it down, but the idea is to kill whatever is lurking in there, and on more than one occasion I've felt right as rain the next morning.
posted by vverse23 at 7:09 AM on October 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by vverse23 at 7:09 AM on October 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
I don't find particular comfort foods make me feel better from a cold, although I certainly do enjoy a spicy broth when I'm sick. What makes me feel better is pseudoephedrine, good ol' Sudafed. It's been so hard to buy for 20+ years now. It really is used to make meth, so I understand the need to restrict it, but the restrictions make it very hard to buy.
In Austria recently a pharmacist refused to sell it because the patient was taking blood pressure medication. Which fair enough, it is a potential interaction, but ugh. Instead they sold us some bullshit euro-homeopathic thing which seemed 100% designed to trigger a placebo effect.
I'm just glad the news is finally official that phenylephrine is bullshit and does nothing useful. Years and years of being gaslit being told that Sudafed PE was a reasonable substitute and I should just take that. I guess the American version of a placebo, but once you knew it didn't work it really didn't work that way either.
The other tricky OTC thing in the US is cough medicine. So many brands are blends of various things, like Robitussin DM is Acetaminophen, Dextromethorphan HBr, Guaifenesin and Phenylephrine HCl. The acetaminophen is actively dangerous. The phenylephrine does nothing useful. I don't care for guaifenesin, I don't want an expectorant. It's the dextromethorphan that actually stops me coughing, and like pseudoephedrine it can be abused so buying it is awkward. Happily you can still buy Delsym OTC, which is just dextromethorphan.
posted by Nelson at 7:11 AM on October 24, 2023 [12 favorites]
In Austria recently a pharmacist refused to sell it because the patient was taking blood pressure medication. Which fair enough, it is a potential interaction, but ugh. Instead they sold us some bullshit euro-homeopathic thing which seemed 100% designed to trigger a placebo effect.
I'm just glad the news is finally official that phenylephrine is bullshit and does nothing useful. Years and years of being gaslit being told that Sudafed PE was a reasonable substitute and I should just take that. I guess the American version of a placebo, but once you knew it didn't work it really didn't work that way either.
The other tricky OTC thing in the US is cough medicine. So many brands are blends of various things, like Robitussin DM is Acetaminophen, Dextromethorphan HBr, Guaifenesin and Phenylephrine HCl. The acetaminophen is actively dangerous. The phenylephrine does nothing useful. I don't care for guaifenesin, I don't want an expectorant. It's the dextromethorphan that actually stops me coughing, and like pseudoephedrine it can be abused so buying it is awkward. Happily you can still buy Delsym OTC, which is just dextromethorphan.
posted by Nelson at 7:11 AM on October 24, 2023 [12 favorites]
If you have a fever, don't take NSAIDs, let it roar! And help it along with lots of blankets.
You know, this may also help without a fever - there's been some kind of virus going through my current workplace, and I was feeling the very VERY early stages of a cold last week, but had too much going on and didn't want to risk it. So the first night I felt that kind of just barely sore-throat and sneezing, I popped a Mucinex, went to bed early and piled the blankets on - and woke up the next morning totally fine. Maybe "sweating it out" is a good preventative for nipping things in the bud as well.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:18 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
You know, this may also help without a fever - there's been some kind of virus going through my current workplace, and I was feeling the very VERY early stages of a cold last week, but had too much going on and didn't want to risk it. So the first night I felt that kind of just barely sore-throat and sneezing, I popped a Mucinex, went to bed early and piled the blankets on - and woke up the next morning totally fine. Maybe "sweating it out" is a good preventative for nipping things in the bud as well.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:18 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
Maybe "sweating it out" is a good preventative for nipping things in the bud as well.
It sure works for me. If I'm just starting to feel something come on, one shot of Grand Marnier has me right as rain. (Not Gran Gala. Not Cointreau. Has to be Grand Ma.) Long ago, I worked at a restaurant and had a cold* that would just not go away, I would eat a blackened chicken sandwich with horseradish and Tabasco. Enough spice to make my entire head sweat. By the next day, I had no more symptoms
*This was pre-Covid and work expectations were "come in unless you are in the hospital". I would never do that nowadays.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 7:33 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
It sure works for me. If I'm just starting to feel something come on, one shot of Grand Marnier has me right as rain. (Not Gran Gala. Not Cointreau. Has to be Grand Ma.) Long ago, I worked at a restaurant and had a cold* that would just not go away, I would eat a blackened chicken sandwich with horseradish and Tabasco. Enough spice to make my entire head sweat. By the next day, I had no more symptoms
*This was pre-Covid and work expectations were "come in unless you are in the hospital". I would never do that nowadays.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 7:33 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
Neti pots / sinus rinse squeeze bottles / Naväge are another approach for dealing with colds that are progressing to sinus infections. I had a cold a few weeks back and I could feel the incipient sinus infection approaching due to the congestion. A few days of aggressive sinus rinse nipped that in the bud.
posted by notoriety public at 7:35 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by notoriety public at 7:35 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
When I feel something coming on, here's what I do. I put a few drops of oregano oil and minced raw garlic in a spoon, cover it up with as much honey as will fit, and put it in my mouth, coating the back of my throat as much as possible. It tastes awful and I have to choke it down, but the idea is to kill whatever is lurking in there, and on more than one occasion I've felt right as rain the next morning.
Oh! A squeeze of lemon too. I knew I left something out. But it's the oregano oil that's the real kicker.
posted by vverse23 at 7:55 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
Oh! A squeeze of lemon too. I knew I left something out. But it's the oregano oil that's the real kicker.
posted by vverse23 at 7:55 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
A few years ago, my partner suggested trying this recipe the next time they weren't feeling well. It's since become our staple under-the-weather soup, which we always keep a few frozen batches of in the freezer. And it's absolutely worth the trouble to grate fresh turmeric and use fresh herbs, too.
posted by neuracnu at 8:17 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by neuracnu at 8:17 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
Just got back to work after a week off with a bad head cold. Indomie hot and spicy ramen packs helped clear my head and I had just enough energy to make them, with chopped sous vide chicken breasts stirred in for protein. That and pots of ginger mint tea kept me going, breathing, and hydrated.
Wish I had someone to cook for me when I'm sick, but you make do.
posted by Wilbefort at 8:32 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
Wish I had someone to cook for me when I'm sick, but you make do.
posted by Wilbefort at 8:32 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
My go to for sickness is also ramen, but whatever vegetarian ramen I can get my hands on. When we were in Southeast Asia, New Zealand and Australia we could get packets of vegan laksa (set up just like ramen packets, with the noodles and the spice packet and all), and that was absolutely the best. Can't find 'em around here at all. Add it to the very long list of Southeast Asian foods I miss terribly.
posted by rednikki at 8:38 AM on October 24, 2023
posted by rednikki at 8:38 AM on October 24, 2023
Mucilaginous gel for sore throat. It seals the cracks that cause pain.
The two most common sources are slippery elm bark and pectin.
Slippery elm bark is found in Traditional Medicinals Throat Coat tea and Thayer's Slippery Elm Lozenges. Don't chew the lozenges; allow them to dissolve slowly in the back of your throat.
Pectin cough drops include Traditional Medicinals Throat Coat Organic Pectin Throat Drops, Ludens Deliciously Soothing Throat Drops, Sore Throat Lozenges with Pectin by Smith Brothers, etc.
posted by ohshenandoah at 9:18 AM on October 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
The two most common sources are slippery elm bark and pectin.
Slippery elm bark is found in Traditional Medicinals Throat Coat tea and Thayer's Slippery Elm Lozenges. Don't chew the lozenges; allow them to dissolve slowly in the back of your throat.
Pectin cough drops include Traditional Medicinals Throat Coat Organic Pectin Throat Drops, Ludens Deliciously Soothing Throat Drops, Sore Throat Lozenges with Pectin by Smith Brothers, etc.
posted by ohshenandoah at 9:18 AM on October 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
While I swear by Throat Coat, cold-sufferers with high blood pressure should be aware the tea contains licorice.
posted by mittens at 9:30 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by mittens at 9:30 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
MetaFilter: a sick toddler breathing (and farting, ugh)
I make chicken soup when the cold hits us, but I have been seeing people drink Nuun and LiquidIV and other oral rehydration salts/electrolyte drinks when they have a cold. And I guess it can't hurt, but....?
posted by wenestvedt at 9:58 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
I make chicken soup when the cold hits us, but I have been seeing people drink Nuun and LiquidIV and other oral rehydration salts/electrolyte drinks when they have a cold. And I guess it can't hurt, but....?
posted by wenestvedt at 9:58 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
Re: Hot Toddy - Yukon Jack whiskey liqueur is an excellent spirit to put in it. It's kind of sweet, so add it first then sweeten if needed.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:59 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:59 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
When I have a cold, I go with cetirizine (generic store-brand equivalent of Zyrtec) for the congestion, ibuprofen for the aches, and either Buckley's (awful taste but it does work) or Ricola lozenges (original flavor) for the sore throat and coughing. And hot liquid (herbal tea and the occasional toddy) and sleep. I find I'm usually not very hungry when I'm sick so I don't worry much about food.
In any case I know neither medication nor any of the comfort foods mentioned here are going to cure me, but they're good for minimizing symptoms while my immune system does its thing.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:08 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
In any case I know neither medication nor any of the comfort foods mentioned here are going to cure me, but they're good for minimizing symptoms while my immune system does its thing.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:08 AM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
A friend of mine gave his mom's hot toddy recipe. In a large mug, add a shot each of bourbon, brandy and rum. Squeeze in some honey and lemon (must be fresh) and cover the whole thing with hot water.
I emailed the recipe to my brother and the next time I was sick, he made it. I felt nothing.
posted by kathrynm at 10:29 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
I emailed the recipe to my brother and the next time I was sick, he made it. I felt nothing.
posted by kathrynm at 10:29 AM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
It's cold and flu season
At least in the wastewater data that I'm familiar with, it is not yet flu season in the northern hemisphere. There just doesn't seem to be much influenza around at all. What there is quite a lot of around is, of course, Covid. I'm sure flu will increase, but right now, if you have flu symptoms, Covid is the far more likely culprit.
posted by ssg at 11:57 AM on October 24, 2023 [7 favorites]
At least in the wastewater data that I'm familiar with, it is not yet flu season in the northern hemisphere. There just doesn't seem to be much influenza around at all. What there is quite a lot of around is, of course, Covid. I'm sure flu will increase, but right now, if you have flu symptoms, Covid is the far more likely culprit.
posted by ssg at 11:57 AM on October 24, 2023 [7 favorites]
> "One of my best bad cold memories was helping my terrible boyfriend schlep around his swamp redoubt in the middle of the night in a tropical storm digging channels for floodwater to route it around his pole barns so that his fleet of annoying successfulwhiteguy vehicles wouldn't be inundated. I had the whole Morton Salt girl rig: yellow rubber slicker, yellow rubber boots. And a headlamp, a shovel, and a bottle of Old Crow. A pinnacle of rhinovirus style."
Sorry, but I need this emblazoned in flame in the sky somewhere, or perhaps tattooed on my chest in cursive font. Or maybe read out at the beginning of every school day in every elementary school in America.
posted by Cpt. The Mango at 12:05 PM on October 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
Sorry, but I need this emblazoned in flame in the sky somewhere, or perhaps tattooed on my chest in cursive font. Or maybe read out at the beginning of every school day in every elementary school in America.
posted by Cpt. The Mango at 12:05 PM on October 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
Sudafed. Non Drowsy.
posted by pthomas745 at 12:37 PM on October 24, 2023
posted by pthomas745 at 12:37 PM on October 24, 2023
When I was at uni, I was friends with several Chinese students who all drank flat, warmed-up Coke with some ginger in it when they were ill. I still sometimes do that. It's objectively disgusting, but in a weirdly comforting way.
For real "I actually need to feel better enough to function" situations, though, pseudoephedrine. I do not know how people coped before that was invented.
And for sore throats, gargle with Difflam. It's the only thing I've ever found that actually makes it stop hurting for a while.
And yeah, I know it's mostly a lost cause by now, but please also consider a mask if you have to be out in public while contagious, and that statistically you probably do have covid.
posted by BlueNorther at 1:33 PM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
For real "I actually need to feel better enough to function" situations, though, pseudoephedrine. I do not know how people coped before that was invented.
And for sore throats, gargle with Difflam. It's the only thing I've ever found that actually makes it stop hurting for a while.
And yeah, I know it's mostly a lost cause by now, but please also consider a mask if you have to be out in public while contagious, and that statistically you probably do have covid.
posted by BlueNorther at 1:33 PM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
For everyone saying it has to be COVID - there's something running around the schools here in California that's knocking everyone on their butts. My wife got sick and brought it home, but COVID tests over multiple days never blipped positive. So either the tests were all false negatives or this is something else fun, but it didnt' feel like my previous run in with COVID either.
Whatever it was - multiple rounds of cough syrup, throat comfort tea, the occasional Theraflu and more Ricola cough drops and soup than any man could bear.
posted by drewbage1847 at 2:20 PM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
Whatever it was - multiple rounds of cough syrup, throat comfort tea, the occasional Theraflu and more Ricola cough drops and soup than any man could bear.
posted by drewbage1847 at 2:20 PM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I mean obviously other illnesses still exist! And tests aren't perfect but you can't just go around assuming every negative is a false negative. And I suspect people who are still actually testing when they get sick are probably over-represented on Metafilter; I'm really just sort of taking my chance to vent about EVERYONE in the UK walking around hacking up a lung talking about how strange and annoying it is that they're on their third weird awful lingering cold this year, but it's definitely A Cold, obviously, and I'm like, "did you do a Covid test?" and they're like, "a what?" and then I have to lie down and bang my head on the floor for a minute.
If you're actually testing, you're good and I love you. Although I still don't want whatever you do have.
posted by BlueNorther at 3:23 PM on October 24, 2023 [13 favorites]
If you're actually testing, you're good and I love you. Although I still don't want whatever you do have.
posted by BlueNorther at 3:23 PM on October 24, 2023 [13 favorites]
If you have a fever, don't take NSAIDs, let it roar! And help it along with lots of blankets.
This is a bit tricky. Fevers can spike quickly and savagely. I don't think the advice to treat fever is based on keeping a 100 F fever down, I think it's based on how quickly you can spike to 103. If you see a doctor, and they are not particularly concerned with your fever, that's one thing.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 7:20 PM on October 24, 2023
This is a bit tricky. Fevers can spike quickly and savagely. I don't think the advice to treat fever is based on keeping a 100 F fever down, I think it's based on how quickly you can spike to 103. If you see a doctor, and they are not particularly concerned with your fever, that's one thing.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 7:20 PM on October 24, 2023
When I make a hot toddy, it's a mug of strong black tea, with a shot of good whiskey, a squeeze or two of lemon juice, and a healthy dollop of local fireweed honey. Really I pour the whiskey first, add the lemon and honey, mix, and then throw in my teabag and hot water, to make sure there's room for everything in the mug. I don't know what it is about the combination, but it's magic for colds and flu-like miserableness.
Hot soup, too... chicken noodle or vegetable, but with some good hot chilis thrown in to simmer. A healthy dollop of garlic chili sauce or spicy chili crisp (or both!) works, too. Either way, the spiciness should make you break out in a sweat.
posted by xedrik at 7:27 PM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
Hot soup, too... chicken noodle or vegetable, but with some good hot chilis thrown in to simmer. A healthy dollop of garlic chili sauce or spicy chili crisp (or both!) works, too. Either way, the spiciness should make you break out in a sweat.
posted by xedrik at 7:27 PM on October 24, 2023 [2 favorites]
BlueNorther, yup - testing is still important and a bunch of people are absolutely lackadaisical about it. My wife's school district throws testing kits at the staff like they're free snack bags of candy, so it's pretty easy for us to test many times.
And yeah, whatever that was - bites big time.
posted by drewbage1847 at 7:44 PM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
And yeah, whatever that was - bites big time.
posted by drewbage1847 at 7:44 PM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]
I appreciate that this advice is super super not possible for many people but it helped me immensely: actually taking the day/s off work to be sick.
I used to power through colds (which is even more tempting to do if you work from home) until a boss told me that having me continue to work at reduced capacity and stretching out the healing process costs more in the long run. Two days at 50% is the same as one day at 0%. And every time I've "just powered through", the illness always lasts and lingers much longer. Which then has a cumulative negative impact on my work that is bigger than just being fully absent for a few days.
It's what I do and tell my team to do, but I understand it's an option many don't have.
And in addition to rest, I love something that might be UK specific; Lemsip. Basically lemon or blackcurrant-flavoured paracetamol powder that you mix with hot water and drink. I could drink it every day, illness or not. Hot lemony sweetness with drugs.
posted by slimepuppy at 5:15 AM on October 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
I used to power through colds (which is even more tempting to do if you work from home) until a boss told me that having me continue to work at reduced capacity and stretching out the healing process costs more in the long run. Two days at 50% is the same as one day at 0%. And every time I've "just powered through", the illness always lasts and lingers much longer. Which then has a cumulative negative impact on my work that is bigger than just being fully absent for a few days.
It's what I do and tell my team to do, but I understand it's an option many don't have.
And in addition to rest, I love something that might be UK specific; Lemsip. Basically lemon or blackcurrant-flavoured paracetamol powder that you mix with hot water and drink. I could drink it every day, illness or not. Hot lemony sweetness with drugs.
posted by slimepuppy at 5:15 AM on October 25, 2023 [3 favorites]
Real Pseudephedrine, sipping hot honey & lemon, gargling with hot mild brine and waiting for the pressure in my sinuses to go away so that I can think again.
Most recently the hot honey & lemon drink has gone through another iteration of development and added a half-teaspoon of turmeric plus fresh-cracked black pepper for anti-inflammatory gains. This extends the recipe of infusing in boiled water: fresh lemon juice, honey, batons of fresh ginger, dried ancho and/or chipotle and/or birds eye chillies.
posted by k3ninho at 6:22 AM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
Most recently the hot honey & lemon drink has gone through another iteration of development and added a half-teaspoon of turmeric plus fresh-cracked black pepper for anti-inflammatory gains. This extends the recipe of infusing in boiled water: fresh lemon juice, honey, batons of fresh ginger, dried ancho and/or chipotle and/or birds eye chillies.
posted by k3ninho at 6:22 AM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
If it's not Covid, it could be RSV.
That's been roaring through my child's school (we just had it). You can have it multiple times, even as an adult, and if you aren't specifically tested for it you may believe it's a cold (the symptoms are very similar).
posted by champers at 8:01 AM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
That's been roaring through my child's school (we just had it). You can have it multiple times, even as an adult, and if you aren't specifically tested for it you may believe it's a cold (the symptoms are very similar).
posted by champers at 8:01 AM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
My cold remedy: theraflu packet + green tea bag of choice + squeeze of half lemon + packet of ginger crystals( prince of peace brand) in hot water with sugar to taste. I usually do this in a 16oz cup.
Drink all of it.
Sleep.
posted by AlexiaSky at 4:04 PM on October 25, 2023
Drink all of it.
Sleep.
posted by AlexiaSky at 4:04 PM on October 25, 2023
Fourthing 'wear a mask' & get a regular flu-shot (& Covid booster).
posted by phigmov at 11:05 PM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by phigmov at 11:05 PM on October 25, 2023 [1 favorite]
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