I like Afrin snot spray. A squizz in the snoot makes you even snottier for about 10 minutes, and then blissfully snot free for about 3 hours. Feel better soon!

With Afrin, don't use it for more than two days though, or your symptoms will come back WORSE!

If I have access to a sauna, I will sit in there and inhale as deeply as possible to try and "burn" the cold out. Hot showers are another good way to break some of the stoppage up.

Sounds like you've got the cold I had a couple of weeks ago, I literally could not function. Get well!

Mucinex! Specifically Mucinex® D (Expectorant • Nasal Decongestant). I think you might have to sign the book to get it from behind the counter (I did), but it's AWESOME.

Slices of raw onions in your socks/on the soles of your feet reduce a fever. No, I am not kidding.

*throws Airborne tube at ramix*

I got zicam the last time I was sick. Usually when I have a cold it's "death's door" for a week, and a couple weeks of lingering mild symptoms after.

I was totally back to normal in four days.

Vitamin C is my friend.

I do a regular cocktails of 'C', zinc and (lots of) garlic (and occasionally echinacea). I really thinks it helps.

(Screws up my grammar though :)

I can't tolerate anything that contains the usual OTC decongestants. They give me violent nausea and mild hallucinations.

My dad's favourite remedy, which I've resorted to for nasty colds / upper respiratory infections. It works (at least for me).

You will need:

- Good quality whiskey, scotch, bourbon of your choice
- Dark 'blackstrap' molasses, the cheap kind
- A big padded recliner armchair suitable for sleeping in (use a pillow if it helps)
- Lots and lots of water
- A big fleece / wooly blanket
- Suitably mindless reading or TV material to occupy yourself

Mix:
1 part whiskey
1 part blackstrap molasses

Step 1) heat the whiskey/molasses mix gently until warm, but not too hot to drink. You don't want to 'boil off' the alcohol. Put it in a Thermos to keep it warm. You want it to be quite warm when you drink it.

Step 2) recline in the recliner and wrap yourself up in the blanket - you need to remain propped up enough to alleviate the coughing fits from chest congestion.

Step 3) pour yourself a tot of the warm whiskey/molasses mix. It's nasty, so hold your nose and chug it. Follow with a big glass of water.

Step 4) Turn on the TV or begin reading.

Repeat Steps 2 and 3 until you fall asleep. You'll likely wake up bathed in sweat but if you've done your homework and drunk enough water, 9 out of 10 times you'll feel miraculously improved.

Dad's a Ph.D. in organic chemistry, by the way. His theory is that the alcohol and sulfur combination (whiskey & molasses) kills whatever is infesting your system. The heat and sweetness of the combo coats your sore throat and the booze knocks you out so that you can get decent sleep without coughing (also cos you're propped up in the recliner). The blanket is so that you don't chill when/if you break your fever and start sweating. The water is both to flush your system out and so that you don't wake up hungover and miserable.

Good luck!

I like rosemary essential oil, just a few drops, mixed with a palmful of body oil. Massage it into your chest and take a hot shower, or drizzle it into a warm bath, then relax and breathe it in.

My fella has quietly rejected this treatment through our month-long bout of colds, evidently thinking it's some hippy-dippy nonsense, but it really does clear my head a bit.

Sometimes I also dribble a few drops of rosemary essential oil onto a candle in a sickroom, then light it. It freshens the air and (placebo? maybe) makes me feel I'm breathing more freely.

fenriq is right about saunas. It can be replicated with a pot of boiling water and a towel, or a tiny bathroom with the shower turned all the way to hot.

NeoCitrin, non-caffeinated tea, a blanket and sit-coms.

Hot hot hot baths. Pot of boiling water and towel, breathe steam (this really helps with congestion and snot). Lots and lots of warm, non-sugary liquids. A little whiskey in hot water with lemon soothes the mucus membranes, helps with pain, and makes you sleepy. Get lots of rest. Aspirin.

Also, I don't know about Mucinex, but that Afrin shit is REALLY REALLY bad for you.

Feel better, sweetie!

When I'm sick I drink nothing but this Aveda tea. It's peppermint and licorice flavored, which sounds strange but leads to an initial minty taste and a sweet after taste in the back of your mouth. Caffeine free and no sweetner needed.

I am certainly going to follow LFR's dad's remedy when I get sick next!

All I use is saline nose spray, to keep my sinuses rinsed, and, hopefully, uninfected.

But I use gallons of it (actually I go through like one bottle per winter).

Just the saline spray, with no other meds in it.

danf reminds me: you can also irrigate your sinuses with a neti pot and homemade saline solution. I've been a believer ever since my last sinus infection. It's very soothing, and helps so much with congestion.

ugh. My teeth just started aching, which, weirdly, is always the first sign that I'm going to get sick. Home soon to drink airborne and take zinc lozenges to attempt to forstall it.

Home soon to drink airborne and take zinc lozenges to attempt to forstall it.

Stop off and get some generic OTC saline spray. . .really. . .you'll thank us (Specklet and me).

Ok so here's the deal: I'm too sick to drive to the store so i can't go buy stuff. I have in my liquor cabinet the following:
Hennessy, Vodka, Gin and irish creme. I don't have molasses. I also have coffee, tea (green/brown), honey, lemons, apple cider. I have a vaporizer but i dont have any of the essential oils/mints for it. I however have vicks vapor rub. I'm out of theraflu but i still have robitussin, benadryl, advil and cepacol.
Given these ingredients, how can i make the cold go away...or at least just the sinus pressure? Or can i just get drunk and pass out?

Oh, and i have beer!

Got a hair dryer?

Don't use the Vicks! The menthol makes it feel like you can breathe better, but in reality it irritates your mucuous membranes, making them swell/dry out, making you MORE congested!

Honey, lemon, hot water, Hennessy. Tea. Advil.

Take a long, really hot bath.

Boil water, put towel over head, breathe steam for as long as you can. Do this every two hours.

Blow your nose GENTLY! More gentler than you ever thought you should blow your nose.

Stay warm.

What kind of robitussin? My doctor friend swears by the kind with guaifenesin and sudafed, but guaifenesin alone will help relive the sinus pressure.

Equally evil to Afrin is Dristan but I live on the stuff when I have a cold. Ain't no other way for me to get some sleep.