I don't know, but it's nice to see you around these parts again.

I was always here. Just a fly on the wall. OWWWWWWIE!!! Stupid sexy sore throat.

(But thanks. Love you, lady!)

My answer is always ginger/lemon/honey tea with cardamom pods; some bunnies have amended that to include a shot a der vhiskey. Feel better!

Not too long ago, I had a surprisingly good experience with a combination of guaifenisin, as found in Mucinex, and dextromethorphan, as found in quite a few otc cold medicines/cough suppressants. I tell ya, those guys are the chocolate and peanut butter of cold symptom suppression.

To make you feel better fast, though, geez, I dunno--vitamins? whiskey?

Or you could just stare at this spinning dextromethorphan molecule. I know it makes me feel better.

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That made me laugh, box. Thanks! I would love whiskey but the bosses might not approve. I need to get some good tea for sure (although it sounds like I need taz to fix it for me for it to truly work. Seriously, sounds like she has TLC down).

I think I'll walk over to the pharmacist and see what he/she recommends. So gross and so painful!

Black tea (I like English Breakfast Tea) with fresh honey and lemon added. Make sure it's as hot as you can stand without burning your tongue. Take it with box's recommendation - the tea will clear out your throat now, until the drugs kick in.

I'm suffering from the same thing, so I feel your pain. I hope you feel better soon!

Lola, I rarely take drugs but during the spring (pine/elm pollen) allergy season, I get nasty postnasal drip and sinus gripes. For those, I take an OTC generic, low-dose loratidine. I am highly, highly sensitive to any form of opiate / ephidrine depressant, so I absolutely cannot take Benadryl or stronger antihistimines / decongestants. For me with these, the cure is worse than the ailment, as both will make me groggy, dizzy, pukey and sluggish for at least 36-48 hours after a standard dose.

Loratidine works well for me as it doesn't have much effect at all on my sleep cycle, coordination or conscious perception, unlike the others. I am careful to hydrate well when I take it, as the only effect I get is a mild case of cottonmouth (which means it's doing what it's supposed to do and drying out my mucosa). I also only have to take it occasionally, like one 10mg (standard OTC dose) tablet every 3-4 days at the peak of my worst seasonal symptoms. There are 2 reasons for this. One is that my metabolism seems to have an abnormally long bellcurve for drug half-life (translation: stuff takes forfreakinever to metabolise out of my bloodstream), plus loratidine is also a drug that rapidly builds up system tolerance, meaning it quits working if your histamine receptors are continually exposed to it.

If Loratidine (tradename 'claritin') causes balance / coordination problems (rare, but it happens to some), try fexofenadine instead (tradename 'allegra').

Is there a Vitamin Shoppe near you? If so, buy some Lemon Ginger tea, and some chelated zinc and some echinacea.

Dose yourself up with the zinc and echinacea, keep drinking the tea, and keep taking the supplements for a few days after your cold's gone.

bah, pedantry correction: technically ephidrines / pseudoephidrines are stimulants not depressants, but they make me just as shaky and vomitous as opiates, so in essence they effect me the same way....

You guys rock. Thanks for the recs. I'm off to the druggist now. (I will go with the herbs too but I need to break up this crud in my throat/nasal passages!)

Oh and good old nasal irrigation, neti pot style works for me for post-nasal drip. nth the lemon/honey/ginger tea (take the whiskey when you get home)

(hey, girl!)

Ooh, I do like loratidine a lot.

(Srsly, dude, hot lemon/honey tea will totally break up mucous. It'll break it up like referees at a high school hockey game, for the half hour or so until the meds kick in).

Saline nose spray will help you lots, and or rinsing out the passages a la neti pot.


(I use an old water bottle with sports lid instead, works just fine.)