I only have one remedy, which I trot out every time: ginger tea made with fresh ginger root, good honey, lemon, and cardamom pods. I make it strong. I don't know if it actually remedies anything, but it definitely makes me feel better. The last time my husband was sick I brewed this up for him to take with him to work (yes, he worked even though sick, which didn't matter because he got it from all his co-workers who were also working sick) in a thermos, but he put his backpack down too heavily and broke the thermos. He said he felt astonishingly bereft, and that he had just finished bragging about his special tea that I had sent with him.

Moral of the story? Don't buy cheap thermos.

Oh, and if you have woozy tummy - Invalid Rice: boiled rice with a little lemon juice and olive oil. V. introduced me to this, and when I have stomach virus stuff, it's pretty much all I can eat except for plain crackers. Best with short grain rice, and instead of boiling the water then turning it down and steaming the rice, you just put the rice in with the water and boil it until the rice is done, adding a bit of olive oil and some fresh squeezed lemon juice before it's done. It comes out sticky/creamy and yummy, sort of like risotto. Whenever I'm sick and eat this, I think, "this is delicious; why don't I eat this all the time? From now on, I'm eating nothing but boiled rice with olive oil and lemon."

Get a teapot, make a pot of mint tea. Into each cup you pour, squeeze one half lemon and a big dollop of honey (to taste, obviously; I like wildflower). If you have a persistent cough that starts to hurt your chest, there's an OTC 12-hour timed release cough suppressant called Delsym that works (best for overnight -- it doesn't make me drowsy but a little woozy -- take about an hour before bed).

Above all blow your nose; I have a pet theory I'll trot out here. Not blowing your nose means snot ends up in your stomach, where it causes heartburn, which tickles your throat and can trigger coughing fits, which are to be avoided at all costs, since pleurisy can drag a flu out and possibly lead to bronchitis and pneumonia. I'm sure that's no groundbreaking science, but I hate blowing my nose (it pops my ears in an uncomfortable manner) and need such justification.

Hope you feel better soon.

Thanks everybody...

This has been so weird. It didn't help that the doc swabbed my nose in order to see if the new flu treatments would help-then he mentioned they were expensive and he knew I was selfpay...and then this fellow came into the office wheezing pretty bad and they had to call paramedics and I literally got the bum's rush out of my room without final instructions or an offer to try the flu treatment.

To add insult to injury I looked up my treatment codes and apparently I have muscular dystrophy as well as e. coli and the flu....I do believe I am calling on Monday morning to ask what on earth they are doing????? (I saw a physician's assistant instead of the doc-my doc is good.This guy on the other hand....I mean, I can understand they didn't want that guy dying in the office-and yes, he sounded that bad-but the paramedics got there before I finished paying-surely I could have gotten some good final instructions???)

I sure hope I have lemon juice in the house-that rice sounds really good...

And yes, I will blow my nose-altho weirdly I don't really have much of a stuffy nose or anything-I have a tight chest and occasional productive cough. Mostly I have a fever and feel like I was hit by a truck. (Or a train.)

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. & Sleep. Feel better soon.

Just FYI, the new flu treatments are super expensive. I'm on Tamiflu right now, and even with insurance it was $40. I dunno, seems to be working, though. Feel a little less like crap, although $40 was a big hit to the budget this month. If you start coughing a lot, the doc also told me to get Mucinex DM, which seems to be working well.

Well, heck, I at least would have liked the choice, you know? I had three hundred bucks cash on me physically plus I was due a paycheck that very day. Grr...

Taz, your rice remedy rocks!