Best cold season tip for all

[malaise]

http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/money/galleries/34807/health-money-saving-tips/6

Works very fast and it's dirt cheap

[Warpy]

1. Better tips

Learn not to touch your face when you're out. Scratch your nose with the back of your wrist. Your fingers and palm are going to be heavily contaminated, so don't get them near your face until you can wash them.

If you've got a cold, sneeze and cough into your elbow. It will stop most of the droplets and keep them off your hands so that you won't contaminate surfaces and infect people who don't know the first tip.

I haven't seen menthol granules for sale around here. People used to swear by Swiss Kriss, a blasting powder type laxative sold at health food stores. It did have mint extract in it as a deodorant and worked really well as a tablet in hot water, do the towel and steam inhalation the way the article describes.

[malaise]

4. Excellent points

What happens if you practice those and end up in an aircraft with someone sneezing behind you for half of the hour plus flight. Get the menthol crystals

[Warpy]

6. ugh. I hate it when that happens. You can always hope it's an allergy, I guess.

Fortunately, I'm so damned old that I'm immune to a lot of the rhinoviruses out there and I've never caught anything on a plane, knock on my wooden head.

Still, the sneezer is contaminating anything he's touching plus the back of your seat, few droplets are coming your way. Most of the transmission on a plane is hand to mucus membrane, everything you touch is very likely contaminated. That's when training yourself to scratch your itches with the back of your wrist comes in handy. You'll get used to the stares.

[malaise]

11. I am allergic to nothing

I am one of those lucky human beings - the cold is almost gone. Will be over tomorrow

[FarCenter]

2. The best is to stay away from people, especially children

[leftofcool]

3. Honey lemon and whiskey works like a champ as well.

[malaise]

5. I don't know anything that clears the nasal passage

faster than menthol crystals.

[pipi_k]

7. My own tips...

In addition to staying away from people (not always possible, but at least try not to get real close to school age children), and keeping hands and fingers away from your face...

Wash hands frequently in case you forget to keep fingers away from your face

Raw garlic. It's an anti viral, antibacterial, anti fungal. But only real, raw garlic.

Try not to use real money if you can help it. I have debit and credit cards...haven't had to use real money in ages, and that, along with raw garlic, has kept me from catching a cold, whereas before I would get one each year, and sometimes it would turn to bronchitis.

Keep the screen of your iPhone, iPad, etc., clean.

And of course, it goes without saying that we should wash our hands after using the bathroom (especially PUBLIC bathrooms!) but don't wash your hands and then use your clean hand to turn off the faucet and then use it to open the door when you leave. Use a paper towel to turn off faucet, dry your hands, then use another paper towel to open the door. Or your sleeve, if there is only an air dryer.

Our hands are like the fast track for germs to infest us.

I may be somewhat finicky about my hands, but I really really hate getting sick and am not a good patient.



ETA: I also do saline nasal rinses. They keep the nasal passages moist, and in the event you DO get a cold, they are excellent for clearing out tons of mucus

[malaise]

8. I agree with you re hands

One of my siblings never touches door knobs outside of family and close friends. She uses paper towels

[forgotmylogin]

9. I've started adding a drop of iodine to my drinking water

once per day. Dissolve in at least 1 liter of water or more. It's antiseptic to the inside of the body, an expectorant, and I've so far avoided getting sick since I started doing it. I don't mind the taste, but it seems to disappear completely in iced tea if you don't like the slight mineral flavor some people detect in plain water.

Of course research this and make sure you're not at any kind of risk to supplement with iodine. The kind you want is "Lugols" preparation available on Amazon and most likely other online retailers.

A neti pot (saline rinse) is also amazing to clear out the sinuses and wash out anything that lingers up there.

[malaise]

10. Never heard of that one

Thanks