This one is close to my heart this week, as my husband and I both appear to be suffering from the flu. Here's what we're using, in addition to plenty of tea and orange juice: Robitussin for Cough & Chest Congestion; Theraflu Daytime for Severe Cold & Cough Theraflu Nighttime for Severe Cold & Cough I'm juggling them so none are taken on top of the others, and that seems to be helping. But what am I missing? Do you have favorite over-the-counter remedies? Or holistic remedies? Or old wives tales which are effective?
Hot Toddy (hard alcohol, tea, and honey) is a great cure all. It doesn't really fix anything but it makes it easier to ignore that you're sick and helps you sleep. In general, I also recommend getting your cough & cold meds from behind the pharmacy counter, the ones that have real pseudoephedrine in them. You don't need a prescription but I personally find them to be stronger and more effective. Based on naturalistic health info, vitamin C and zinc in large doses can help boost the immune system and lessen duration. Sometimes in the cold & flu aisle, has homeopathic remedies to lessen duration. I'm not sure they work but I always felt that they didn't hurt to try.
I am very skeptical about flu medicines. Be it over-the-counter or prescription medicine, I never find a flu medicine ever works. Flus are usually viral and once they start you can't really stop it, aside from making the symptoms milder. But even making the symptoms milder is hard depending on how bad your flu is. I will usually have over-the-counter medicine for flu, but I always know they won't do that much for me aside from kind of making me sleep better!!
I find that Nyquill works well at nighttime. I also swear by Zycam when you first feel like you're getting sick- I feel like it really does work wonders. Sometimes I take Dayquill during the day also. Vitamin C just to keep up your levels of that can also be a good thing. Feel better!!
I was given two behind the counter meds by my doctor - Claritin and Mucinex. They had similar ingredients but they cancel out when used together. I used these two for three days and did feel much better. I also drank lots of fluids, mostly tea and orange juice. I also one of mom's old tried and true methods is to sweat it out.
