Tag Archives: Common Cold

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: My Best Home Remedy for the Common Cold

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Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

Edited to add that I’m once again having trouble leaving comments on Blogspot blogs. It worked this morning and now it doesn’t. If I don’t comment on your post now or in the future, this is the reason why.

The small hand of a Caucasian adult is holding a blue and white bottle of Life Brand Sterile Saline Nasal Mist. My best home remedy for the common cold is something I first discovered a year or two ago that’s called a nasal saline spray or a sterile saline nasal mist.

It’s a gentle purified solution of salt and water that is not habit forming. There are no drugs or preservatives in it, therefore I’m hoping that most of you will be able to give it a try if you’re interested.

Here’s a photo of my current bottle. Its ingredients are identical to the name brand version so far as I can tell, so don’t waste your money on the fancy stuff unless you really want to. It all works exactly the same. You can even make it at home if you prefer that option.

When I have a cold, it feels like 90% of my body is comprised of mucous. My cheeks, sinuses, and nose become sore and uncomfortable, and that can trigger a nasty headache and other painful reactions in nearby body parts as well.

Squirting nasal saline spray into my nostrils helps to clear them out and reduce the pain and inflammation that can be part of the common cold. This makes it easier for me to fall asleep and stay asleep.

It works better and lasts longer than inhaling warm, moist air from, say, running the shower and sitting in the bathroom. That was the trick I used for many years before I discovered this product, and it’s still a great option to use in conjunction with this or instead of it if you can’t use saline solutions. Close-up photo of a digital thermometer, an analogue thermometer, and about ten little pills sitting on a white table. The pills are of various sizes and colours, from blue to pink to yellow to orange. A few are large, a few are small, and most are average sized.

I’ll use my spray a few times a day when I’m sick depending on how much my sinuses are hurting and how congested I am. It’s especially nice to do right before bed as I can then breathe through my nose more easily as I fall asleep.

Common colds are never going to be fun, but nasal saline spray makes them a lot easier to deal with.

I look forward to reading everyone else’s responses to this prompt and will be taking notes for the next time I get sick.

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Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: What You Do When You’re Not Feeling Well

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.

This week’s prompt didn’t specify what sort of illness we might have, so I’m going to assume it’s a contagious and common one like a cold or the flu that we’ve all experienced multiple times in life as opposed to diseases that only a small percentage of people have personal experience with.

These are the steps I tend to go through when I feel these sorts of viral illnesses sneaking up on me:

A thermometer and some pills lying on a white surface.

Step 1: Denial

No, of course I’m not sick! My sore throat and stuffy nose must be due to allergies of some sort even if it’s the middle of winter and everything here in Ontario is frozen solid.

This stage usually only lasts for a few hours or a day at most.

 

Step 2: Why? Sigh! 

Why did I have to get sick this week? Doesn’t my immune system know I have 1,043 things to do (or, even worse, that I was looking forward to a relaxing vacation)?

 

Step 3: Grudging Acceptance.

I suppose I will give in and accept my fate as germy sick person, but I do not agree to be cheerful about it. Harrumph.

 

Step 4: Naps and Soup

Schedule permitting, let’s squeeze in as many naps and bowls of warm, soothing soup as possible.

I almost never eat soup when I’m healthy, and of course I do eat other foods when I’m sick, too. There is something about soup that’s extra appealing when I’m sick, especially if it’s chicken noodle or a soft version of beef vegetable that’s friendly for a sore throat or upset stomach.

If my symptoms include a fever, this is when I start taking my temperature a few times of day and writing down the results.

 

Step 5: Ugh, This Cough Is Never Going to End

Is it pneumonia, consumption, or maybe even something worse?

I think I should spend inordinate amounts of time on WebMD looking up every symptom and seeing what the worst case scenario is for them just in case.

 

Step 6-9: Slightly Better, Slightly Worse 

Why am I coughing more today? Why am I coughing less today?

How soon can I exercise? How much can I exercise? What does the Internet say about how quickly I can go back to normal habits without risking the rare cases of heart damage that happen when people exercise too soon after a viral illness?

Shall I google it all a dozen different ways over the next couple of weeks until my cough disappears completely?

 

Step 10: I am Actually Well Again! 

I think this one is pretty self explanatory. There’s nothing like feeling like your old self again.

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