Cold Remedies: How To Stop A Cold In Its Tracks (PHOTOS)

A tickle in your throat. A cloudy head. An achy body. Yep, you're coming down with something. Again. The average adult gets three colds per year, each lasting an average of nine days, says Jane Sadler, M.D., a family practice physician at Baylor-Garland Hospital in Garland, Texas. But you don't have to surrender. Here's how to stop a cold before it takes hold -- and feel better by tomorrow.

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Staying hydrated cuts down on symptoms like a sore throat and stuffy nose, says William Schaffner, M.D., professor and chair of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. More From Health.com: 9 Ways to Stay Sniffle-Free 5 Myths About the Common Cold Can Vitamin C and Zinc Fight Colds?

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Staying hydrated cuts down on symptoms like a sore throat and stuffy nose, says William Schaffner, M.D., professor and chair of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.


More From Health.com:

9 Ways to Stay Sniffle-Free
5 Myths About the Common Cold
Can Vitamin C and Zinc Fight Colds?

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Comments

[Sieggy]

11:28 AM on 01/03/2011

I can generally knock out a cold/flu inside of 24 hours by irrigating my ears with hydrogen peroxide. It bubbles like mad, but keep flushing & reapplying until you can taste the peroxide in the back of your throat, and then gargle with it (or salt water, either works) every few hours. Steam is also a great way to deal with any virus, just make sure you don't overdo it and dehydrate yourself. And, of course, raw honey, and garlic will help as well, though not was well as a peroxide irrigation. I suspect the viruses like to incubate in the middle ear, but that's just my guess.
And to keep your immune system fully charged, exposure to the sun is REALLY important - sunlight generates far more vitamin D in your system than milk or pills provide. In the winter, most people get little to no sunlight, and as such, opportunistic viruses have a field day . . .

[HistoryGeek]

01:42 PM on 01/01/2011

Vitamins C and D.

[ontariogirl]

11:24 AM on 12/30/2010

My problem is my colds always turn into bronchitis or pneumonia. Fluids are essential. I just spent several hrs at the emerg on boxing day hooked up to an IV because I had dehydrated. Stay healthy.

[intolleft]

08:17 AM on 12/30/2010

I have had success for the past 25 years with heavy weight training and a good soak in the steam room the minute I feel what might appear to be cold symptoms. Knocks'em out cold (pun intended)

Of course a regular workout regimen doesn't hurt.

[LolaGetz]

07:35 PM on 12/28/2010

Put more garlic in your diet, people! I live in the north of England (where the winter weather isn't kind, nor necessarily the summer weather for that matter) and am definitely not a health-food fanatic, but I've hardly had a cold for years. I honestly believe that garlic boosts the immune system.

If you can find black garlic, so much the better.

[G52]

08:01 PM on 12/28/2010

I had roommates many years ago who constantly ate raw garlic in the winter. He and his girlfriend were hard for the rest of us to be around for long. LOL! BTW They were from England.

I also tried some kind of beet stew where you take a bite of raw garlic, the stew and then rye bread. [takes about 3 days to get the taste-buds and odor under control.]

I have an allergy to sulfa and do not tolerate it well.

[LolaGetz]

05:58 AM on 12/29/2010

I can't tolerate garlic raw either; I find that it burns my mouth. I use a lot of garlic in cooking though, which of course takes the burn factor away.

My British husband never ate much garlic in his life until he went to work in my hometown of Atlanta for a couple of years (where I met him). He became a big fan of Italian and New Orleans-style food and eventually came to like garlic as much as I do. My very British mother-in-law is another story though...

Black garlic is normal garlic that has gone through some kind of "curing" process (that's not what they call it, but I can't think of the correct term) that removes the odor while leaving the antioxidant properties intact. It also turns it black with a sweetish, jellylike consistency. I swear you can eat the stuff like candy. Don't know if they sell it in the States and also don't know if HuffPo mods will let me put the link to the website because they might think I'm spamming (I'm not, I really do believe in this stuff), but if you Google "black garlic," you'll find it easily. It's great to cook with -- if you put it in stocks for soups or gravies, it sort of melts into it and gives a rich, almost smoky flavor.

[intolleft]

08:18 AM on 12/30/2010

I love garlic.

[StarWarsHippie]

05:08 PM on 12/28/2010

Honey does not work as well as Dextromethorphan, sure it cures the cold as much; which is to say not at all but it doesn't make sinking into the couch with an all day Harry Potter marathon as fun. My way to stop getting colds was move to a town that doesn't have a good bus system, used to get sick several times a year now not so much. Though I'd rather have a bus system.

[EcoCatLady]

09:58 PM on 12/27/2010

Last time I had a cough I tried honey instead of cough syrup and was pleasantly surprised! And please people, if you have a cold STAY HOME! The rest of us really don't need to share your germs!

[StarWarsHippie]

05:12 PM on 12/28/2010

A lot of us who earn minimum wage can't afford to stay home. It's optimal that everyone who is sick gets to stay home but for me it's just not doable.

[EcoCatLady]

05:49 PM on 12/28/2010

I personally think it should be illegal to make someone work when they're sick. Your employer should pay you for the sick time, even if it's just a cold. It really would be in everyone's best interest.

[ray christl]

08:04 PM on 12/27/2010

Use some cannabis in your food and beverages. Eating/ingesting will give ammunition to your endocannabinoid system throughout the immune system. You have two types of THC rectors in mind and body to help heal yourself.

[rcwhite364]

01:19 PM on 12/27/2010

I already do most of these. There should be one caveat on the "head to the drugstore": people with high blood pressure need to stay away from most allergy meds, especially decongestants. They have to look for "HBP" on the label to know the med is for people with high blood pressure. Nothing quite like having your cold medicine counteract any HBP meds you're on and causing a heart attack or stroke.

[Ohsherri]

01:09 PM on 12/27/2010

My best friend swears by by drinking pickle juice.

[rcwhite364]

01:16 PM on 12/27/2010

I hope you keep your distance from your best friend when they think they're getting a cold...

[intolleft]

08:19 AM on 12/30/2010

Is your best friend named Andy Reid ;>)

[HealthyYou]

12:36 PM on 12/27/2010

Movement is medicine! Stay active this cold and flu season, check out this blog for some easy tips that can fit into your busy life: http://blog.mydiscoverhealth.com/

[wm1066]

12:06 PM on 12/27/2010

Word on the street in the 70's was that Hoffman was working on a cure for the cold when he made his discovery of LSD. Now whether this is true or not is debateable but alot of people took acid when they thought they had a cold and it seemed to work, although I think the "rush" scared the heck out of the cold and it left your body.

[MarinafromMaine]

12:01 PM on 12/27/2010

OK, now I know this is hard to believe, but for me it works.

I noticed that when I was on the swim team that I never got colds or the flu.

Now at the first sign of a cold, I head to the gym and inhale some chlorinated water. I swear it works!

[Cari L Marvelli]

11:41 AM on 12/27/2010

neti pot cures all...

[Ohsherri]

01:02 PM on 12/27/2010

Sorry. Tried this one.
Neti pot is good but doesn't help a cold.

[Teri Brooks]

01:01 AM on 01/04/2011

Provides relief out of this world. I love my Neti!

[kneadles]

10:42 AM on 12/27/2010

Hmmm.....where did you learn that honey exacerbates viral infxs? Curious. Also, no one has mentioned that honey should ALWAYS be raw, organic. Heating honey kills most of it's healthful benefits. Commercial honey is basically dead, and is just like sugar. For colds and flu, the best preventer is adequate Vitamin D3. The best cure that I have found for my patients is something called Nucleotides. It knocks it out the first day . Swiss studies 97percent.
Nucleotides is herbal, no drugs.