Natural/Home remedies for cold

aracelyluna · December 2011

Hello ladies,

I have been fighting a cold since Saturday. I am trying to avoid taking any medication. Any home remedies would be greatly appreciated. I have been having major issues with chest congestion.

TIA

MeganSony · December 2011

I'm not sure it really helped with the cold I had... but it sure made me feel a bit better at the time. I would boil water in the kettle and than put a bunch of lemons and honey in it. Otherwise I had lots of little candies to suck on. This helped especially with coughing uncontrollably.

btartaroind · December 2011

Also boiling water and standing over the pot to breathe in the steam will help loosen up any congestion too.

kms34 · December 2011

Warm water with honey.

Steam (I kept a pot of water on the stove and boiled it whenever we were hanging out in the kitchen. The extra humidity did wonders.)

Vitamins.

2chatter · December 2011

With my oldest I lived in a country that recommends NO medication for pregnancy. I had a double ear and full on sinus infection. I was told Tylenol if I was desperate. The below, though, worked, and amazed me. I have not treated a cold any other way since.

Saline nasal spray. Use as a spray but also deliver horizontally to wash your sinuses.

Hot drinks - LOTS

Small amounts of caffeine - like half caf coffee

Humidifier

Hard candy

No dairy beverages

aglenn · December 2011

I use a neti pot, which is kind of weird and takes some getting used to, but seems to help. I also recently had a sinus infection and my OB didn't want to give me antibiotics (last time I had amoxicillin I got a horrible head-to-toe itchy rash), so I was desperately googling natural remedies and decided to try apple cider vinegar. This sounds really weird but I swear it helped me. I put a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in a mug of hot water and sip on it. It's kind of gross, as you would expect, but I did it 3x a day for a few days and my sinuses totally started draining from the very first dose. Maybe it was all in my head? Not sure; but I will be trying it again the next time I get a cold.

Jess.O · December 2011

Take more Vitamin D. Vitamin C is what's usually recommended (and it's good) but more Vit. D will help a great deal, too.

MrsEWellman · December 2011

Neti pot! It'll help keep you from getting too congested and signifcantly lowers the duration of the cold. I use a Neil Med Sinus Rinse. It really does help.