I have a cold

[pameladean]

Or a very exaggerated reaction to dry winter air, but I suspect the former. I am Taking Steps. I have been rather cavalier about exposure to colds -- I probably got this one from Eric -- because of the flu shot. I can't take decongestants and shouldn't take a lot of NSAIDs, so nipping it in the bud is a very good idea. I don't know if viruses have buds. They might. Being so very weird and all. It's a very very drippy cold. Feh.

It's a beautiful winter day. Yesterday there was enough light snow to cover up the slightly dingy aspects of the previous layer, and now everything glitters and sparkles, all soft and dimpled and blanketed. The sky is soft blue, with a few puffy -- if fast-moving -- clouds. It's not so benign from outside, however, being windy and cold and dry. At least it's above zero. I always think, sometime during a Minnesota winter, of the lovely line in -- oh horrors, I have to go look it up, since all the later books blur together in my mind into one long story -- Laura Ingalls Wilder's THESE HAPPY GOLDEN YEARS: "Everyone was so happy and gay for it was only twenty degrees below zero and the sun shone."

Pamela

Comments

Have a tissue?

[kightp.livejournal.com]

In my never-ending quest for That Which Will Truly Nip A Cold In The Bud, I've been trying Zicam, an OTC nasal gel containing zinc. (I've tried zinc lozenges and they make me feel urpy).

There's some reasonably good research suggesting that this stuff, applied nasally, will prevent rhinovirii from attaching to the nasal cells and thus may prevent a cold from "taking," and claiming a sharp reduction in the duration of colds if you use the stuff after catching one.

I haven't actually *had* a cold since I bought it, but I've used it a couple of times when I thought I felt one coming on. It either works, or it wasn't a cold coming on at all. Either way, I'll cling to it superstitiously until it fails. (-:

(It's kind of KY-jelly-ish, and I don't squirt it up my nose as suggested, I apply it with a Q-tip.)

Re: Have a tissue?

[pameladean]

Hmm, thanks. I take zinc supplements, but they seem to raise my blood pressure. Not a lot, but it makes me uneasy. Something more topical might be better.

Pamela

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

When I feel a cold coming on, I take a nice hot bath. I add essential oils of lemon, thyme, eucalyptus, and tea tree to the water. Just a few drops of each. I lie back and breathe deeply, usually while reading, and add more hot water as necessary. This doesn't seem to completely prevent colds, but when I do this, they only last 3-5 days instead of the usual 10 and are quite mild.

I also eat lots of peppers and citrus fruit as I can't take vitamin C in pill form.

MKK