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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 3, 2014 2:54:31 GMT
Woke up this morning with a raw throat and lungs which have been blown full of shredded fiberglass. Coughing, blowing nose, noting which joints are currently hurting, plus my eyes feel hot and bulging. NOT HAPPY!!!
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Post by htmb on Jan 3, 2014 4:10:18 GMT
Think hard! You must have a recipe for a magic potion that will help you get over this illness fast. Some sort of a hot tea, garlic type concoction. You sound like you feel just miserable, poor thing.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2014 5:38:09 GMT
Bixa, as someone who frequently has to battle her way through respiratory and lung stuff, I highly recommend oregano oil/tablets. I thought it was a crock until I tried it when I was desperate. On top of the ginger tea, honey, lemon juice, and anything else that will relieve symptoms. My preferred therapy is knocking myself out with cough syrup and whatever analgesics I have on hand. We have this amazing stuff in Canada called Neo-Citran; I wish I could send you some.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2014 11:57:12 GMT
Most of my colds build up relatively slowly so I can brace myself for them and take a bit of preventive action -- like taking a scalding bath, which is pretty good at cooking germs, especially when you are breathing hot and steamy air at the same time.
I do keep generic NyQuil on hand also and I take an appropriate dose if it looks like the night might be miserable. I would say I sleep through the night about 80% of the time, but those other 20% of nights are a real bitch.
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Post by mich64 on Jan 3, 2014 14:34:26 GMT
Oh Bixa, sorry to read you are feeling so miserable. I agree with Lizzy regarding the Neo-Citran it works well. I could mail some to you but by the time you would receive it you certainly will have recovered. But PM me if you would like some!
I am interested in the oregano oil tablets, I too have been told these are effective.
We are experiencing an outbreak of H1N1 flu in Alberta so we will be getting the recommended flu shot this week as they are warning that it is expected to spread country wide.
My husband recommends Buckley's cough syrup but I can not stomach it.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2014 17:19:39 GMT
Mich, I find if I take the oregano oil capsules (Some people just drop the oil on their tongues, blech!) at the first sign of a scratchy throat, 4 times out of five I can ward off whatever it is. Of course, I burp up pizza flavour all day afterwards, but that's a small price to pay.
I've mourned not being able to get Neo-Citran in the US. Apparently, they stopped selling hot lemon cold drinks (TheraFlu) here because it's easier to turn the powdered pseudephedrine into meth (god knows what they do with the analgesic, lemon flavour and sugar). I'm thinking of opening a Canadian black market pharmacy in Seattle, filled with 222s, Neo-Citran, Xylocaine and other powerful over-the-counter things I'll source in Vancouver. ;D
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2014 18:03:05 GMT
They can make a movie about it and call it 'The Seattle Buyers Club.'
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2014 18:32:15 GMT
I have heard the same regarding oregano oil but am always remiss in prescribing things I have no professional knowledge of. I hope you feel "mo' bettah" Bixa.
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Post by mossie on Jan 3, 2014 20:39:28 GMT
My recipe is a couple of paracetamol and a gargle made by dissolving a soluble aspirin in warm water, and off to bed.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2014 21:17:59 GMT
That's a classic, but people are always looking for something better.
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Post by mich64 on Jan 4, 2014 1:45:09 GMT
Gosh I wish I could have an aspirin. When in Paris a few years ago I ran out of Tylenol (a name brand of acetaminophen) and I will never let that happen again. My husband spent time at the pharmacies trying his best to explain he needed a pain reliever without ASA (aspirin) as I had terrible aches and fever from a flu virus.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2014 5:36:43 GMT
It seems that almost nobody in France takes aspirin. I take it rarely, but I usually keep a relatively large bottle of aspirin from the US on hand (generally from Wal-Mart) because the French aspirin containers have no more than 20 in them.
Here, everybody seems to take Doliprane or Efferalgan, which are both paracetamol.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2014 23:08:42 GMT
I really hope that Bixa will be able to crawl back to her computer soon.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2014 23:14:19 GMT
Yes, I've been worried about her.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 6, 2014 0:01:43 GMT
*waves feebly*
You all are the best!
I appreciate all the good wishes, and particularly appreciate everything I've learned from this thread.
The oregano oil is a real revelation & sounds like something that should be kept on hand. Is that a health food store item?
I didn't realize that the hot lemonade remedies had been taken off the shelves. Thanks, filthy nasty meth-heads. Do need to keep Nyquil on hand & did boil my body in the shower several times.
I read this thread after my painful foray to the pharmacy yesterday, which is a shame, because I needed to go armed with informed choices. I only crawled out of the house because the dogs were out of food & there's a mini-store across from the drugstore.
Go into drugstore, eyes swollen shut, & croak that I need something for gripa. "Headache? body pains? runny nose?" The guy asks brightly. Yeah yeah yeah. "You should go in the back & see our doctor, who will take your pressure." *flash of real Bixa rises to surface* "My pressure is perfect. Give me medicine."
So he sells me a box of Paracetamol/Fenilefrina/Loratadina for the princely sum of 27 pesos, which means I can go back home, feed dogs, & alleviate my misery, right?
But no! "I thought that was you!" and I turn to see a friend, someone I like, but who always wants everything to be special. She'll grill a waiter in a tiny eatery as though she were dining in an over-priced New York bistro, rather than a 3-dollar mom & pop joint.
She informs me that what I've been sold is crap, that I must return it, that what I really want is XYZ-11 or some such. I feel like I'm in a movie where the hero has finally reached his desperate goal but some other terrible thing now menaces him.
"I've got this & I'm taking it", I say bravely, sidling out the side door. The good news is that two doses of it knocked out the insanely painful headache & made me feel as though I might have a future. The bad news is that it makes my heart pound so hard that it keeps me from sleeping, so I'm not taking any more. The up side of not sleeping is that I was awake very early so went to my juice vendors & got their healing elixirs, including one actually called anti-gripal.
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Post by htmb on Jan 6, 2014 0:10:24 GMT
Oh dear! Glad you are feeling a bit better, but what an ordeal! Keep taking good care of yourself, bixa!
The heart pounding stuff I've taken in the past has had caffeine in it, so I always look for the "regular strength" versions. They often lack caffeine. I took Nyquil for the first time ever last spring when I was in Arizona and it knocked me for such a loop I insisted on taking only a half dose for the rest of the ordeal.
For those of you looking for Sudafed and the like in the US, try asking at the pharmacy counter. They keep a lot of the meth=making stuff there and make you show your ID and sign before you can purchase a simple little packet.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2014 0:55:25 GMT
I'm so glad you're feeling better, Bixa. Yes, the oregano does work wonders, but you need to take it at the first inkling of illness. It'll do nothing for a full-out gripa. You can buy it at the health food store. I'm not a believer in any other holistic or natural remedies (give me good old-fashioned drugs), but for some reason, for me, it seems to work.
htmb, I know about the sudafed over the counter at the pharmacy because I buy it al the time. Unfortunately, they don't seem to know what to do with my passport or my BC driver's license, so I have to drag the husband along and use his ID. I seem, over the last three years, to have developed chronic sinusitis, and I need to take decongestants all the time, or risk dehydration and a bloody nose from all the dripping, sneezing and blowing I do. Charming.
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Post by htmb on Jan 6, 2014 1:25:05 GMT
So sorry to hear this, lizzy. How miserable for you!
(Of course, we are all different, but several years ago my doctor put me on daily (year round) zyrtec to take care some of the symptoms you are describing. I think it was the smartest thing my doctor ever did for me. Plus, at the slightest sign of symptoms I use a saline, nasal rinse with a little backing soda added as well. )
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2014 2:18:44 GMT
Well, I've been to an allergist, nothing. Saw an ENT and had a CT scan of my head, nothing. I'm now spraying steroids twice a day. I wish I could use nasal irrigation, I bought the whole kit, but I felt like I was drowning and put it away. I have a hard time putting my face in water when I'm swimming even, I think it's because I'm part cat.
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Post by htmb on Jan 6, 2014 2:41:35 GMT
Poor baby! The ent I went to told me to use nasal rinse in the shower. I make my own solution with sterile water. Use a bulb to squirt it up into my sinuses. It's so much easier than standing over a sink, but if you're part cat then it might not work for you.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 6, 2014 5:22:37 GMT
Oh, Lizzie, do I feel for you! I've been sinus plagued my whole life & used to get those sinus headaches that would knock me out for a couple of days. A few years ago a friend told me about a study indicating success with saline solution, just as Htmb says. The trick for you is to go get one of the mist inhalers. You won't get the drowning sensation at all & it could very well help. Truly, it changed my life! You can refill the mister with your own saline solution.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2014 14:22:33 GMT
So glad you're feeling better Bixa.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2014 15:39:47 GMT
I'm in perfect health but you people made me buy a box of "Lemsip Max" for cold and flu at Boots today.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2014 16:16:57 GMT
You could pick yourself up some codeine tablets while you're there. Before I got the triptans, they were the only thing that would touch my headaches. Britain's the only place in Europe you can buy them over the counter. Found that out when I caught mono in Rome.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Jan 8, 2014 14:46:34 GMT
Sensibit-D? Works well for me in alleviating la gripa. No full blown cold is anything until you get to make hot toddies from hot tea or water, honey, lime juice, chile, < your favorite booze here> and some raw garlic. Then wrap up well in bed and sweat it out.
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Post by lagatta on Jan 8, 2014 15:24:32 GMT
For those who can't consume paracetamol, many of these mixtures are also available with ibuprofen.
All they can do is provide relief. Hope you are feeling better!
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 9, 2014 5:54:30 GMT
DonC, I guess I have the generic version of SensibitD. Yes, it does >>POW<< the gripa, but I couldn't deal with my heart beating out of my chest.
Ordinarily I am a person who carefully reads all the fine print on the package & scrutinizes the ingredients. But the state I was in meant no using my eyeballs or suffering head. He could have given me heroin cut with nitroglycerin & I'd have happily swallowed it.
Thanks, LaGatta. Yes, I think I'll survive. Just to make sure, today I got some limes & some honey to make a hot toddy tonight. Already had booze.
The selfishness of the sick! Forgot to ask how you're doing. Hope you're much better & any lingering symptoms are disappearing.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 10, 2014 7:52:48 GMT
Hot toddy report: if a little of something is good, a whole bunch should be better, right?
Um, no. Last night I got a big soup mug out & squeezed a whole lime into it. Added honey & hot water. Sour! The upshot was that, after finally adding enough honey & water to make it palatable, all the honey kept me awake & all the water meant I had to get up to pee. *sigh*
Lizzy, did you see my suggestion about misting rather than syringing?
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Post by bjd on Jan 10, 2014 11:59:35 GMT
Honey prevents you from sleeping?
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 10, 2014 15:16:29 GMT
I don't know that was it, but it felt the same way sugar does when racing through the blood stream. It was a great deal of honey by the time I finished making the "healthful" mess.
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