Here are a few things that might help:
**Coconut oil. Use this in place of vegetable oil--virgin coconut oil is best. Stay away from regular vegetable oil or canola--both will irritate a sore throat, and could well burden your immune system.
**Astragalus. This is an herb that is sometimes used as a spice. You can safely take 8-14 capsules a day of this.
**Echinacia. Use this for about 2 weeks at a time.
**Vitamins. Particularly, vitamin C (2,000 mg two or more times a day, or 1,000 mg per hour), and vitamin D (1,000 IU minimum up to 5,000 IU).
**Alpha lipoic acid. This may well stimulate your immune system, freeing up resources for fighting your cold.
**Plenty of humidity in your home. If your skin is feeling dry, your lungs are working extra hard to battle that situation. And, they need all the help they can get (and then some) to fight the cold.
**Lots of fluids--orange juice is best. No sodas, especially diet ones that contain aspartame or sucralose. Try to limit high fructose corn syrup, at least while you are sick (regular sugar, if you must, is acceptable).
**Don't smoke, at least while you are sick.
And, don't fall for that scam about dressing warmly. If you are cold, you should dress warmer because your system is exhausted from fighting your cold, not because you will catch more cold (you won't). If you are warm, dressing warmer will only dry you out, leading to dehydration and making it harder for you to fight your cold. Dress comfortably, not too warmly.
Above all, avoid cold medicines unless you ABSOLUTELY must suppress a symptom. These medications not only waste money, but they do not work. You might feel better for a short time, but you are only masking the symptoms. Meanwhile, these medications are making extra work for your system to fight the cold itself. Nuisance congestion or coughing is better than masking these symptoms, only to have pneumonia develop without warning or your cold to rebound worse a week later. And, if you absolutely do need medication, get medication for ONLY the symptoms you actually need to mask--you do not need side effects from medications that treat symptoms you do not have. And this goes for aspirin--if you do not have a fever, body aches, or sore throat, aspirin will do nothing.
