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[expatinuk]

I have a cold... I'm not SERIOUSLY ill... but I feel like crap. Because it's a cold I get no sympathy from anyone *pout*

[normative_]

I sympathise, Expat.

We have a dangerous occupation; that's not well-understood.

<have just gotten over my own cold>

[dellaroux]

Yes, students are simply germ vectors in disguise...

[normative_]

Here's a great line from one of my *other* students:

Me: There's a lot of that cold going around
She: Yeah, it's almost like a virus.

Okay, I teach social sciences, but really

[tenured_feminist]

I will offer you my sympathy. I get one about once a year that goes over into bad laryngitis and leaves me scrambling to figure out how to manage my classes.

Hope you feel better soon. It's really wretched to be sick enough to feel awful but not to feel like you can just stay home because it's "just a cold."

[dellaroux]

Periodic colds? Get your teeth checked.

I used to get an annual cold that went to bronchitis--and I had not only to worry about classes, but being able to make scheduled performance events--until I had an abcessed tooth filled.

No more serious annual colds, for almost 10 years now. The abcess had apparently been functioning for several years, humming along as a little infection-engine, storing up all those little nasties and releasing them anytime my resistance dropped from overexposure, going to sleep with wet hair, wet feet (all those things my grandmother used to fret about really did matter...)

Since then, all the antibodies I must have developed have stood me in good stead (knock on wood...) I might still get a minor version of whatever is going around but it really has stopped being a problem.

I have also found that as soon as the "little tickle" starts in my throat, a half-dose of coated baby aspirin, taken prophylactically RTC for a day or two, seems to keep the secretions manageable and prevents their descent to the deep, dark, brooding breeding bronchial tubes...

I try to get as much extra sleep as possible, lots of fluids, and keep dancing (more moving air, fewer respiratory anaerobes) and within a week it seems to dissipate.

But it was the dental abcess that started it all....it didn't hurt, so I lived with it for years--unnecessarily creating all those other problems!

[expatinuk]

To nurse my cold I just ate a bag of Reeses pieces... which BTW have to be imported here.

You know... 'feed a cold... starve a fever... or is it feed a fever... whatever...

I've now got an upset stomach. I mean WHO would have thought that eating an entire bag of Reeses Pieces would be bad???

HUMPH

[gennimom]

Um, Expat? I would have gotten sick eating a whole bag, and I don't have a cold. :)

[galactic_hedgehog]

Here's a great line from one of my *other* students:

Me: There's a lot of that cold going around
She: Yeah, it's almost like a virus.

Okay, I teach social sciences, but really

Maybe it's a tiger.

[cranefly]

Get thee to a pharmacy. Ginseng. Take 2x 500 mg 3x a day for 3 days, then drop to 1 x 500 mg until you're better.
They sell Ginseng in fancy packaging as ColdX and it costs a fortune. It's just gineseng. It works wonders in reducing the length of a cold, and preventing a cold (take it for a few days before and after a flight).
It really does work for me, when most things (Echinacea, vitamin C packs, etc.) don't.

[sweetcider]

Hope you feel better quickly.  Colds stink.

My unsolicited advice:  If you cold includes sinus congestion, try the spray in your nose type decongestants.  I've recently discovered these and for me they help a lot.  The decongestant does its job so that I can breath (and therefore think or sleep) but they don't make me loopy like OTC oral decongestants do.

[msparticularity]

Here's a great line from one of my *other* students:

Me: There's a lot of that cold going around
She: Yeah, it's almost like a virus.

Okay, I teach social sciences, but really

Maybe it's a tiger.

I was thinking the student meant it was like a computer virus - so many of them seem to have forgotten there was ever another kind!

[rubygirl]

To nurse my cold I just ate a bag of Reeses pieces... which BTW have to be imported here.

You know... 'feed a cold... starve a fever... or is it feed a fever... whatever...

I've now got an upset stomach. I mean WHO would have thought that eating an entire bag of Reeses Pieces would be bad???

HUMPH

Totally off-topic:  WHAT is up with the British lack of understanding of the AWESOMENESS of any and all things Reese's?  My friend is addicted to the peanut butter cups, and they were (10 yrs ago) TOTALLY UNAVAILABLE there.  Her Brit friend was like, "That sounds disgusting." 

Oh, foolish man.

[octoprof]

To nurse my cold I just ate a bag of Reeses pieces... which BTW have to be imported here.

You know... 'feed a cold... starve a fever... or is it feed a fever... whatever...

I've now got an upset stomach. I mean WHO would have thought that eating an entire bag of Reeses Pieces would be bad???

HUMPH

Totally off-topic:  WHAT is up with the British lack of understanding of the AWESOMENESS of any and all things Reese's?  My friend is addicted to the peanut butter cups, and they were (10 yrs ago) TOTALLY UNAVAILABLE there.  Her Brit friend was like, "That sounds disgusting." 

Oh, foolish man.

It's akin to the American ignorance of the wonderful Crunchie bar, who's awesomeness is only eclipsed by the Crunchie Blast, which I don't think is made any more. *bawling!* Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

[sikora]

I've had a cold coming on for a day or so.  I find Zicam very helpful, although I know it doesn't help everyone. You have to start using it as soon as you feel liking you are coming down with the nasty nosey disease. I started using Zicam yesterday, and my cold hasn't moved past the slightly irritated "I can feel a cold coming on" stage, and it is actually getting better. I don't need to walk around with tissues.

I can't use the Zicam tablets because they make me gag.  I've been using the spray.  I'd rather use the stuff you put up your nose because the spray has a yucky metallic taste to it.