Zicam zinc nasal spray- the stuff actually works if you use it early enough in the cold.

Pay attention to how you are feeling. If you just have the run of the mill cold you can probably race with only minor inconvenience; runny nose, etc. If it turns out to be more serious you can earn yourself lots of lost training time by trying to tough it out. If you have a fever, sweat less than normal, or feel really washed out, you risk making yourself really sick. I'm no MD, I've attended the "school of hard knocks" on this one.

I second the vote for Zicam and also hyper-hydration, which tends to dilute your mucous (sp?) and then Vitamin C. I know doctor's have reported that mega-dosing Vitamin C has no effect in cold recovery but I think it may bolster your immune system temporarily to aid in the recovery.

The Zicam, if used early, seems highly effective is shortening the duration of the cold. There is a tendency to overuse it though, and that results in nasal irritation. Try to avoid that.

The vapor from chicken soup, as everyone says, also helps a great deal.

Oops- gotta go! Good luck! -Hope you feel better.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

sorry you are feeling crappy p2k,

i have tried everything for colds, from conventional medicine to naturopathic approaches, and have found that the single best remedy for me is also the cheapest and most readily available thing around: garlic.

take 2-3 cloves (a clove is a sub-section of a head of garlic...i had a student once who thought i meant 'take 2-3 heads' and ended up feeling a bit off :)), chop them into easily swallowable chunks, and just swallow them down with a lot of water. do it just before bed, and you are less likely to horrify your partner/spouse/dog. make sure you have a bit of food in your stomach. garlic is a really powerful antiviral and antimicrobial, and seems to wreak havoc on the rhinoviruses that cause colds. make sure you use fresh garlic, not garlic pills or capsules or other forms of expensive "odor free" stuff. the fresh bulbs are key.

if your throat is hurting, zinc lozenges (with zinc acetate) seem to work really well for many people.

i hope you feel better soon--toadpalmer

http:www.kenyawilds.com/faculty.html

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http://www.kenyawilds.com/faculty.html

drink lots of liquids, try echinacea tea with honey and lemon, stock on vitamin C and sleep zzzzzzz

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“You can't coach desire.” --Dathan Ritzenhein
http://xtreme4.com/ -- an extreme ride for extreme change: go green

I am the biggest skeptic to anything that someone says "It really works" so I didn't expect anything to work on a cold. However, our accupuncturist gave us a Chinese herb medicine called Yin Chiao - Dude, the stuff really works. I don't know how good of a health food store you have in your area but go there today and ask if they carrt Yin Chiao (pronounced Yin Chow). It comes in a couple of different forms but basically you take four tablets three times a day until symptoms are gone and taper off for a couple of days. NO side affects at all except feeling better.

American doctors say there is no cure for the common cold....well the Chinese say otherwise. It also works when someone in your house is sick and you don't want to catch it. My husband and both boys had a raging flu that was going around, I took immediately and until everyone was better,never came down with it. If you try it, let me know how it works.

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