General Chat

Because OH was driving the mini-bus on Wednesday, I organized a visit by our old biddies to the one who is in the nursing home and I was looking forward to going.

Unfortunately, I was well into brewing up a humdinger of a cold so I decided it would not be a good idea to go.

Last night OH had a job in a hotel that I could have accompanied him on but the cold was too heavy.

Now, tonight, there is a Trafalgar Night supper in the church hall and we paid £17.50 each to go. He has, he is, at this very moment, filling his face in the company of the great and the good while I languish here in my world of mucus awaiting the contents of the goody boxes I made him take for mine.

What a grim week.

Oh poor you Sharron I hope you feel better soon. I remember when I was a lot younger that if I had a party to go to I would get a bloomin great spot on my nose :-|. Lets hope OH brings you back something really nice that you will be able to taste and enjoy :-)

Sharon - that's such a shame - but better not to spread the lurgi!

I too am suffering from some horrific mucus excessive lurgi - I had the same thing, same time, last year :-|
I personally blame work. :-| :-| :-| :-|

May I Recommend OXYTETRACYCINE tablets.

Clears catarrh and phlegm.

Thanks David.

Actually, I have a Himalayan Rock Salt Inhaler which is keeping the nasties under control and have been able to breathe fairly easily.. I would not normally take any form of medication for a cold.

Surely oxytetracycline is an antibiotic, and should be prescribed by your GP?
They are also, usually diagnosed for acne.

Pills aside Sharron, I saw for sale a gadget
(for want of a better word) that permits people to put
clean water up a nostril, it goes through the sinuses
and come down the other nostril, Then change nostrils.
Nothing toxic, just clean water,

Do NOT take oxytetracyline for an ordinary cold.

It is an antibiotic for use against bacteria.

Colds are caused by a virus, and are not affected by an antibiotic.

All you will do by taking an antibiotic when it is not indicated is cause bacteria in your body in low numbers and not yet causing a problem to mutate faster and thus become resistant to future treatment. You will also, of course, kill off the good bacteria in your gut, and cause other problems there.

The virus causing the cold just carries on its merry way.


The other method that David mentions is an old Indian treatment and called nasal irrigation. In its simplest and cheapest form it uses something called a Neti Pot.

You should NOT use ordinary tap water!

Use either salt water or distilled water and the Neti Pot, or buy a commercial preparation already filled with saline water (or "sea water" as they advertise) and then discard the pressured (usually) container.

You can make your own saline solution but you MUST use either bottled water that has been distilled or sterilized. AND you must rinse out the Neti Pot after use with distilled or sterilized water.

But not using ordinary tap water or sea water is important because of the contaminants that are still there even after all the treatment drinking water gets before reaching your tap. Those contaminants are the reason why many immune-compromised people cannot drink tap water.

Having posted all that .......

..... Sharron, I'm sorry that you are missing all these great events because of the fact someone has "kindly" presented you with the virus!!

Can you blame OH for it, or is he blameless in this case?


Doctors and Public Health people over here often say .............

"You can not treat a cold and it will take 4-5 days to clear, or you can use one of the treatments and it will take 4-5 days to clear."!!!!


I actually found that statement to be true when one of my co-workers (and a close friend) became immune-compromised in the 1990s, and had to be protected from infections.

Before that happened, we would all go into work with a cold, sniff our way though the day taking whatever medication we thought would help, including nasal sprays.

It would be 4-5 days of misery and loss of sleep, and infecting others.

After it happened, those of us who could (and that was almost everyone) would stay home for fear of causing another hospital stay for G ............ the cold lasted 4-5 days, but we were all a lot less sleep-deprived! Most of us in fact would go back to work on day 4 as we felt we were not infectious by that stage.

It was interesting that most of us continued to take those days off even after G died in 1997.

My dad would swear that eating a large Spanish onion cured a cold .............. whenever he got the sniffles, he would buy one, then sit in front of a roaring fire and eat it all. :-0

I mentioned the rock salt inhaler.

It is a pot with a spout thing on top where you breathe in through the salt crystals in the bottom and breathe out through your nose.

It has helped with my sinuses and coughing lately and now it is helping me keep the snot at bay.

I have the devil's own job to get antibiotics for throat/chest infections since my old doctor retired. Don't get me wrong as I well understand the reasons for not taking them, but I'm prone to getting bacterial infections set in following a virus. In the past I would get these infections, often with a cold, be really ill and be off work for over 2 months and eventually need 2 courses of antibiotics to clear them. My GP realised what was happening and told me to come for antibiotics in future as soon as I knew it wasn't a simple cold. Now it's different! Last time I had a bad throat and no voice for over a month and the doctor wanted to send me to ENT for investigation. This was despite explaining my history. I sheepishly asked if there was a alternative and she said well we could try antibiotics but you must come back after the weekend (it was Friday) if no better. Of course after 2 days antibiotics I was feeling 100% better. :-)
I used to feel really upset and worried when people came to work with streaming colds and coughs. Some would even brag about having so little time off sick, but they never thought about those they spread it to, or those that could be badly affected like me and those with asthma.

Hope you soon feel better Sharron. :-)

Sorry Sharron, I'd no intention of giving you duff information :-D <3

That gadget's name, neti pot had me smiling.

The Indians who practice Yoga as a form of hygiene with the breathing

exercises and sinuses just use what clean water is available.

Annx I think in the days we were working it was not acceptable to stay home with a cold, it would have been frowned on. I do wish now we are more informed about these things that people with colds would stay off public transport or at the very least use a hanky when the cough/sneeze. I did see a school saying parents were not to keep children home if they had a cold and we all know they are the ones that spread germs in the first place because of close contact.

Sorry Sharron I digressed. Sorry you are feeling grotty (snotty!!), I hope that it will soon clear and that you will feel better soon. Frustrating that it was just at the time you had things to go to.

Tomorrow, the plan is to visit my friend. Locally, we have a company, Turners, who make sumptuous pies. The only veggie one is asparagus and mushroom and I was going to buy one to take with me as a treat, along with a pie for her and one for OH.

We only very rarely eat them and they are something to look forward to.

When OH brought my doggy bags home last night, they contained trifle, veg, mash and, guess what, a Turners mushroom and asparagus pie!

Donkeys years ago, when I was young, my Father worked outdoors in all

weathers for Wimpey. When he got a cold it was a steamer, but he had his own

solution. He'd take a strip of Aspro (two at a time) and Beechams Powder. It worked.

He's have many a hawk to get it off his chest

I seem to remember that for a sore throat my dad would cook up onion and brown sugar and there must have been a liquid, I can remember the nice smell. another cure he used for a sore throat was a spoonful of butter mixed with sugar. I had to let it melt down my throat. I suppose the theory was it greased it and helped swallow.

My late father in law used to cut up and eat raw onion and not red ones either.

Fishermans Friend is a good help for quick clearing of the choking type of catarrh

When I got a cough and sore throat, my mother used to buy a turnip, cut the top off and make a hollow in the flesh. Then she would put brown sugar, and I don't think anything else in there. Then leave it for a day, and there would be a sweet liquid forming the hollow.

I'd take a teaspoon of that at frequent intervals.


AnninG .... that sounds very like my Dad and his large raw onion! He would sit in front of the fire, with the onion on a plate and a knife, and cut pieces of it.

David ............

the Neti pot information that you gave wasn't really duff information .......... it's just that now we know that even tap water is not good for immune-compromised people, and that it is not good to snuff up into your mucous passages, or to wash out Neti pots or any such items.

We know now that all the filters, treatments, etc that are given to produce drinking water leave particles below a certain size in the water, and that some of those particles MAY cause problems.

Boiling water for 5 minutes is the simplest way to produce water safe for immune-compromised people and to use in Neti pots.

Many generations ago many people drank beer because
the water had been boiled. I drink tap water, also use it to
make cups of tea. The only concern I have with it is if it
comes from the tap discoloured, then I just run the tap until it clears.
Another concern I had about the water, briefly since there's nothing
I could do about it, is our drinking water has fluoride added.

When my late FIL had a cold he's put Vick into a bowl of hot water
and breathe the vapours.