General Chat

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

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.

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,

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

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.

May I Recommend OXYTETRACYCINE tablets.

Clears catarrh and phlegm.

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. :-| :-| :-| :-|

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 :-)

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.