Boozeless cold remedies

[Numbers]

Shame I read this thread only now.

I just recovered (more or less) from a terrible cold myself as well. If it's any consolation, mine lasted for about two weeks (starting with a little throat pain, minor fever and head aches, then blocked sinuses, followed by heavily coughing and finished by blowing my nose almost every minute for the following day) and is now about over. I was too stubborn to take any medication, but did work at home.

About the remedies Zhao introduced and consequent discussion, I can add that fruit&veg juices do help -I drank quite a lot of them- but they're not the ultimate remedy. If not, I wouldn't have been coughing and sniffing for two weeks. A pity, I didn't think about the chicken soup. I had an Italian variant though, tortelli in brodo. Basically, it's meat-filled pasta boiled in broth.

Not eating when being ill is the craziest I have read, honestly. I can understand that absorbing food is quite a task for an ill body, but I am sure it's a minor task compared to fighting the bacteria. Appetite is low when ill anyway... when appetite kicks in again, it usually means you're starting to feel better.

 

[ripley]

I'm late and will not be getting into the fasting or not debate

but I would add that putting some cayenne pepper in with the honey-lemon-ginger is brilliant, clears out my sinuses etc. Cayenne and ginger both increase blood circulation which helps you clean out your system. The hot+sweet combination is one of my favorite flavors anyway.

I always crave spicy foods when I have a cold - the hotter the better! ethiopian or indian are especially good.

oh man, I'm hungry now.

 

[mms]

I'm late and will not be getting into the fasting or not debate

but I would add that putting some cayenne pepper in with the honey-lemon-ginger is brilliant, clears out my sinuses etc. Cayenne and ginger both increase blood circulation which helps you clean out your system. The hot+sweet combination is one of my favorite flavors anyway.

I always crave spicy foods when I have a cold - the hotter the better! ethiopian or indian are especially good.

oh man, I'm hungry now.

i'm going to do that in a bit.
i still have this bastard!

 

[zhao]

yes cayenne has strong cleansing properties.

another rather insane thing my health freak friends in Cali do once a year (like the Maori healers) that i actually didn't do, because it just sounds fucking scary, is the Phoenix treatment, which i think is native American in origin.

it consists of a 10 minute (or how ever long you can stand) soak in a tub filled with cayenne and other things. it burns like fire and it is common for people to just scream when they enter. you grit your teet and just take in the pain, most people don't last more than 3 or 4 minutes --- the shock causes your muscles to squeeze out all of the toxins that they are holding, and is a great way to purify the body in mere minutes, the same amount of work with other methods would take months.

 

[Mr. Tea]

What are Native Americans eating that's so full of 'toxins' that they so drastically need to detox themselves? And in any case, as I understand it chemicals the body deems undesirable but can't excrete are stored in fat, not muscle.

 

[zhao]

american indians probably used the method for healing sick people. the body becomes toxic with illnesses.

a similar instant cleanse is how the russians go skinny dipping after drilling a hole in the ice in like, -20º weather. the shock of the cold pushes a lot of waste out of your muscles. super healthy practice.

 

[Mr. Tea]

a similar instant cleanse is how the russians go skinny dipping after drilling a hole in the ice in like, -20º weather. the shock of the cold pushes a lot of waste out of your muscles. super healthy practice.

That's what they'd have you believe...it's actually a favoured tortured method of the KGB.

 

[zhao]

dear Nomadologist, please address the following comments. it's not cool to throw mud at someone, denie it when confronted with evidence, and then walk away without a word. quite frankly i expected better from you.

___________________________________

First, are you reading what I actually said about fasting? What I said actually CONFIRMS your anecdotal experience, rather than denying it.

no.

1. you have been trying to explain my increased energy levels during the fast through a chemically induced sense of ellation or euphoria, thus denying A. that i had ACTUAL higher levels of energy and B. that this is caused by avoiding solid food.

2. you have been trying to dismiss the benefits i receive from herbal supplements with "placebo effect". which is groundless.

3. you have been insinuating that i pay a bullshitter $500 per week to receive bullshit. which is A. false, B. fabricated, C. intended to redicule, mock, and discredit, and D. entirely the product of your prejudices and stereotypical thinking.

Second, I am not groundlessly invalidating anything based on "stereotypes" or "prejudices", I am disagreeing with the idea that homeopathy is scientifically legitimate.

who said anything about homeopathy?

all i know is what i know from direct personal experience -- which just so happened to confirm a lot of things i used to think is "new age bullshit" (just like you).

tell you the truth, when i went on the fast i didn't believe what my ex was telling me -- which is basically everything i've been saying in this thread. it was more or less to impress her because she was doing it. but my exprience during the fast drastically altered my previous beliefs which i now know is based on commonly accepted false information.

 

[mind_philip]

american indians probably used the method for healing sick people. the body becomes toxic with illnesses.

a similar instant cleanse is how the russians go skinny dipping after drilling a hole in the ice in like, -20º weather. the shock of the cold pushes a lot of waste out of your muscles. super healthy practice.

I'm almost afraid to ask, but where exactly do all the toxins/waste go when they are squeezed/pushed out of your muscles?

 

[zhao]

um.... where does it go when this happens?

 

[mind_philip]

um.... where does it go when this happens?

According to that article, sweating is primarily the expulsion of water and salt for the purposes of thermoregulation... so I don't know, where does it go when that happens?

 

[zhao]

toxins also leave the body with sweat.

 

[Mr. Tea]

um.... where does it go when this happens?

Sweat isn't stored in one's muscles, though, is it?

 

[zhao]

toxins also leaves the body with piss. that's why it's good to drink lots of water when you get sloshed!

 

[mind_philip]

I believe toxins leave the body in urine as a result of well-understood processes involving the kidneys, liver and gut, rather than being 'squeezed out' of the muscles...

 

[Mr. Tea]

You can get lactic acid building up in your muscles when you do anaerobic exercise (i.e. your body isn't getting enough oxygen for normal respiration), which is what causes the characteristic burning sensation of really pushing yourself - but this is rapidly purged from the muscles by normal circulation, so it's not unhealthy or anything.

 

[bassnation]

well, finally kicked this cold into fucking touch. had it for over three weeks which just isn't funny. last week was a bit scary- tuesday morning woke feeling like someone had punched me in the ribs, could hardly move and very short of breath. really got quite worried. i think i must have pulled a muscle coughing as its got better now.

would highly recommend the ginger and lemon thing. what i wouldn't recommend is a night on the tiles midweek as i stupidly did 2 weeks in. really suffered for that. as an aside my bastard client essentially hinted they would let me go if i took time off (i'm self employed). as a result looking for another job as i don't want to work for anyone who'd rather see me go downhill than delay the project, the cunt.

anyway moaning finished, thank god i feel normal again. at some stages felt like i was on hallucinogenic drugs but not in a good way.

 

[mms]

if i was going to give a prize it would go to hundredmillion and ripley for their suggestions, i'm now almost cold free and these are the two that seemed to help the most.
thanks!

 

[zhao]

I believe toxins leave the body in urine as a result of well-understood processes involving the kidneys, liver and gut, rather than being 'squeezed out' of the muscles...

the Cayanne pepper bath basically works same way as a sweat lodge, except it's over in minutes where as a sweat would be at least 8 hours or so.

how exactly the extreme cold therapy / cleanse thing works i'm not entirely sure of. will try to find out for you.

 

[hundredmillionlifetimes]

toxins also leave the body with sweat.

Toxins? [that just might change your body-pleasure seeking mind] ...

Returning to cold remedies again, induced sweating (via the methods already suggested, but also by consuming extremely spicy foods - chilli and jalapeno and curry peppers, mustard, ginger, garlic, etc ] can of course help, by circulating moisture, flushing out the virus, and cooling the body from the effects of inflammation, but the problem here is that you must immediately and rapidly replace all the fluids and vital minerals (especially zinc) lost in perspiration to prevent dehydration, as the latter only makes matters worse. Plus massive amounts of Vitamin C, still the primary agent for beating off the virus.