My 10 top tips for dealing with a cold

A few days ago, I got a bad cold and now poor little Autumn has a cold too. It was the first time I had a bad cold and had to look after a child. I have to say I did miss being able to just curl up and feel sorry for myself, especially when she started screaming and I had a banging headache! However, it was just a cold, I know things could be much worse. I just got on with it and did the usual things that I do when I have a cold to try and get through it quicker and more comfortably:

  1. Use a Vicks or Olbas Oil inhaler to help unblock your nose. You’ll actually be able to breathe again – for about 5 minutes!
  2. Use Vicks First Defence, which is a nasal spray. Recommended to me by Dave‘s Uncle, it is great stuff. You do three or four sprays up each nostril four times a day. When I’ve used it I’ve usually been on the second day of a cold, but he says that if you use it at the very first sign of a cold then it stops it in its tracks pretty quickly! (On a side note, if you have a newly pierced nose, it stings like hell! I made that mistake in November 2015).
  3. Taking paracetamol at the onset of a cold helps, apparently. It definitely helps throughout though if you’ve got a headache or sinusitis (which I’ve had, it’s nasty!) You really don’t need a sinus headache when you have a baby screaming at you.
  4. Use Tyrozets, Stepsils, Strefen, Fisherman’s Friend or Covonia throat sweets. I’ve used all of these in the past and they’ve really helped my throat when it’s been sore. Bear in mind Fisherman’s Friend and Covonia taste pretty strong – I hate the taste and usually have to spit them out!
  5. The age old honey and lemon drink. It works wonders for the throat. I usually add a drop of whiskey…oh, okay then – I add a pretty generous splash of whiskey to it! Adding whiskey really helps the throat and stops you feeling quite so dead for a couple of hours, which is always good. Hot Ribena is also great for a sore throat and child-friendly to give to your littles.
  6. If your nose is dripping without warning like mine has been, (really not practical when you’re looking after a baby and doing laundry and end up almost dripping over them), stick tissue up your nose to stop it coming out! It does look a bit daft, but it does the job. For extra comedy value,you could try using tampons! (Actually, I don’t actually suggest that…but if you’re daft enough please do send me a photo!)
  7. Eat foods that help colds. Things like curry, peppers (bell peppers if you’re in the US) and garlic are great for fighting off a cold.
  8. Take Vitamin D. Vitamin D should be taken by everyone in the northern hemisphere daily anyway, because we’re likely all vitamin D deficient. It helps to fight off colds, so you definitely need to get more of it in your system to help get over it more quickly. I even give Autumn a supplement containing it.
  9. If you’re able to, get lots of rest and sleep to help your body to get over the cold more quickly (hahaha, like that’s easy when you have a small child!)
  10. Invest in balsam tissues. Every time I have a cold I get such a sore nose. It probably doesn’t help that I have a tendency to use kitchen roll for blowing my nose if I’m in the general vicinity of the kitchen (which is an awful lot of the time due to the amount of laundry I have to do and bottles I have to make). Balsam tissues are so much gentler on your nose and smell pretty damn good too.

Disclaimer: I am not in the medical profession, so I am not qualified to give medical advice. All medication and supplements are taken at your own risk and all opinions in this article are my own.

Have you caught any colds so far this winter or have you been lucky enough to avoid them? How do you deal with a cold?

5 thoughts on “My 10 top tips for dealing with a cold”

  1. I don’t blame you, I’m definitely not either! I found out that they could help a few years ago when I had a dreadful cold and did loads of research to look into how I could get rid of it quicker! Thanks for commenting xxx

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