Scorchio

Starting work in a new country is very exciting and all that, but not only do I get to meet a load of new people, I also get to meet their various illnesses. I lasted almost three weeks, but I now seem to have caught every strain of cough and cold in the building, simultaneously.

Consequently, being a bloke, I'm next to death's door, and I have yet to rule out SARS and Asian bird flu.

On the off-chance it is just a cold, what would you recommend? My trip to the local drug store last night failed to net any Beechams/Lemsip, or anything remotely familiar..

Manc

chin up mush,

when I got here I was sick as a dog for about 2 weeks. I also seemed to catch everything from Ebola to myxamitosis.

Get some Vicks lad.

MisBish

Contac Night/Day make sure it has both .. the night time ones will be a God send!
Manc is right, Vicks helped him when he got the crud for the first few weeks.

Good luck!

rincewind

Buy some DayQuil LiquiCaps. These bad boys knock out my symptoms when I get a cold. You can also get NyQuil for those night time attacks. Make you sleep good too.

jcapulet

I feel your pain...LOL. I commute to work via bus and train. I have gotten sick many a time from the proximity of my fellow commuting "sardines" packed together in the train.

I do a couple of things that seem to help...like not using the "office sponge" to clean your mug out, it's a good way to catch someone elses' cold (I use a paper towel with dishwash soap). And using a paper towel on the restroom handles. Sounds silly, but it helps. Although, it always stinks when somone coughs in your face..not much you can do then.

When I (and Cory) got the flu in December, the only thing that seemed to work was Tylenol Cold/Flu for severe congestion. We tried Theraflu first, but that was nasty.

Hope you feel better soon!!

BrigieDarling

I thought I had really bad colds every year untill I found out it was seasonal allergies.

I can honestly say that I take 1 Claritinâ„¢ and I'm symptom free for at least 24 hours. (sold over the counter now too)

Tylenol Cold and Tylenol Flu both work great.

Poor scorchie... you'll feel right as rain in no time.

snorkmaiden

If you're symptoms go on for longer than ten to fourteen days make sure you go to see your doctor.

I thought I had flu, I felt just awful and then the kids got it and it wasn't going away and I finally broke and went to the doctors and we all had strep, and it made me really ill as I'd left it. Just a few weeks on and we have it again as it's going round the schools here.

My doctor gave me a long talking to on how they don't do things like the NHS here. He knows they like to not see you if you may just have a cold or virus but if you are still ill after ten to fourteen days he wants us to come in. (of course he gets more cash when I take all my kids to see him so he may be a little biased, but strep can have some nasty side effects)

Bluegrass Lass

Without Claritin D, I'd be a walking, congested lump of flesh. I just hate that it's over the counter now though! It used to cost me $10 a month for the Rx, now it's $30! But I have to take one a day or I do nothing but sneeze and blow my nose.

Dayquil/Nyquil work pretty darn good, as does Sudafed.

NC Penguin

Some helpful comments posted here. It's always good to wash your hands as soon as you can after getting to work, after touching door handles, a coworker's hand, etc.

It's not being paranoid. Hopefully, when somebody sneezes, they put one hand up to their mouth. That hand then has germs that can be spread when the hand comes into contact with anything like your hand, a communal door handles, etc.

I think you get the picture.

Neither my spouse nor I got the flu this year despite it doing the rounds, not once, but twice in my department (at least 30 people).

I put this down to eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies, and consuming lots of vitamin C (in the form of juice and good old fruits and veggies) plus consuming ginger at the first sign of a cold. Sugar coated dried ginger slices/pieces and ginger tea can be bought in Chinese and other oriental grocery stores and even some regular grocery stores.

So, I've had no sick days this winter! Hooray!!

KimJ

ZICAM!

This product definitely shortens the life span of a cold. Also helps to prevent new ones from sneaking up on you. I highly recommend it. Everyone in my department here at work got a nasty bug a few months ago, but I was completely spared.

Englishmum

I've seen a product called "Airborne" in the pharmacy which was (apparently) invented by a school teacher who was sick of catching colds. You are supposed to take it at the first sign of a cold, so I guess it's similar to "Zicam" listed above (which I've never heard of).

I like to take hot tea (no milk) with honey and a couple of slices of lemon when I get a cold. Hot ginger tea is good too and drunk throughout Asia - just buy some fresh ginger and put a couple of slices into hot tea.

When I lived in England I used to love taking a "whisky mac" for congestion (whisky and Stone's Ginger Wine) but I've never seen ginger wine on sale in the US.

ladyofthelake

I would have thought any NHS doc would also want to see you if a cold was lasting 2 weeks or more!?!
I found that out after putting off a visit to my doc in England when I had a long lingering cough. Turned out I had a touch of pneumonia.

lau3rie

Oh I <3 airborne...not sure if it's the placebo effect but I haven't had a bad case of plane-itis since I found out about (and started using) it.

Also, if it's too expensive or you can't find it, you can make a great substitute with effervescent Vitamin C and Echinacea tablets (get 'em at Boots!) plus whatever multivitamin complexes and spurious herbal remedies take your fancy...

Yosser

Go and see the quack matey.

Get some vicodin - it won't heal anything, but it will make you space out for a few hours.

I agree with the Nyquil - awesome stuff, knocks me out all night.

Scorchio

Thanks for the suggestions, folks. I'll have a look for some of those tonight.

Long term, though, maybe I should invest in one of these!