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June 27, 2007
Cold Remedies
There's no way colds can feel worse than zinc lozenges taste.
June 27, 2007 | Permalink
Comments
And that is why zinc is a good placebo. Eat up, matey!
Posted by: Joe S. | Jun 27, 2007 11:47:06 AM
Careful, now -- zinc may cause minor brain damage. Check out the comment my friend Jeff left here. I was a religious zinc-consumer, but I actually did notice a diminished sense of smell while I was using it (even when not stuffed up) -- or thought I did, anyway.
Posted by: Tom | Jun 27, 2007 11:56:17 AM
I don't think it's available in the U.S. but Buckley's Cough Syrup can make zinc lozenges taste like ambrosia. "It tastes awful" is in their tagline.
http://www.buckleys.com/index.html
Posted by: Ryan | Jun 27, 2007 12:35:46 PM
That's why you use dayquil gel tablets.
Posted by: Joseph | Jun 27, 2007 12:42:39 PM
I'm pretty sure the evidence is that nothing we've tried actually does anything to cure the common cold. You can treat symptoms, for which I think dayquil and its ilk are the best you can find.
Posted by: Nicholas Beaudrot | Jun 27, 2007 12:48:51 PM
I don't care what you say I won't stay in a world without zinc.
Posted by: norbizness | Jun 27, 2007 12:52:48 PM
Exactamundo, Nick. I would recommend taking a break from blogging and getting some rest.
Posted by: Cain | Jun 27, 2007 2:08:45 PM
(1) They have yummy tasting Zn candies ... you just need to know where to get them. If I knew where my fiancee finds such things, I'd tell you. Of course, she also has a stash of Buckley's, and I don't know where she got that.
(2) IIRC, they just showed Echanacia does work.
(3) I swear by Ricola cough drops ... soothes the throught and one of those herbs is bound to be an anti-viral ...
(4) The best treatment, though, is still what our parents, grandparents, ancestors did -- a bissl schnapps and plenty of chicken soup and water and weak tea (mit honey and lemon) ... adding tea masala also seems to help.
Posted by: DAS | Jun 27, 2007 2:28:05 PM
(1) They have yummy tasting Zn candies...one of those herbs is bound to be an anti-viral ...
(4) The best treatment, though, is still what our parents, grandparents, ancestors did -- a bissl schnapps and plenty of chicken soup and water and weak tea (mit honey and lemon) ... adding tea masala also seems to help.
DAS makes science cry.
Posted by: Cain | Jun 27, 2007 3:25:26 PM
As DAS mentions, echinacea is back from the scientifically dead.
Posted by: Sanpete | Jun 27, 2007 3:48:32 PM
DAS makes science cry. - Cain
On a regular basis, in fact -- or maybe, it's the other way around ... actually being a scientist of some sort (biochemistry, post-doc), science sometimes ... well, it doesn't make me cry, but it does sometimes wanna pull my hair out. But a Yid macht a leben, nu? A job's a job and science pays the bills ... kinda ...
Posted by: DAS | Jun 27, 2007 4:44:57 PM
Bourbon, lots of it, with honey and heated water.
Posted by: Parmenides | Jun 27, 2007 5:40:12 PM
Nah, only one thing has ever been shown to work, but nobody's going to make money off selling salt water. A recent "meta-analysis" of echinacea has a weakly positive result, but that and $1.55 will get you a cup of coffee. On the other hand snorting salt water at the first sign of a cold will often abort the cold by washing the virus out of the nose. Rhinovirus only replicates in the posterior oropharynx and only at the beginning of the infection. 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a pinch of baking soda dissolved in 1 cup of warm water and inhaled up the snout will nip the thing in the bud (and is good for temporary relief of congestion if you've let things go too long). Your lizard brain will protest and set up a little panic thing, but you won't drown and the next morning you will likely awake a new man or woman and go off to face the merry day.
Unhappily, I haven't come up for a good scheme of marketing Dr. Bean's Natural Organic, er, table salt, so I can't profit off the ever mutating upper respiratory scourge.
Posted by: J Bean | Jun 27, 2007 7:33:38 PM
MMmm, Buckleys. Guaranteed to [i]destroy[/i] your mouth.
Posted by: Sandals | Jun 27, 2007 7:35:00 PM
I am zinc fan, but I take the capsules instead of eating those foul chew tablets. Although, sleep will do it, too.
Posted by: catherine | Jun 28, 2007 12:30:46 AM
Zicam. Get the gel kind-- the spray hurts the nose. But since I started spritzing that at the first sign of a cold, I've never gotten one.
Posted by: yankster | Jun 28, 2007 1:29:45 AM
On the other hand snorting salt water at the first sign of a cold will often abort the cold by washing the virus out of the nose. Rhinovirus only replicates in the posterior oropharynx and only at the beginning of the infection. - Dr. Bean
'Cept this only will stop a rhinovirus infection in its tracks. Rhinoviri are not the only cause of "colds" ... and some of those other viruses do replicate further inside and for longer time-frames. That being said, even if you have something other than a rhinovirus, this sort of thing (if you are careful to get the proportions right) certainly will provide amazing symptomatic relief.
The problem is that some of us can't get beyond our lizard brains. Look at the state this country is in ... nu? what makes you think we can suppress our lizard brain thinking?
Posted by: DAS | Jun 28, 2007 11:17:51 AM
HIV positive people may, may not work in health organizations
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Restrict every household to 60 gallon can on trash a week
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Sex offenders should be, should not be castrated
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Help the homeless down the street and persuade them to look for work
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