I am a strong believer in neti pots, but if you are stuffed up they will not work.
As for sore throats/losing your voice, google horseradish and honey. I know it sounds disgusting but does not taste much different than sweet and sour sauce and really works.
I remember reading somewhere that you should not take anything that dries out your sinuses as that is your body's natural response to getting rid of nasties in your system. Of course I cannot find that article when I need it. I also will take high doses of vitamin C (like 500-1000 every hour that I am awake). There is a website called The Vitamin C Foundation that has a lot of really good info on high dose C. On the cold and flu page there are links to studies and papers that have been performed on what they recommend.
Cold/Flu Cure #1: 8 g every 20 minutes
At first sign of cold or flu, begin taking at least 8 g (8000 mg) of vitamin C as ascorbic acid every twenty minutes for 3 to 4 hours until bowel tolerance, and then smaller dosages of 2-4 g every 4-6 hours for ten days to prevent recurrence.
The 'trick' is achieving almost I.V. blood serum levels by mouth as described in the Hickey/Roberts book ASCORBATE: The Science of Vitamin C. Begin protocol at the first sign of a runny nose, tickle in the throat, etc. If not caught at the beginning, the infection can't be stopped, but you may lessen its severity and duration.
Note: Any other form of the vitamin, e.g. mineral ascorbates, will be half as effective for this purpose.
Note: Avoid sugars/simple carbs, which compete with the vitamin for cellular uptake during therapy.
Note: 8 grams equals sixteen - 500 mg pills, or eight - 1000 mg pills.
This recommended surefire dosage is 4 times Irwin Stones recommendation of 2 g every 20-30 minutes for the first two to three hours. If you have trouble with 8 g, you might try lowering to Stone's dosage for the common cold.
If you place your faith in "medical science" (or those who cloak themselves in that term when they insist that vitamin C has no benefit against the common cold) you may be surpised just how easy it is to halt a viral infection at the onset.
Cold/Flu Cure #2: 3.1 g as nasal drops or spray
If you have a low bowel tolerance or stomach distress from oral vitamin C, you may experience great benefit from the nasal spray approach. (Let us know!)
At the onset of a cold, mix 3.1 grams (3100 mg or about 1 teaspoon sodium ascorbate or ascorbic acid crystals) in 100 milliliters (ml) water or saline ( just enough to dissolve all the vitamin.)
dropper: Use dropper and place 20 drops in each nostril, or
nasal spray: place solution in clean, sterile nasal spray device and apply several fine sprays of the ascorbate solution in each nostril.
ascorbate soaked cotton balls: See this post in our forum for this alternate nasal approach for chronic sinusitis.
Repeat often, perhaps every 15 to 30 minutes for several hours, and then once per hour for 24 hours after all symptoms are gone (to prevent recurrences.) Take Irwin Stone's 2 g dose orally.
The idea behind this technique comes from page 19 of Linus Pauling's book HOW TO LIVE LONGER AND FEEL BETTER (1986 paperback).
"Braenden (1973) reports that administering vitamin C directly into the nasal passage increases the ascorbate concentration in the sinuses to 1000 times that which can be achieved orally. From this we surmise that, 3.1 g (3100 mg) times 1000 might mean that the spray or drops nasally is equivalent to 3 Million milligrams or "units" of Vitamin C orally!
UPDATE 09-22-2002 Feedback on Ascorbate Nasal Spray Interesting idea! Add MSM. UPDATE 06-07-2002
A Foundation member found the ascorbic acid spray a little irritating to the nostril, and made his own colloidal silver nasal spray - with excellent results!
As for the sudafed, if you are not buying it at the pharmacy itself and having to sign for it then it no longer contains pseudo-ephedrine.
