Are you one to run for the medicine cabinet the second some sniffles start? Before you hit that next bottle of Tylenol Cold and Flu, try a few home remedies. You may be surprised how well they work.
Take a Natural Antiviral. Garlic and grapefruit seed extract both have antiviral and antibacterial agents. Try mincing a clove of garlic and swallowing it every two hours. If you get grapefruit seed extract in liquid form, you can slip some into your children's orange juice. But be warned, the stuff tastes wretched.
Take Vitamin C. Already taking it? Swallow more. Try upping your dose to at least 8000mg per day. Megadoses of Vitamin C can cure cold and flu symptoms. (When given intravenously, vitamin C as even been effective in killing cancer cells. That's how strong this stuff is.) Personally, I take 1000mg of Vitamin C about six times a day. This dosage is six times stronger than the recommended daily dose of 1000mg. Vitamin C isn't one of those things you can take to much of. However much of the vitamin you can force yourself to swallow, do it.
Jump on a trampoline. Yes, I'm serious. Jumping on a trampoline uses gravity to drain your lymph nodes and even your ears. This doesn't serve as an instant cure-all for your stuffy head, but it will bring temporary relief. As soon as you feel your ears begin to clog, start jumping on one of those little jogging trampolines. I jump several times a day for about fifty times per set.
Take honey for a cough. Believe it or not, my pediatrician is the one who recommends this treatment. She claims studies show that one teaspoon of honey three times per day is more effective than the cough medication on the market. While I don't claim to be a bio-statistician and understand how all these medical studies work, the practical side of me realizes that using honey is a lot cheaper! Plus getting a four year old to swallow honey is a lot easier than pouring cough syrup down his throat.
I hope you find these little tips useful the next time a cold arrives.
