r/AskReddit Mar 05 '15

Quick, what's your fastest cure for the common cold?

http://imgur.com/peQclUt Okay let's do this.

Upvotes

62 comments sorted by

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '15

Whiskey!

u/CuteShibe Mar 05 '15

In the form of a hot toddy. Won't cure the cold, but provides instant relief. Sadly, I can't drink them anymore. I loved alcohol too much.

u/harakerri Mar 05 '15

It appears I'm getting drunk tonight. Yay Wednesday.

u/CuteShibe Mar 05 '15

I hope you're feeling ok today (Thursday) ;)

u/RelevantIrishSongs Mar 05 '15

"It can cure your rheumatism, it can cure a wheezy chest

It can cure you of the gout and gallstones, too

It cures toothache, headache, backache, falling hair and all the rest

Fallen arches, corns and bunions and the flu

For it tastes as sweet as honey as it trickles down your throat

It looks as clean and pure as morning dew

And it can make a fellow sing though he didn't have a note

Won't you try a drop of Paddy Kelly's brew?"

-Tommy Makem

u/harakerri Mar 05 '15

I feel fantastic, BTW.

u/emylime Mar 05 '15

This keeps getting reposted...

u/jwaldo Mar 05 '15

So does the common cold.

source: some fucker reposted it to my nose this weekend.

u/harakerri Mar 05 '15

I'm with you. I can feel it plotting, brewing, grossing...

u/pobody Mar 05 '15

Time

u/aricberg Mar 05 '15

Lots of garlic. Make some chicken noodle soup with lots and lots of garlic!

u/Volatilize Mar 05 '15 edited Mar 05 '15

A healthy dose of 'man the fuck up.'

u/Classington Mar 05 '15

Under 21: Sleeping and chicken noodle soup. 21+: Alcohol and chicken noodle soup.

u/Eternally65 Mar 05 '15

If you take a lot of Vitamin C, rest in bed and drink fluids, you can get rid of it in 7 days or so. Otherwise, it might hang on for a whole week.

u/Dirk-Killington Mar 05 '15

7 days!?!?

u/lasmanitas Mar 05 '15

Lots of rest, warm clear fluids like broth or tea, and a reliable revolver.

u/commentkarmawh0re Mar 05 '15

Rest is much more important than people give it credit for. It's much better to take a day off, sleep a lot, and get back on your feet quickly than to try to tough it out and be miserable for several days.

u/njt002 Mar 05 '15

Gobs and gobs of wasabi.

u/MrBlessup Mar 05 '15

Boil a pot of water with lemon, sea salt, tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil, take it off the boil. Put your head over the pot and place a towel over your head, preventing any of the steam from escaping. Take deep breaths of the steam for about 5 minutes. Also, 5 drops of oil of oregano every 3-4 hours in the early stages of the cold can really head it off. Chaga mushroom tea is overall one of the best immune-boosting items out there.

u/harakerri Mar 05 '15

I'm going to try this when I get home!

u/MythBrains Mar 05 '15

I don't have anything, I just tough it out

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '15

Common heat.

u/nuclear_ferret Mar 05 '15

Death

u/i2pro4u248 Mar 05 '15

Cure to pretty much everything.

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '15

NyQuil, hot shower, masturbation, close your nose and hold your breath with your head tilted back until you need air

u/elegantcanoe Mar 05 '15

Suicide!

u/Not_A_Facehugger Mar 05 '15

Chicken noodle soup, sprite, and sleep.

u/wjbc Mar 05 '15

Tourniquet around the neck.

u/A40 Mar 05 '15

Gunshot to the head.

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '15

I eat a few oranges when I get sick and that usually helps.

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '15

Chicken soup, Dayquil, and Sprite.

u/HermanKenobi Mar 05 '15

Placebos.

It's the only thing scientifically demonstrated to make people think they feel better.

u/harakerri Mar 05 '15

I'll take anything I can get.

u/MeMyselfandBi Mar 05 '15

Yogurt and plenty of vitamin C.

u/harakerri Mar 05 '15

I hate the texture of yogurt. Do you know anything about the drinkable kind? It's that or I mix it with some smoked peppers...

u/MeMyselfandBi Mar 05 '15

There's also the yogurt that comes in the portable pouch that I freeze in the freezer and eat like an Italian ice.

u/harakerri Mar 05 '15

That sounds way more appetizing. Will try.

u/nicolas-- Mar 05 '15

Your mom

u/harakerri Mar 05 '15

I'm going to tell her you said that.

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '15

The uncommon cold

It's got 35% more symptoms and metastasizes

u/harakerri Mar 05 '15

Fight fire with a nuke. I like your style.

u/fearstrikesout Mar 05 '15

peanut m & m's and beer.

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '15 edited Mar 05 '15

Quickest? Suicide.

Most effective too, it'll be the last cold you ever have.

Although, it does tend to limit post-infection plans.

u/SeeYouInBlack Mar 05 '15

Garlic Water.

u/dylan2451 Mar 05 '15

Shot of Tequila. I've never used it, but my mom says so.

u/SinkTube Mar 05 '15

Suicide.

u/cragglerock93 Mar 05 '15

There is none! There might be some things that help alleviate the symptoms though. Sleeping enough and drinking enough are a good start in my own experience, but as for OTC cold medications, they're just expensive alternatives to paracetamol.

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '15

Long hot showers. Like five times a day.

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '15

As soon as I start feeling sick I take vitamin C in the morning and eat a solid breakfast. Then I will go for a run around noon, shower, eat, and then take a nap. If it's a work day I will go for a run right after work, shower, eat, and then sleep.

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '15

Eat a lot of garlic, a raw clove if you can stomach it, drink a lot of green tea, and take really really hot baths with Epsom salts!

u/codeinelord Mar 05 '15

gatorade, marshmallows, and NyQuil

u/You_just_never_know Mar 05 '15

I like to stock up of vitamin C related consumables. I totally overdose myself on the stuff, but that cold backs the hell off

u/Dirk-Killington Mar 05 '15

I cook a pot of the fattiest most delicious shit ever. 1 pound of meticulously seasoned 80/20 ground beef. 1 pound of that awesome white velveeta with peppers. Can of crushed tomatoes with habanero. Eat that shit over the course of the day with frito scoops. Wash it down with a liter of whiskey and a 2 liter of coke.

Gain 5 pounds in the process.

Not a single trace of the cold the next day.

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '15

Depends on the symptoms. If you're congested, drink water, take an expectorant and use a Neti pot. Keep yourself warm by wearing socks, and wash your sheets and blankets. Shower with steamy, warm water. Drink a shit ton of herbal tea, especially if it has ginger, lemon, honey, or chamomile. If your chest is congested, take mucinex and do NOT take nyquil, because nyquil will worsen it (my roommate got bronchitis earlier this year because she'd been taking it, and the doctor told her to stop immediately)

Research medications before you take them.

If my throat is sore then I cook coconut oil, honey, ginger, and lemon juice in a pan to make a "tonic" and I add it to my tea. the coconut oil takes some getting used to but it relieves my sore throat so nicely after a cup or two.

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '15

There is no cure for the common cold. There is a way to decrease the severity of the symptoms while the body fights off the cold virus. Bittersweet has the right idea, in cleaning with anti-bacterial and holistic methods. OTC meds can be used for symptoms experienced accordingly. Because the cold virus mutates often, a cure has yet to be found.

Army Combat Medic 10th MTN DIV, Fort Drum, NY & 278th ACR Special Troops BN, TN 2 Tours OIF

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '15

Oh I almost forgot! Oil of oregano is supposedly magic, and the best thing for a nasty sore/congested throat is drinking a full glass of water with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and a bit of honey. The honey is mostly to improve the taste. I get bad throat infections 4-5 times a year and I've been hospitalized for it, and now when I feel my throat tickling I drink a glass of this and it seems to go away before it gets worse.

u/kjata Mar 05 '15

Vitamin C does nothing for colds. Unless you're exercising vigorously in cold environments, for some reason. There's something to be said for enjoying some orange juice or some of that Naked you got there. Sickness is a time to be hedonistic; you're feeling shitty enough as it is.

The only reliable cure for the common cold is time and allowing your body to do its thing. Certain of the remedies prescribed here are either means of relieving symptoms or simple confirmation-bias placebos.

u/A117MASSEFFECT Mar 05 '15

OJ, Cold Medicine, and a quick work out. Sweat it out of you. P.S, after the cold medicine kicks in, cease the workout. You're going to bumblefuck yourself otherwise.

u/KayRayK Mar 05 '15

The second I think a cold is coming on, I continuously pop some Zicam in my mouth. I have stopped so many colds that way. I usually go through a bottle and a half, just to be safe.

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '15

There is a cure for the cold, get some rest you moron..

u/harakerri Mar 05 '15

No time for that, stupid.