how I cured the common cold


In my life I used to get a lot of colds. You know the symptoms: sore throat, sneezing, nasal and chest congestion, misery. The misery can last for days, weeks or even months.

Now, I get fewer colds and they go away faster, usually with less severe symptoms. Sometimes, I can stop the cold dead in its tracks--before it becomes a full-fledged cold. How do I do this? How do I cure the common cold?

First of all, how do you get colds? I am not a medical professional so my answer(s) are my own personal opinion, based on my own personal experience. (I am NOT rendering any medical advice here, I am only putting forth my own thoughts and actions). The most common way I used to catch a cold is, I believe, from personal contact with a person (or a surface) that has active cold germs or the cold virus (or whatever a cold is). Contagious people and surfaces then infect me and I catch the cold. How do I cure the common cold when I get one? Here are my rules to prevent, or treat, a cold, minimize the symptoms, and make it go away ...

Rule #1: Avoid people, especially if they have a cold. I try to avoid crowds during cold season. I also try to avoid school children whenever and wherever possible during cold season. Kids are notorious for going to school, catching a cold from another child, and then bringing it home and infecting their parent(s). The sick contagious parents then go to work (because they have to or because they're stupid) and infect people at work, who in turn come home and infect family and friends, who then infect others they come into contact with. This is the "multiplier effect" and serves to effectively transmit contagious colds throughout the society. Rule 1b: if you're sick, and contagious, stay home!

Rule #2: at the FIRST sign of a cold, I start treating it! If I begin to have even a little sore throat, I run for the medicine cabinet. If I sneeze three times within a minute, I run for the medicine cabinet. What's in my medicine cabinet that I use to treat colds? In my medicine cabinet I have only one over-the-counter cold remedy. That remedy is zinc. It's a brand name zinc lozenge. Some over-the-counter medications do contain chemicals that make you drowsy. If I have a cold but need to function I can't afford to be sleepy. And some over-the-counter cold remedies contain potentially dangerous chemicals, chemicals like pseudoephedrine, chemicals that have been linked to causing heart attacks. Not wanting to have a heart attack and die by treating my common cold, I use only zinc lozenges, brand name zinc lozenges. When I recently caught a cold (the start of a sore throat, nasal congestion) I grabbed my zinc lozenges right away and took one. Here's what happened. Over the next four days, I took the zinc lozenges as directed and my cold symptoms were minimal. My symptoms did not interfere with my normal functioning yet I knew I was sick and knew I had a cold--I just didn't have ANY miserable symptoms. In fact, thanks to the zinc lozenges, I barely had any symptoms at all. After four days, I stopped taking the zinc, because my cold was gone! I have used this method for a number of years and the last 6-7 times I caught a cold, I have had the same or similar results.

Rule #3: Give the cold away. When I do begin to catch a cold I try to give it to someone. I might shake hands with someone (a good way to get and give a cold) or kiss a pretty woman, or in some other way make contact with someone with a contagious part of my body. Preferably, I try to give my cold away to someone I don't like. That gives me a goodly number of potential recipients. I have found that giving my cold away to someone else is a good way to get rid of it ... and the person I give it to. Plus, every time I have infected someone else with my cold I seem to get better, or get rid of my cold, almost immediately. Yes, I am kidding about giving your cold away. No, I'm not.

Rule #4: I monitor my symptoms. If I find my symptoms do get severe, or don't lessen over time, or I notice non-normal common cold symptoms, I call my doctor, or go to the Emergency Room. Why? Because I am not a doctor and do not know the difference between the common cold and pneumonia, or bronchitis, or Ebola or some weird viral disease that can kill me. I monitor my symptoms and, if really sick, I seek immediate medical help. It's better to be safe than sorry! Or dead.

That is how I cure the common cold when I catch one. Or, if I can't avoid it, or can't cure it, I can hopefully minimize it, by following these rules. Thanks to these rules, and because I live a relatively no-fun healthy lifestyle, catching a cold is usually no big deal for me. To recap, here are the rules:

Rule #1: Avoid people, especially if they have a cold

Rule 1b: If you are sick, and contagious, STAY HOME!


Rule #2: At the FIRST sign of a cold, start treating it

Rule #3: Give the cold to someone

Rule #4: Monitor the symptoms

Catching a cold isn't exactly a fun party but it doesn't have to be a week or more of complete misery either. Following my 4 rules, I can usually avoid getting a cold, kill it quickly if I do get one, or at least minimize it to being a minor inconvenience.

Following my 4 Rules, that's how I cure the common cold. After a lifetime of suffering from a cold I cured it, I cured the common cold, at least for myself.