BS: Lingering Head Cold...

Subject: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 07:48 PM

I thought it was just me... Started out as common head cold which usually is done in 5 days... The worst part passed but the sinus is still congested...

Seems I've been hearing a lot of folks out there with similar symptoms...

Any Catters out there suffering???

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: GUEST,999
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 07:51 PM

I am, and you just pissed me off on another thread. To cure the head cold:

1) Do not catch cold
2) If you do, suffer in silence
3) Sympathy is in the dictionary between shit and syphilis

Yer friend, 999.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 07:54 PM

Hey, if ya' can't piss off yer friends now and then then, hey, who can ya' piss off???

I love ya', brucie!!!

B;~)

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: GUEST,999
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 08:06 PM

Backatcha, Bobster. I know where your heart is, and that means more to me than your writings. Always has, always will. You've ever had a kind word for people, and it don't get better than that.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Jeri
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 08:13 PM

I had something that started the night after Thanksgiving (22 Nov). Started as a sore throat, went to the sneezing/nose stuff, went to a minor cough thing. The worst thing about it was that it totally killed my energy, and I'm just now starting to feel like doing anything.

I did not, however, start a thread.

Mainly, I didn't start a thread because I was not jonesing for attention. I considered who'd read my message and came to the conclusion no one really would gave a rat's ass, and I KNOW where one might find sympathy every single time one were to look.

Had I felt better, I might have gone on a worm hunt and made myself a sandwich...

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 08:19 PM

Well, gol danged, Jeri...

Asking folks for a little advice on home remedies ain't exactly trying to get attention...

My situation is that even though I'm kinda in a stabilized situation with congestion that the P-Vine is a tad worse... Going to doctors sometimes ain't the answer... Sometimes folks can help one another...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Charmion
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 08:33 PM

Steam, Bobert.

Fill a large bowl with boiling water and snuff up the steam. If you have some oil of wintergreen about the house, add a drop to the bowl.

If that helps, you might consider moving on to the advanced class: Snuffling Salt Water. This requires a small dish of warm salted water, or you might try a Neti-Pot if you feel the need for purpose-built kit. Close one nostril with your finger, and dip the other into the water, then sniff gently, pulling a little water up into your poor, clogged schnoz. Don't drown. Blow it out into the sink and repeat on the other side. Do this three or four times a day.

Don't forget to clean the sink ...

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Jeri
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 08:37 PM

Sorry. Must have lumped it together with some other stuff you started. It's not something that I'd think to start a thread about, but some suggestions might well enter the realm of "folklore".

Sleeping a lot helped.
Soup helped.
Drink way more water than you feel like drinking.
Also, try not to sniff or blow your nose. Later on, you'll get that viscous snot that's an awful lot like rubber cement and creeps down the back of your throat from your poor sinuses.
Guaifenesin (in cough syrup and that pill whose commercial has a little mucous family and all their friends partying in people's passages until the victim gets wise and takes the pill) works pretty good, but you have to drink water so the stuff can re-hydrate your snot so you can snort it or hack it out.
Netti pots would help, although I've never own one and use the saline spray instead to rinse.

About the only thing you can do is treat whatever symptoms you have, and just generally take care of yourself.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Jack Campin
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 08:38 PM

Lethal Midline Granuloma

a really good selection of causes here

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 08:45 PM

Me??? I slept for two days when I first got it and taking naps every day trying to shake the lingering effects...

The P-Vine??? Sounds like it's movin' into her lungs but she has a history with bronchitis...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: GUEST,999
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 08:54 PM

I agree with CET. Steam, interspersed with 1 1/2 oz shots of rum. Then steam.

Having tried this as a teenager, please believe me when I tell you you can give yourself a serious heat rash if you get pissed and fall face-first in the water. Put your hands in the water. Then you'll look good even as your hands are bandaged.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Jeri
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 08:57 PM

The guaifenesin name-brand I couldn't remember is "Mucinex". It's also in some cough syrups (such as Robitussin), and it's good to not over-dose on the stuff.
My father had chronic bronchitis + emphysema, and back in the 70s, he took a guaifenesin syrup several times every day.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 09:03 PM

Thanks, Jeri... I'll round some up tomorrow for the P-Vine...

Yo, brucie... I don't have any rum but I got moonshine... Will that do???

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: GUEST,999
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 09:13 PM

THAT would deal with our sinuses, for sure.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 09:19 PM

Actually, I am familiar with "Mucinex"... I might even have some stashed around somewhere... I have been using a pill form of generic "nasal decongestant"... And so has the P-Vine... I was just tellin' her that I thought we needed a stronger decongestant...

Mucinex!!!

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Jeri
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 09:56 PM

There's stuff that makes your schozz less stuffy, like sudafed or whatever the non-meth-related stuff that doesn't make you hper substitute is.
There are antihistamines that reduce histamines which cause symptoms
And there are snot-liquifiers (the guaifenesin).

You may find product that have all three and more, such as cough suppressants. You don't have to always use just one of them, but (and OF COURSE I know you know this) read labels. It might make sense to buy some product that has the right combo of things.

Me, I can't take anything (antihistamine) that "dries up" my runny nose. Last time I tried it (after telling the doc I could NOT take it and him telling me to "try") it (friggin' Actifed) worked for about 20 minutes and my nose slammed shut for the rest of the day. Afrin nasal spray does that too. Other people have no problems. Me, it's as if somebody shoved a pair of socks up my nose... with the feet still in them.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 10:02 PM

I can't do antihistamine either, jeri... Stops me up and gives me headaches....Sudifed does that to me...

We'll try the Mucinex... I've done steam... The P-Vine hasn't... I been on her to try it but she hasn't done it... I used to put Vicks Vapo-rub in the water and that worked fairly well... Think I need to buy some of that and try it...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: GUEST,999
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 10:12 PM

WHAT a bunch of winers/whinners/wineers complainers. Jaysus suffering jaysus, relax. Smoke grass. Your sinuses will still be in moderate pain but you won't give a shit! Work with me on this.
9

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Ebbie
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 10:50 PM

"Close one nostril with your finger, and dip the other into the water, then sniff gently, pulling a little water up into your poor, clogged schnoz." Charmion

How does one do this, Charmion? I first read it as dipping one's finger into water and sniffing, but upon re-reading, it sounds like you're saying to dip the other nostril into the water. ?

How? A large shallow basin? I cannot picture this...

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: GUEST,999
Date: 28 Dec 12 - 10:57 PM

Ebs, read my post.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 06:44 AM

Infected sinuses need antibiotics.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Charmion
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 07:27 AM

Close the disengaged nostril with a finger. Dip the other nostril -- not finger -- into your little dish of warm salted water.

I use a little bowl about the size of the palm of my hand.

Yesterday, when I was at the drugstore waiting for a prescription, I whiled away the time perusing the shelves of cold nostrums. Among them I saw a saline aerosol with a long plastic nozzle obviously designed for sluicing the nose -- great idea, if you don't happen to have a little bowl.

If the P-Vine is coming down with bronchitis, she needs to see a doc and get an antibiotic. A sinus infection -- ditto, like Eliza says.

As a practising, card-carrying asthmatic, I consider myself something of a snot guru. The thing you need to do is check the colour of the gunk (disgusting, I know, but there it is). Yellow or green sputum means pus, which means bacterial disease. White or clear sputum means no bacterial disease, but continuing irritation in the bronchi and/or lungs. A constant headache focussed in the forehead and/or around the eyes means infected sinuses.

I have tried syrups with guaifenesin in them, but Mucinex is new to me; perhaps it's not available in Canada. The syrups never do me much good, possibly because the gunk factory in my lungs never lets up.

Now you know everything I know.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Pete Jennings
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 08:18 AM

Go see yer doc!

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: GUEST,concerned
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 10:01 AM

only in america..real men work through it..stop bleedin wingeing!!

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: bobad
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 10:07 AM

A snort of 0.1% Oxymetazoline will unclog those naries forthwith.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Charmion
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 10:08 AM

"Real men" who "work through" a head cold just share it with all the innocent by-standers in their lives.

Not fair! Not fair!

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Ed T
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 10:15 AM

There is a strain of cold (flu) where I reside that has resulted in bacterial Pneumonia.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Ed T
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 11:46 AM

People often confuse flu symptoms with a cold. For those in the USA, the Center for Disease control has a website that tracks and maps confirmed flu cases.

Where I live, (from tracking our countries flu website) type A Flu seems to be what some folks seem to be getting:

Type A flu


This year's flu shot is supposed to protect against this flu. I got the shot, and my spouse did not. IMO, she has had this flu for a week - Luckily, I feel fine.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Bobert
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 11:51 AM

Yup, sounds like H3N2 Flu to me... I was wondering why I have been feeling tired...

The poor P-Vine is worse than me and she got the shot... I didn't because I'd heard that for folks over 60 that they already have anti-bodies for it...

Guess not...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Charmion
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 11:52 AM

I know that germ rather too well, Ed -- it nailed me three weeks before Christmas and I'm only emerging from the bronchitis now.

Of course, I caught it at work.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Jeri
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 12:04 PM

As a general rule, if you don't have a fever of 101° or higher, it's not the flu. Another way to tell influenza from a cold is by throat swabs, but the swabs are used to predict trends for future vaccines, not for patient treatmenet.

Around my neck of the woods (including my own neck), there's a particularly nasty type of cold going around. I'm guessing it's going around elsewhere too.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Leadfingers
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 01:17 PM

The Scariest aspect of the American Non Health system is that because of the cost too many Americans dont go near a Doc until they feel they are at death's door, by which time , too often , they are !
Thank God or whoever for a Health Srtvice that WONT bankrupt me if I go the Doc with what MAY only be a minor ailment .
Hope you get sorted SOONEST Bobert .

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 01:31 PM

The other thing about many in the US is that they don't really live near a doctor. MY HMO happens to be 2 minutes away... walking distance if needed... but so many are MANY miles from a doc or hospital and they treat minor illnesses as a nuisance which is not as bad as a long trip.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 01:40 PM

I know we here in UK knock the NHS sometimes, but really we are so lucky. I can get an appointment with the doctor probably the same day if I suspect an infection of any sort. I would be prescribed antibiotics which are given to me at the in-surgery pharmacy. They'd cost me nothing at all as I'm well over 60. The consultation is free. I can go back again for a final check-up. The surgery is 5 mins away by car. If (touch wood) it turned nasty eg pneumonia, I'd get a free ambulance to be treated free in our spanking new hospital. 'What's not to like?' as they say.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Charmion
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 05:33 PM

Bill has a goodoint. When I first took up with my GP, his office was nice and convenient, across thecstreet from the church and less than five blocks from home. Then he joined a group practice in the west end, a long and nasty bus ride away in a horrid strp mall. By the time I arrive, I'm usually coughing heavily and on the brink of tears.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Ed T
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 05:59 PM

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention flu info:


Seasonal flu

flu activity maps

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 10:52 PM

Seeing / Hearing ... this stuff is dropping into the lungs.

(enjoy your vacation from mudcat ... the rest of us will)

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Bobert
Date: 29 Dec 12 - 10:59 PM

Very strange post, GUEST...

No matter... We will go for the Mucinex tomorrow when we get into town...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Ebbie
Date: 30 Dec 12 - 02:02 PM

Speaking of Mucinex- it works.

I tend not to buy/use things that are highly-hyped and that is certainly true of Mucinex.

However, last winter I had a cold that didn't seem to 'move'; my chest stayed tight and my head ached. So I bought some Mucinex. It loosened my chest almost immediately and I got over the cold almost painlessly.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 30 Dec 12 - 02:40 PM

Bobert, if your sinuses are infected, you probably do need antibiotics - the doc is the one to judge.
When you've got them, you might try a couple of other things:

1) Neilmed make a squeezy plastic bottle that comes with ready mixed saline powder; you boil water, let it cool to tepid, fill the bottle to the fill-up line, add a sachet's-worth of saline powder, shake and then squirt it up your nose. A lot less unpleasant than the other various ways of doing this, and it gives wonderful relief by making the mucous membranes shrink back and clearing out infected gunge. If you suffer from blocked sinuses generally, it's good to use this every day.

2) The trusty hot lemon, honey and ginger (and whiskey if that's your inclination) will help you sweat it out if you take it before bed.

3) L-Lysine is fantastic for any viral infection - it's some class of a vitamin or amino acid or something; you get it in the health shop. Also works brilliantly if you have cold sores.

4) Kimchi, spicy if you can find it spicy, the Korean pickled cabbage is very good against colds. The Koreans also claim it cures Sars and bird flu...

5) Chicken soup is the traditional "Jewish penicillin" for colds; best is to take the bones of a roast chicken, add 3 big carrots, 2 onions, a quarter of a celery plant, chop the veggies roughly and add them in (no need to peel), put bones and veggies in a pot with lots of water and a bay leaf (and whatever other herbs you like), bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of hours. Leave the doors open so the vapour comes through; apparently the vapour of chicken stock has a great effect on the infected mucous membranes. Drain off the stock and make soup with it - if you're not feeling well enough to make your standard soup, just throw in a tin of kimchi into the soup and then gobble it up over a couple of days.

6) If you do get your energy back, make lentil soup with the chicken stock: peel and chop three carrots, garlic to taste, an onion and a bit of celery, and a couple of handfuls of lentils, and cook them in butter, turning to coat them. Add a bay leaf and pour on the stock, and I like to add one of those jelly type chicken stockpot thingies that Knorr have started making. Bring it to a simmer and keep it simmering until the carrots are almost soft; now add about half a cup of chopped parsley. You can whizz this up or leave the vegetables whole - nice either way. Also nice with a squeeze of lemon juice, and very, very nice served with cheesy wholewheat scones.

7) Get lots of rest, keep warm and snug, and get better soon.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: gnu
Date: 31 Dec 12 - 06:25 AM

SinuCleanse.

hydraSense

I make a solution of salt water (plus baking soda is what my ENT recommends. At the first inkling of cold or flu, I use the squeze bottle and then the SinuCleanse (ENT recommended) upon waking and then every two hours. I also gargle with salt water after these. Ground ginger with a teaspoon of honey as required.

Steam is the only way to "get at" the lungs and the above posts are excellent regarding steam. Especially 9's safety tip.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: kendall
Date: 01 Jan 13 - 05:13 AM

Real orange juice and zinc. Take at the first hint of a cold. Works for me.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 01 Jan 13 - 10:48 AM

Yes, I have a cold like that.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: gnu
Date: 28 Sep 14 - 01:24 PM

Good thread. Last cold I had was about 1998. Caught in the hospital. Caught this one in my house showing a contractor some pics on Facebook. After he coughed for about the 6th time, I asked him if he had a cold. Yup. I told him he should go pic the apples in the yard that he asked about (deer season looms). Apparently, I didn't ask about his cold quick enough.

I've been at the salt water and vitamin C. It ain't bad and it only slightly started yesterday so we'll see how it goes.

So... anyone got any more home, or otherwise, remedies?

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: maeve
Date: 28 Sep 14 - 01:37 PM

Besides good suggestions above, sage/savory/thyme tea with honey and lemon is good. Feel better soon.
m

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Monique
Date: 28 Sep 14 - 01:53 PM

Rub good old Vicks Vaporup on your feet soles and put socks on -usually done before going to bed.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: gnu
Date: 28 Sep 14 - 01:56 PM

Thanks! I like ginger and honey for the throat. I dunno where the Vicks is... must be some aboutst.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: GUEST,Rahere
Date: 28 Sep 14 - 04:41 PM

Too late now. I have kept my fruit and veg up, daughter gave me the usual change-of-seasons cold yesterday, it's already gone. She's still feeling like shit. The rest are simply feelgood: the virus triggers excess mucus, which traps bacteria. Keep your teeth brushed, drink more to dissolve the mucus, amd invest in paper products.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Jack Campin
Date: 28 Sep 14 - 07:24 PM

Something new to worry about:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2709686/From-symptoms-common-cold-bleeding-ears-eyes-What-happens-infected-Ebola-virus

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Feb 23 - 06:19 PM

Mine has only lingered for three days and I am already SO over it.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Feb 23 - 07:00 PM

You're lucky. I hardly ever catch colds, but this winter has been a right bugger. I don't know whether I've had about four colds since October or just one big one, but Kleenex are making a bloody fortune out of me. It seems, to use the common parlance, that "there's a lot of it around." The received wisdom is that two winters of lockdowns has made our immune systems forget what to do. Anyway, back to the tissue box. My nostrils can't decide which one of them is going to be blocked all night tonight...

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Feb 23 - 07:01 PM

Have made, dammit. Atishoo....

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Feb 23 - 08:03 PM

I haven't had a cold in three years which is odd.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Helen
Date: 25 Feb 23 - 09:05 PM

No, me neither Donuel. I think it is due to social distancing, hand sanitisers and using disinfectant wipes if necessary before touching surfaces (in the public area) which may have been touched by someone else. The masks would have helped too, when we still had to wear them.

I intend to continue using the first three cautionary actions from now on, regardless of the status of the dreaded COVID.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Feb 23 - 06:26 AM

I suppose there's not much point socially distancing simply to avoid colds, though it's a bonus if it avoids covid. Most people round here don't bother any more. I never touch a supermarket trolley handle that I haven't disinfected first and I guess I'll be doing that forever. But I can't sanitise every one of upwards of maybe fifty items that I pick up from the shelves. I never touch my face or rub my eyes until I get back to the hand sanitiser in my car (I suppose I could put the sanitiser in my pocket...). Some supermarkets have quietly ceased to provide sanitiser at the entrance. On the whole, I think that's a backward step. Before the pandemic, the main concern was poo traces on trolley handles. One survey I recall found over 50% of handles thus contaminated.

Almost all gents' toilets here have a door handle that you have to pull in order to leave, and that has to come after you've washed your hands. Not good. Strong pinkie needed, and a pull on the handle at its top...

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 26 Feb 23 - 08:43 AM

When I was using hand sanitiser regularly, I found that the skin at the side of my fingernails dried up and cracked at the corners, leading to painful open wounds which took ages to clear up. A simple task, such as slicing a lemon, left me in excruciating agony to the point where I started wondering if catching Covid would really be that bad.

I will use hand sanitiser if I think the situation warrants it but soap and water is my preferred option.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 26 Feb 23 - 09:11 AM

”I will use hand sanitiser if I think the situation warrants it but soap and water is my preferred option.”

Mine too, followed by an application of ‘Lotil’ hand cream, which keeps the skin hydrated and supple, and prevents the sore, open cracks in the skin at the corners of the nails.

On another topic, I see Johnson has been opening his big mouth and putting his foot in it again…

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-biden-brexit-eu-deal-row-b2289792.html

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Feb 23 - 09:18 AM

I've noticed rest room doors are being updated with a fore arm L shaped handle that is higher than a door knob.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Charmion
Date: 26 Feb 23 - 10:25 AM

As usual at this point of the winter, I have rubbed the tip of my nose raw. It won’t heal up till Easter.

Bugger it.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Feb 23 - 10:33 AM

Too many of the commercial washroom dispenser and general consumer bar soaps have the sodium lauryl sulfate type (there is a group of related products) foaming ingredient and those are what make my hands break out (a coconut allergy - contact dermatitis). The hand sanitizer works better (though I often use a towel to dry any extra rather than letting it evaporate in place.)

The social distancing of COVID has been a great way to help avoid colds. I have enough trouble with pollen allergies during the year, I don't need extra sources of congestion.

Scroll down at that link to find the list of things to avoid if it's a problem.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Feb 23 - 10:37 AM

Point taken about sanitisers and split skin down the side of the nails. I've been getting that all winter and hadn't connected it to sanitiser. I'll have to have a rethink...

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Feb 23 - 10:48 AM

"A simple task, such as slicing a lemon, left me in excruciating agony..."

No problem, Doug. Just drop the slice of lemon into a gin and tonic, drink it quickly and you won't feel a thing after five minutes...

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 26 Feb 23 - 11:12 AM

Or, if you can't get lemons, a slice of turnip in your g&t.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Mrrzy
Date: 26 Feb 23 - 11:49 AM

The only lingering thing from my mild covid case is snot. One sinus keeps draining, one nostril keeps stuffing up, one lung keeps needing clearing. All on my left side.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 27 Feb 23 - 10:03 AM

Dorothy, if you do meet up for lunch, please wish Charmion "bonne route" from me. I did not rise early enough to give her a call before her departure.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 27 Feb 23 - 10:04 AM

Damn! Wrong thread.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Stanron
Date: 27 Feb 23 - 10:45 AM

It's interesting that since I started to take a small amount of chilli flakes in my coffee I have not been bothered by persistent blocked nose. I do however have a lot of runny nose incidents.

Connected? Maybe and maybe not. For the last year I have been sleeping in a reclining chair so my head is always somewhat upright.

Last night I added some chilli flakes to a cup of hot chocolate. Very nice.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 01 Mar 23 - 09:11 AM

Well I've got another stinkin' cold and, for the first time in my life, I have a lovely dose of conjunctivitis to go with it. The pharmacist gave me antibiotic drops, but as the thing is usually caused by viruses, they probably won't work. All is misery...

Say one for me...

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Mar 23 - 09:21 AM

Maybe it is a lingerie head cold.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 01 Mar 23 - 10:01 AM

Have a mushroom.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Mar 23 - 10:17 AM

Have a Brexit Biscuit
.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Mar 23 - 10:20 AM

One fell off the table and killed a friend of mine.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: leeneia
Date: 01 Mar 23 - 03:07 PM

I'm sorry to hear about your illness, Steve. I hope you get better soon.

A few years ago, I had a cold that would not go away. Cold, cough, then earache, then lingering cough. Finally the urgent care place referred me to a doc who said, "It's been raining. You have allergies." He gave me an injection which really, really hurt, but my cough was gone within hours.

I'm not saying I had allergies the whole time. It definitely started out as a cold.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 01 Mar 23 - 06:09 PM

Much appreciated, leeneia. I'm a-sittin' here tonight with a rotten cold (slowly subsiding), a toothache (caused by biting too hard on a very solid flame raisin in a box of breakfast cereal), and a nice dose of the owld pink-eye, aka conjunctivitis (the drops are working...). BUT: I only get things that you can't die of, it's Wednesday, therefore I have a glass of Negroamaro to hand, and "It's the first mild day of March: Each moment sweeter than before, The Redbreast sings from the tall larch, That stands beside our door..." (cheers, Wordsworth). Though, in my case, it will have to be my bird table, as I haven't got a larch...

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Donuel
Date: 02 Mar 23 - 09:35 AM

Beethoven was sick most of his life

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Mar 23 - 10:27 AM

Which doesn't link to anything to do with Beethoven (who wasn't sick for most of his life). I should know better than to click on your links.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Senoufou
Date: 02 Mar 23 - 11:39 AM

So sorry Steve that you're not well. Hope you get better very soon.
My husband always suffers badly from hay-fever every year, but just now he's started sneezing and snuffling rather early. I'm wondering if the unusually warm, sunny weather has brought some tree pollen or other pollen into the air. There are lots of hazel catkins out around here, and maybe it's that. Piriton/Piritese at the ready!
(It's not Covid, as he has to test himself twice a week, being a school cleaner, and the tests are always negative.)

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Mar 23 - 05:34 PM

My eighth day with this head cold.
Am now coming out the other side of the tunnel, as it were.
Sleeping better for it.
It's just the waking hours, drinking fluids and clearing out the sinuses, that are still a drag.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Mar 23 - 05:38 PM

Cheers, Eliza. I don't actually feel poorly, but it's just that I could benefit from a head transplant... ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Donuel
Date: 02 Mar 23 - 05:50 PM

Beethoven Suffered from Lead Poisoning New tests confirm that Ludwig van Beethoven suffered from lead poisoning. The legendary composer, who experienced decades of illness that left him in misery for most of his life, died in 1827. Researchers aren't sure why his lead levels were so high, but they have some ideas.Dec 6, 2005

The wine at that time was leaded.

ARE Irainian girls being POISONED? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/1/why-are-schoolgirls-being-mysteriously-poisoned-in-iran

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Mar 23 - 06:16 PM

"New tests confirm..." Yeah, classic weasel words, no backup. Do your homework. Beethoven died at the age of 57, an age not out of order for his time, and was known to be a big wine drinker. Yes he was ill with several different ailments for several years before he died, including stomach disorders and kidney disease, but there is no definitive evidence that he suffered from symptoms of lead poisoning or died of it. The trouble is that you find a single source that suits your agenda then regale us with it as though it's the unalloyed truth, your typical modus operandi. The real truth is that the causes of his ailments and his death are still very much disputed, as a quick google would demonstrate to you.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Helen
Date: 02 Mar 23 - 06:20 PM

Pot calling kettle black, Steve: "The trouble is that you find a single source that suits your agenda then regale us with it as though it's the unalloyed truth, your typical modus operandi."

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Mar 23 - 06:26 PM

Really? Go on, give me an example! As I've only just posted that, you couldn't have spent long researching my misdemeanours, could you, Helen? A bit kneejerk, eh? :-)

By the way, I could suggest that you do the same googling as I recommended to Donuel, lest you find that you are making a fool of yourself by supporting his Beethoven nonsense!

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Mar 23 - 07:42 PM

I sometimes get a bit overwhelmed by mozzie bites in summer, Eliza (horsefly bites don't bother me). I hate putting on repellent, that's the trouble, especially the only one that seems to work (DEET). Last summer I bought some of that Piriton stuff you mentioned, thinking that it would calm down the bites while I was in bed. It worked a treat, but it also turned me into a 12-hour zombie! I found that the two weaker ones, ceterizine and loratidine, did the trick and gave me a good night's kip. I'm not recommending anything here, as we're all different and we shouldn't be handing out medical advice, just responding to your mention of Piriton!

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Mar 23 - 02:40 AM

Steve, my husband gets the same effects as you do from Piriton - it turns him into a dozy zombie. My (doctor) sister has recommended many alternatives, but they all seem to make him very sleepy.
When in Africa, I too have been eaten alive by mozzies, and I can't stand bloomin' Deet either! At least I take the usual anti-malarials (Malarone tablets) and have never had malaria.
Husband can't seem to sneeze quietly ("AAAAAAACHOOOOOOOOO!") and his poor nose, (which is flat and small with very open nostrils, like all Africans) just lets in the pollen very easily. He had no contact with tree/grass pollen before he came to the UK, so it's hit him hard.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Mar 23 - 04:24 AM

Well I have a typical Lancashire nose and I can't sneeze at less than 130 decibels!

I'm glad you said that about those so-called "non-drowsy" antihistamines - Mrs Steve thinks I'm a wimp because they invariably knock me for six. That's fine as long as I take them not too long before bedtime...

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Mar 23 - 06:01 AM

Jet engines are 100 decibels so you are indeed a blow hard at 130.

Ah its getting late, the sun will soon be up and my procrastination posting time is running out. You on the other hand have all day to protest too much.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 03 Mar 23 - 12:44 PM

Mosquitos and suchlike seem to like the smell of people with certain blood groups. Herself always get bit, while I have no trouble. I've suggested before now that she should change her blood group, but she ain't 'avin' it for some reason.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Mar 23 - 12:47 PM

Not personal, eh, so what's this then:

"Jet engines are 100 decibels so you are indeed a blow hard at 130.

Ah its getting late, the sun will soon be up and my procrastination posting time is running out. You on the other hand have all day to protest too much.

That's as personal as it gets. Now either shut up or stick to the thread, right? Just a suggestion...

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Mar 23 - 12:58 PM

Oops, my iPad went doolally...

I was trying to say that I get bitten to smithereens by horseflies, aka clegs, every summer round here, but the nasty little itchy lumps go away in about five or ten minutes. On the other hand, Mrs Steve suffers miseries with them for hours if not days. But the bloody mozzies...

You can buy little tubes of hydrocortisone bite 'n' stings cream in supermarkets these days. Not bad. Anthisan doesn't work for me at all, and it stinks!

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Donuel
Date: 03 Mar 23 - 05:32 PM

People who eat bananas appeal to mosquitos. COs is a magnet to mosquitos.
Steve quote   "Not personal, eh, so what's this then:

"Jet engines are 100 decibels so you are indeed a blow hard at 130.
(that was a joke similar to yours)

Ah its getting late, the sun will soon be up and my procrastination posting time is running out. You on the other hand have all day to protest too much.



That's as personal as it gets. Now either shut up or stick..Steve quote

Dear Mr. Shaw,
It's not personal, it is business. It is the business of Authoritarianism or the authoritarian personality. One must always remember that the bully suffers such low self esteem/worth that they gain some small satisfaction by trying to take others down to the hellish level of the bully's tortured soul. It is not a delusion of grandeur that drives the bully. It is a self-hatred and envy that poisons their words and actions.

The ammunition of the bully is personified by the Trump rhetoric.
The name calling, accusations, nicknames and the claims of massive evidence that doesn't exist are the small arms weapons of the bully.
The heavy arms and armor are lawsuits and ability to cause harm financially as well as socially.

The spectrum of this pathological behavior ranges from those who believe it is expected of them to the Stalin-Hitler examples.

One might think that the social psychopath causes more destruction but in terms of quantity, destructive interaction mostly comes from the tortured envy of the narcissist. Psychopathic or psychotic serial killers are far more rare phenomenon.

Taking any of narcissist's bile to heart is a victory for them.
In the larger scheme of sticks and stones a bully is a force of nature like a fart in the wind,
If you have the sniffles you won't even smell it.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Mar 23 - 05:37 PM

Go and see someone. .

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Mar 23 - 06:32 PM

Anyway, back on the rheumy misery front, the conjunctivitis has responded nicely to the chloramphenicol drops, but the damn things are giving me stinging eyes and a sore nose and throat, and I'm still utterly bunged up on the sinus front. Woe is me. But O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? :-) :-) :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 06:41 AM

Terrible night. All sinuses and other head passages above the chest, totally blocked. The pain across the bridge of my nose and around my eye sockets, legendary. Nostrils red raw. A throat that feels like I've spent the night gargling with gravel. Sneezing for England. This is no lingering head cold. This is me lingering around a severe rheumy purge. If this isn't man flu, I don't know what is. Kleenex share prices have doubled. I need everyone to feel sorry for me please. I comfort myself with the fact that it's yet another ague that I (hopefully) can't die of. Just be grateful that viruses can't transmit across the internet. My mum would have told me to offer it up for the holy souls. They can just bugger off as far as I'm concerned. They should have behaved better while they were here. Purgatory is the here and now.

Oh woe.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 07:48 AM

Get tested

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Charmion
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 07:50 AM

Oh, Steve! You have my deepest sympathy, and even a prayer to St. Roch (patron of the sore throat).

Been there, didn’t like it either, got the scars to prove it.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 08:38 AM

Get tested, eh? So what supernatural power have you obtained that informs you that I'm not testing? Are you actually capable of making interventions that aren't completely stupid?

Cheers, Charmion. I could use some fresh air but it's horribly chilly here and a sudden change in temperature just gets me hacking away! In the words of the Lord (or at least the Bible writer who made it up...), this too shall pass (or was it a Persian bloke...)

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 08:53 AM

Get well sooner or later.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Stanron
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 09:33 AM

For short term relief only try seven, or more if you dare, chilli flakes on your tongue. Keep them there as long as possible.

If it doesn't work blame Brexit.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 09:42 AM

Stay tuned for Rebrexit.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 11:44 AM

Chilli works with everything. I'm making arrabbiata tonight and I don't hold back with the chilli. That might help. Plus the gentle ruby-coloured anaesthetic that come in 75cl bottles...

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Charmion
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 02:52 PM

You’re lucky the affliction isn’t messing with your ability to enjoy wine.

My pre-Christmas bout of COVID put me on the wagon for three weeks. Red wine tasted particularly noxious.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 05:36 PM

Well I might not be getting the full aroma to my olfactory bulbs, but I get over it... Come on, Charmion, it's SATURDAY!!

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Charmion
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 09:11 PM

Indeed.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Mar 23 - 10:15 PM

Coming in on this really late - would this be RSV that you're experiencing? There is a test for it.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Senoufou
Date: 05 Mar 23 - 02:42 AM

Aaaaagh! Don't mention chillies to me! Since husband moved back in with me (which I'm very happy about of course) he's continuing to cook his fiery hot African sauces, with every chilli imaginable in, including Scotch bonnets. The aroma in our kitchen makes me choke, so how he manages to eat the bloomin' stuff is beyond me. He must have an asbestos mouth.
He's now resorted to putting Vic on his upper lip before he goes to sleep, which he says helps his breathing during the night.
I still think it's the pollen in the hazel catkins which are all over our area of Norfolk. Poor bloke, it must be awful to have the sniffles all the time.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 05 Mar 23 - 07:50 AM

RSV? I suppose it could be, but if it is I think I just have to wait for it to go away. Most of my issues are from my throat up. Mrs Steve puts it all down to the fact that I belong to the weaker sex (but you know me, I'll always fight back, so I accuse her of being a carrier - heheh...)

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 07 Mar 23 - 08:33 PM

Yet to turn the corner with this damned lurgy, and to add to my woes I've had the mother and father of two nosebleeds today. However, we have tickets for "Seven Drunken Nights - The Story of the Dubliners" at the Hall for Cornwall in Truro (a bit of a drive from here) tomorrow evening. I'll croak my way through it, I'm sure. We're taking our daughter with us - she's seen it before and thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread. I've always been a big fan of their songs, especially when Luke was with them. Malheureusement, my daughter is insisting that we dine at Pizza Express first. The last time I went to one of those, I was served up a "sloppy Giuseppe," which was not like any pizza I've encountered before. The central crust was at least 1/4" thick and was doughy, with no charred edges. If that was a pizza then I'm Charlie Chaplin. A travesty in m'humble. They'll be putting pineapple on pizza next and shoving cream in carbonara, the charlatans. Never mind. I'll secrete some Rennies in my cargo pant pockets...

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: keberoxu
Date: 12 Mar 23 - 10:31 AM

Lingering crud in the back of the sinuses,
so far back it is closer to the throat than the nostrils.
This stuff takes forever to clear out,
at least without that one cough formula.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Ebbie
Date: 12 Mar 23 - 11:38 PM

Steve Shaw, try this: With your thumbs press deep into the flesh of the middle of your cheekbones, pushing against the bones (it will hurt) then tip your head back toward the ceiling for a minute -or less -; your head and sinuses will feel better.

It works for me. ymmv

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Mar 23 - 10:39 AM

There is a rumor that food is medicine. With your diet what's next, gout?

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Mar 23 - 11:30 AM

The cold has almost gone (cheers, Ebbie, I'll try that) but the other day I completely shellacked an already shaky tooth* and today it had to come out. 65 quid and half my face a dribbling wreck. On top of that, I had a funeral this morning (a lovely old boy who used to come to our Memory Café), and, on top of THAT, Liverpool are going to get drubbed out of the Champions League tonight.

I'm having a kip now. Don't cross me, right?

*A dire warning to Brits: do NOT eat Jordan's Country Crisp with flame raisins. The raisins are almost as hard as date stones, which I didn't know. I do now. Just one unsuspecting bite on one of those is what demolished my tooth. Avoid!

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Mar 23 - 03:04 PM

Husband has had a blocked nose and sniffles for several days, which I thought might be early hay-fever. But this morning he decided to test himself for Covid (He'd kept a box of tests in his drawer) It turned out positive! But the school where he's a cleaner asked him to go in anyway to do cleaning! I think this is quite wrong. He's there while the staff and pupils are still present.
However, he came home early, feeling too tired and poorly. They've asked him to go back yet again this evening to lock up the building.
My doctor sister said he should be self-isolating. I hope I don't catch the bloomin' thing from him!
We'd had all possible jabs, but I think this might be a new mutation.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Senoufou
Date: 26 Mar 23 - 10:51 AM

Well, I've got it now. I feel very poorly -my husband has tested me, and I'm positive. I fainted this morning when I got up, and fell onto the bed. We both feel terrible. I hope this will be short-lived.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: keberoxu
Date: 26 Mar 23 - 01:43 PM

Oh, Senoufou, that's just awful.
Will your husband have to isolate because of close contact with you, having tested positive?

Do what you may to take good care of yourself,
and let us know what happens.
After all, even if you have to stay in the house,
you have always got us to talk with.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Charmion
Date: 26 Mar 23 - 06:40 PM

Get well soon, Sen, you and your husband both!

Yes, it's quite wrong that he’s being summoned to work, germs and all.

I caught COVID in December, after five jabs, and was very sick for three weeks. I assume that it would have sent me to hospital, if not the grave, but for the jabs.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Mar 23 - 06:48 PM

A well-known department store in the UK, no names but the one which used to sell St Michael garb, told its staff to go to work anyway despite positive lateral flow tests as long as they felt well enough. Gawd, I dunno...

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Charmion
Date: 26 Mar 23 - 09:17 PM

“Well enough”?

My definition of “well enough” begins with testing negative.

I’m so glad I don’t have to work retail any more.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Senoufou
Date: 27 Mar 23 - 02:46 AM

Thank you for your good wishes. Husband is getting better, with just a rather blocked nose. But I am really quite ill. I kept fainting yesterday, and husband had to pick me up off the carpet!
I think it's quite wrong of his work to demand that he goes in. This Covid could make someone vulnerable very ill indeed. I'm staying in bed for now, gasping and blacking out.
My sister said I should feel better in a week or so.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 27 Mar 23 - 06:25 AM

Best of health, Senoufou.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Senoufou
Date: 27 Mar 23 - 07:22 AM

Thank you MaJoc the Filk. My sister says to stop taking my blood-pressure tablets, as they are making my BP drop too far, which is why I'm fainting. She mentioned 'vasodilation due to the Covid'.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 27 Mar 23 - 07:55 AM

Yeah, get well soon! I hear there's a lot more of it about in the Westcountry. I've endured upper respiratory lurgy after lurgy all winter but have tested negative every time so far. And this has been the worst March I can ever remember - except for today's sunshine, but it isn't lasting.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: keberoxu
Date: 30 Mar 23 - 06:02 PM

I do hate it when the Mudcat goes walkabout,
as it did yesterday.

Wishing Senoufou/Eliza a steady recovery, regardless of its speed.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Senoufou
Date: 31 Mar 23 - 03:26 AM

We've both tested negative (which seems very speedy to me!) and my husband is still rather bunged-up in his nasal passages. He never uses paper tissues, and is getting through literally dozens of cotton hankies! I cough a bit during the night, but am able to do housework during the day, and am not nearly so weak.
Hopefully this is the end of the bloomin' virus, but I suppose it could mutate into another variant. They can't keep vaccinating the population every few weeks, we'd have arms full of holes!
Thank you for all your kind wishes.

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Apr 23 - 07:03 PM

So glad to hear that Senoufou is now testing negative
and, more importantly, feeling stronger and able to do more.
Keep up the good work!

Subject: RE: BS: Lingering Head Cold...
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Apr 23 - 03:06 AM

Thank you so much keberoxu. We've had a lovely weekend zooming around our area of Norfolk, having nice cups of tea and doing our supermarket shopping. Husband has two weeks' holiday from his school cleaning (Easter end of term), and I can see he's going from strength to strength. One of his brothers, Nana, and two sisters Hazara & Fatmata have been messaging him, rather worried of course. He's reassured them, and all is well. I'm feeling completely normal now (Husband jokingly says I'm never really 'normal', hee hee)
I think it's prudent if people keep some lateral flow tests in the house to check if they've caught the Lurgy. The symptoms are very like a nasty head cold.