10 Cold and Flu Home Remedies

Apple Cider Vinegar, Cayenne

Posted by Mememe (USA) on 06/03/2012

Glad you are feeling better. Just want to point out that if it took you another 7 days to feel better... It might just have been whatever it was running its course. It would be kind of hard to say it was the prescriptions if it took that long to go away I would think. (mo) Just a thought.

Onion

Posted by Bjjohns (Cadillac, Michigan, Usa) on 07/14/2011
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

When I was growing up and I would get a bad cold, she would cut up an onion and sprinkle a generous amount of sugar over the slices. I would take a tespoon several times a day and by the next day or two my cold would be gone. To this day doctors cannot cure the common cold and this still works. Beats all the new drugs they try to put on you that harm the liver, heart, kidneys and more in my humble opinion:)

Fasting

Posted by Randy (Jersey City, Nj, Usa) on 02/15/2011

I respectfully disagree, organicmama. I've had great results fasting for 1-4 days on various occasions. specific to colds and flus, I occasionally lose my appetite at the beginning, and that is the cue for me to take a short fast. shortens the duration of the illness. unless there is malnutrition involved, the body has plenty of energy stores. a short fast clears out toxins and sets the body to 'reset'. additionally, nothing helps my ibs problem more.

Turmeric

Posted by Velvetnap (NY) on 10/23/2010
★★★★★

I just got over the worst cold/flu that I've had in years: think gallons of snot, sore throat, cough, fever/chills. Turmeric saved the day. I tried the tomato juice remedy and it definitely took the edge off, but I didn't really consistently get better until I added turmeric to the recipe.

Basically, my recipe is (makes enough for 1 day):
2 small or 1 large clove of smashed fresh garlic
1 rounded teaspoon of ground turmeric (organic works better, I tried),
As much cayenne as you can handle without burning yourself. You want it to really heat you up but not burn your stomach.
2 teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar

Simmer those ingredients on the stove in as much water as you would like cups of the brew. 2 or 3 works well. Then sip, gargle and steam your face with the hot brew as you go. You can always dilute if it's too strong. THIS REALLY WORKS. Keep in mind that cayenne and garlic both are stimulating and can actually make you irritated or angry, no kidding; so be aware of that. The turmeric will work wonders on it's own but best with some amount of all three.

I also sipped 1-2 teaspoon of Apple Cider Vinegar in a large glass of water 2x/day. way better than nasal decongestant. Amazing. (you can skip it in the recipe if you do this)

I've basically completely recovered from the cold but am still taking the tumeric to help with chronic issues that I have. This stuff is amazing, something about producing white blood cells. Feel better! Earth Clinic Rocks!! Chris

Garlic

Posted by Diane (San Jose, Ca) on 11/09/2009
★★★★★

Eating raw garlic shortened my cold to about 2-3 days. On a Thursday morning, I woke up with an awful sore throat and congestion. By Friday evening it had become a full blown cold, so I went to this site to look for remedies. I decided to try the raw garlic by mincing up 3 cloves and eating it in a tortilla with cream cheese. This was just my way of making it palatable to eat. The only side effect was garlic breath, so you might want to eat it at night. By the next morning my sore throat was better and my congestion was minimal. That evening I was able to go out and felt almost better. My cold ended up lasting from Thursday morning until midday Saturday, which is about 2 1/2 days. Usually I have symptoms for up to a week, so this was amazing. I also advise taking lots of vitamin C. The best part is I did not even need cold medicine at all! Very natural and inexpensive.

Onion

Posted by Gabriela (Pahoa, HI) on 05/06/2009
★★★★★

I am very excited to share some thoughts on the cause and instant cure for a cold. I am not much a believer in viruses anymore but didn't know why some people catch a cold and others don't. I got a stuffy nose one day and started getting the well known symptoms of a cold. This time I drank the juice of one pungent onion (2 oz) pure as this is my remedy right now to work with. I instantly vomited some large amount of mucus and understood that I simply had too much of it in my system. So the cold seems to be a way to get rid of that - but with my way of dealing with it, I had some short very unpleasant feeling (I had to drink it one sip per time slowly and later on I could drink it in one piece) and then everything was cleared away. So, I cured my cold in about half hour. I was very happy as I had a visitor coming and wanted no cold.

Hydrogen Peroxide in the Ears

Posted by Theresa (Auburn, Indiana ) on 01/02/2009
★★★★★

Hydrogen Peroxide kept me from getting the cold/flu I felt coming on. The first time I tried using Hydrogen Peroxide in my both of my ears was when I was visiting my sister in Illinois, about 5 years ago. I had just arrived from the 5 hour drive and could feel that I was getting a cold or flu. My sister suggested placing a few (6 to 7) drops of hydrogen peroxide in my ear, letting it fizz, then let it drain and repeat the process in the other ear. I went to bed that evening after using the hydrogen peroxide and woke up feeling great! I never did get that cold... I've repeated this process each time I felt as though I was coming down with the cold or flu. It has worked 90% of the time. The key is to catch it early! The longer you wait to use the hydrogen peroxide once you have the first symptoms, the less likely it will work. I've shared this with others, but most are hesitant to try it. I haven't had any bad experiences with this method.

Hydrogen Peroxide in the Ears

Posted by Kiti (San Diego, CA) on 12/29/2008
0 out of 5 stars

I did that one day and i had a violent dizzy spell it scared me so much but mainly it's the temperature of the peroxide. If you put anything in your ear that is room temperature it is still colder than the temperature in your ear so it causes the dizzy spell you need to warm up the bottle in warm-hot water filled sink before doing that.

Lemon Syrup

Posted by Rob (Kentucky) on 11/10/2024
★★★★★

LEMON SYRUP.

From Mrs. De Forrest.

Pare off the yellow rind of the lemon, slice the lemon and put a layer of lemon and a thick layer of sugar in a deep plate; cover close with a saucer, and set in a warm place. This is an excellent remedy for a cold.

From the Book: The Home Cook Book of Formula's, by J. FRED. WAGGONER 1876

COMPILED FROM RECIPES CONTRIBUTED BY LADIES OF CHICAGO AND OTHER CITIES AND TOWNS: ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE HOME FOR THE FRIENDLESS, CHICAGO.

Lemon syrup can have several health benefits, including: Lemon syrup can help treat allergic skin conditions and hay fever. Lemon Syrup is commonly prescribed in children to treat symptoms of allergy such as runny nose, sneezing, itching, swelling, congestion, and watery eyes. It may also help in the treatment of asthma and skin allergies. The peel of the lemon contain almost 10 times more vitamin and mineral content than does the juice. This was a popular home remedy for sore throats back in the 1800's.

Lemon Simply Syrup – Modern Version Recipe:

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
– ¾ cup water

– ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

– 1 cup granulated sugar

– ¼ cup (more or less) fresh lemon zest from the peels of the lemons you just squeezed

Instructions
– Put water, lemon juice, sugar, and lemon zest in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.

– Once boiling, lower heat and let mixture simmer for about 10 minutes, until syrup has thickened (note that it will continue to thicken as it cools).

– Strain syrup into a bowl, leaving the zest behind.

– Keep syrup in bowl or pour into a sterile airtight mason jar and place in fridge to cool completely before using.

Dosage: Give one teaspoon to children freely as needed. Adults take one tablespoon

Black Elderberry Syrup

Posted by Veronicac (Tx) on 10/11/2020
★★★★★

I work in different schools for a large school district. I used to get sick a lot. Now I order dried elderberry off Amazon or other websites and make my own syrup. When I feel a sore throat coming on, I take about a tablespoon once an hour. It usually either knocks out the cold completely or cuts the symptoms and time down considerably. You can make a batch and freeze it for when you need it since it can ferment in the fridge if kept too long. There have been studies done that prove elderberry's therapeutic efficacy.

Even my husband, who doesn't like the taste, will ask for it when he is getting sick. It's the only thing I've found that actually works.

Hydrogen Peroxide

Posted by JT (USA) on 04/02/2020
★★★★★

Editor's Choice

Hello, My wife and I swab our ears and nostrils with 3% hydrogen peroxide any time we feel a cold coming on and she hasnt had a cold since 2014 and I havent had one since 2016 ( I felt it coming on that night and stupidly waited til the next morning to swab, LESSON LEARNED ). Now I always swab right away.

Vitamin C

Posted by Susan (San Francisco) on 03/01/2020
★★★★★

I woke up with the beginnings of a cold Friday morning. I generally take 1,000 mg of Vitamin C every hour every day. I started taking it (1,000 mg) every half hour and from the hours of 1:30pm – 4:00pm I took it every 15 minutes. I went back to every 1/2 hour after I started getting gassy. I did the same thing on Saturday. Today is Sunday and I'm back to my usual schedule of 1,000 mg every hour and I don't have a cold anymore. The Ascorbic Acid got rid of it FAST. FYI – I'm a 65 year old female and I've never had the flu. I've always gotten colds (bad ones). This is the first cold I've had where I hardly felt like I had one.

Colloidal Silver

Posted by Art (California ) on 01/14/2017 2443 posts

Timh,

Yes, I find the ultrasonic humidifier quite effective and more than capable of delivering an effective dose in just minutes. The oral method is great for going after blood born pathogens, but colloidal silver needs to come into contact or "very close proximity" to pathogens in order to be effective so oral intake is not likely to be very effective for many respiratory issues, but it may be helpful in some cases where pathogens are increasing beyond the respiratory system in which case both methods applied at the same time may be a better option. One problem with an ultrasonic device is that it can cause CS to agglomerate so only small amounts at a time may be a useful thing to do and throw out whatever isn't used.

For people who are using antibiotics, but are having minimal effect or the effects are diminishing, there are quite a few studies suggesting that CS may have synergy with certain broad spectrum antibiotics and in some cases may reverse "resistance" that has developed to a specific antibiotic. Here is a link to an abstract of this type of study:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26970828

Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces. 2016 Jun 1;142:392-9. doi: 10.1016/j.colsurfb.2016.03.007. Epub 2016 Mar 4.

Silver nanoparticles strongly enhance and restore bactericidal activity of inactive antibiotics against multiresistant Enterobacteriaceae.

PanáÄek A1, Smékalová M2, VeÄeTMová R3, Bogdanová K3, Röderová M3, KoláTM M3, Kilianová M2, Hradilová Š2, Froning JP2, Havrdová M4, Prucek R2, ZboTMil R2, Kvítek L2.

Abstract

Bacterial resistance to conventional antibiotics is currently one of the most important healthcare issues, and has serious negative impacts on medical practice. This study presents a potential solution to this problem, using the strong synergistic effects of antibiotics combined with silver nanoparticles (NPs). Silver NPs inhibit bacterial growth via a multilevel mode of antibacterial action at concentrations ranging from a few ppm to tens of ppm. Silver NPs strongly enhanced antibacterial activity against multiresistant, β-lactamase and carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae when combined with the following antibiotics: cefotaxime, ceftazidime, meropenem, ciprofloxacin and gentamicin. All the antibiotics, when combined with silver NPs, showed enhanced antibacterial activity at concentrations far below the minimum inhibitory concentrations (tenths to hundredths of one ppm) of individual antibiotics and silver NPs. The enhanced activity of antibiotics combined with silver NPs, especially meropenem, was weaker against non-resistant bacteria than against resistant bacteria. The double disk synergy test showed that bacteria produced no β-lactamase when treated with antibiotics combined with silver NPs. Low silver concentrations were required for effective enhancement of antibacterial activity against multiresistant bacteria. These low silver concentrations showed no cytotoxic effect towards mammalian cells, an important feature for potential medical applications.

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The following abstract suggests that similar synergistic effects are likely in animals as well:

Vet J. 2016 Mar;209:174-9. doi: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2015.10.032. Epub 2015 Oct 22.

Enhanced antibacterial effect of antibiotics in combination with silver nanoparticles against animal pathogens.

Smekalova M1, Aragon V2, Panacek A3, Prucek R1, Zboril R1, Kvitek L1.

Author information

Abstract

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are a serious health risk in both human and veterinary medicine. Several studies have shown that silvernanoparticles (AgNPs) exert a high level of antibacterial activity against antibiotic resistant strains in humans. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial effects of a combined therapy of AgNPs and antibiotics against veterinary bacteria that show resistance to antibiotics. A microdilution checkerboard method was used to determine the minimal inhibitory concentrations of both types of antimicrobials, alone and in combination. The fractional inhibitory concentration index was calculated and used to classify observed collective antibacterial activity as synergistic, additive (only the sum of separate effects of drugs), indifferent (no effect) or antagonistic. From the 40 performed tests, seven were synergistic, 17 additive and 16 indifferent. None of the tested combinations showed an antagonistic effect. The majority of synergistic effects were observed for combinations of AgNPs given together with gentamicin, but the highest enhancement of antibacterial activity was found with combined therapy together with penicillin G against Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae. A. pleuropneumoniae and Pasteurella multocida originally resistant to amoxycillin, gentamicin and colistin were sensitive to these antibiotics when combined with AgNPs. The study shows that AgNPs have potential as adjuvants for the treatment of animal bacterial diseases.

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I am curious as to what type of colloidal silver you are using and if you are making it or buying it? What color if any could you compare it to? Is the CS crystal clear even if it has color? How many parts per million is it? Is it capped?

Thank you!

Art

Neti Pot with Peroxide and Sea Salt

Posted by Mama To Many (Tennessee) on 08/04/2016
★★★★★

Over the weekend I could tell I was starting to get a head cold. Because I really hate having a stuffy nose, I decided to attack that issue first and foremost. In 24 hours I used the neti pot 4-5 times. I boiled water and cooled it to warm. I added a capful of hydrogen peroxide and 1/4 teaspoon sea salt to the warm water in the neti pot.

I also used peroxide in my ears several times and had a mug or two of hot vinegar tea. (Apple cider vinegar, honey and hot water.)

The cold completely fizzled out. I think the neti pot nipped the whole thing in the bud.

Ideally for a cold I would have taken extra vitamin C, zinc and gotten more rest. But I had a house guest, a busy weekend and probably had less sleep than normal.

The neti pot takes a bit of getting used to, but the wonderful feeling of clean sinuses makes me want to use it.

Always boil and cool water (or used distilled water) when using the neti pot to avoid risks of bacteria and parasites in the water causing trouble much worse than a cold!

~Mama to Many~

Garlic

Posted by Trixie (Inverclyde, Uk) on 11/06/2010
★★★★★

When I feel a cold starting I take a whole bulb of garlic. I either put it in soup, omelette or make a liver flush smoothie with orange juice, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, ginger and cayenne pepper(you'll either love it or hate it). Next day my cold has gone.

Hydrogen Peroxide in the Ears

Posted by Rosan (Kalsipell, MT) on 04/13/2009
0 out of 5 stars

I have a cold and decided to try the Hydrogen Peroxide remedy I read about here. Took two drops hydrogen peroxide and deluted with 4 drops water. Gently put a drop in each ear while sitting up. Within a short time I was very dizzy and had a hard time walking for quite a while. Won't try that again. But I love this site and have found several remedies that have worked wonders for other things like my eye sty and migraines. Thank you so much.

Grapefruit Seed Extract

Posted by HPS (AVL, NC) on 02/18/2008
★★★★★

Grapefruit seed extract worked for me and my daughter I give her 3 drops 3 or 4 x day, myself about 30 drops x day mixed in juice, we keep taking it for at least 3 days after symptoms improve.

Onion

Posted by Gabriela (Pahoa, USA) on 02/01/2008
★★★★★

When I had a cold or the flu in the past, my body could never get rid of it. I always got bronchitis and always had to take anti-biotics to finally stop it all. One day I said to myself with TOTAL determination: I will not allow to get a cold again, because my body can't fight it. Since then I have had only one cold (in 10 years). That one I cured with the juice of one large organic onion per day(made in the Champion juicer) and mixed with fresh orange juice. I had to drink this for 2 days only and was fine again. I regard onion juice as a natural anti-biotic.