What is the best way to relieve the symptoms of a cold?

Rest, liquids, warmth, tylenol, patience.

Zinc, ecchinachea, and EmergenC (which contains zinc).

Depends on the symptoms. But for the one where you’re so sore from the coughing and wiping your nose that you can’t help but cough and wipe more, making it worse? Vicodin.

I can’t take those “Contacts” or “Distran” because it make my heart pound real hard.

I take a hot shower, and “elimate” mucus as much as I can when the steam is going through my head. . Clean PJ and a warm bed and hot TANG…Yep…Tang is full of vit C and any hot liquid is good for helping to expel mucus .

When you have a cold, you are losing a lot of water…. diarrheal, nose blowing, vomiting. You need to put the liquid back. Tang, when heated gives you a warm drink which is beneficial by gives you vit C, replaces liquids and warm drink help this process to elimate the mucus.
You sill will be ill for days….but keep drinking a warm liquid and expelling mucus so it does not end up in your chest to become phenomia…

zicam. zicam. zicam. and a quart of Tom Yum (Thai hot and spicy soup with shrimp). tom yum is great for the sinuses and the throat.

Gargle with warm water and vinegar….50/50 mix 3 times a day. You will hate me at first and just maybe you will thank me 2 days from now.

@Cruiser I love vinegar, might try that just because lol
@jorae How do you get the loosened mucus out? I have this thing about blowing my nose because I always get popped ears.

Saline solution for a stuffy nose. You may be blowing your nose a bit to hard but your ears popping is not as bad as having it feel stuffy as well.
Actifed for a stuffy nose.
Also a humidifier for your bedroom at night will help with your nose if its really cold outside because the dry air will make you feel stuffy and your lungs will have a hard time coughing up mucus stuck in them.
Thera flu works perfect for me. Both the night time and day time. Neither leave me feeling droggy.
As @marinelife said, zinc and vitamin C will help.
For a sore throat and to help loosen any mucus along your throat, I find gargling with warm salted water 3 times a day helps you recover quickly.
Say away for throat lonzenges. Even the zinc ones. They only prolong the problem.

Please nobody laugh, but I learned this about 3 years ago when I got a pretty bad cold. My sister brought over a relatively small container of homemade chicken noodle soup. I laughed, sort of (being sick), but took it from her with thanks. I ate the soup at about 3pm. By 9pm, I felt amazing.

Since then, the couple other times I’ve come down with a cold, I’ve made the soup. Frankly, I can barely wait to get it into my body. I call it magic soup now, because it always works to make me feel better, and lessen the duration of the cold. I’m sure it’s a combination of the liquid, and the nutrients provided, but…it works like magic. The soup is most powerful on the day it’s made, but it freezes well too and can be used later with great results. Anyway, you can find the recipe here. I don’t usually make the noodles from scratch, personally, I used good quality pasta, usually wide egg noodles.

Believe me, this stuff works. And if nothing else, it’s delicious. Good luck.

@nope I just buy the avgolemono from the Greek deli down the street. The stuff works miracles.

avoid getting sick

@nope – I have a magic soup as well, that works to cure any ailment! Mine is “Mom’s magic soup”, and it’s turkey soup with macaroni noodles, onion, carrot, celery, and a splash of tomato juice. Only my mom can make it properly, though.

Another thing I do when I’m feeling sick without much appetite is drink heated chicken broth rather than tea. I started doing this when I was working at a restaurant; they didn’t give sick time and were short-staffed anyway, so my taking a day off was pretty much out of the question. I’d drink strained chicken soup all day, and it made things bearable. Now, though, I just buy the broth in a tetra-pak and it’s really comforting.

Cruser….open your mouth when you blow your nose….breath out strong with your nose and mouth. Being in the shower causes the steam to help loosen the junk. But you want it out because colds can become pneumonia and that is basically mucus in the lungs. Some cough syrup’s will show “expectorants’ which means that cough syrup will help expel the mucus…but then you need to replace the fluids….hopefully with something warm that does not have caffine