How can I get rid of a cold really fast?

vitamin c, zinc, garlic pills (get the de-odorized kind), lots of water and sleep.

and this is my favorite: boil fresh ginger in hot water, add lots of lemon and honey, and it makes a really great tea that makes you feel a lot better.

the other neat trick is to boil some water on the stovetop, add a few drops of eucalyptus extract (or a peppermint tea bag also works), keep the water on a low boil and and put a towel over your head to make a tent that traps the minty steam while you take really deep breaths and inhale. It clears out your lungs really fast.

great! No chicken soup?

Chicken soup works... if it's from real chicken

I think the best bet is lots of fluids and sleep

But don't take zinc if you think you're getting the flu. Sleep, push fluids, and go get some Emergen-C...it's a multi-vitamin magic powder that you dissolve in water.

Unless you have a vitamin C deficiency (ie scurvy - highly unlikely) there's no evidence that taking extra C will help you get over a cold. All you can really do is treat symptoms (like the steamy things people said), rest, and wait for the awesome immune system to do its job.

I do some of the above, especially the megadoses of vitamins and lots of tea and water. Another little trick I use is to take 1-2 shots of straight vodka or whiskey right before bed, too.

shoot warm saline (salt water) up yer nose. you can either use a neti pot (indian device that you can get at the hippie store) or a 60 cc syringe (no needle) from walgreens. you will be amazed at how much snot pours out of your head.

the whiskey? that's the best cure that doesn't work (says my friend james, the irish pharmacist.)

Actually, Dr. Linus Pauling spent a lifetime advocating vitamin C as a way to prevent and treat colds. As he has 2 Nobel Prizes (one for medicine & one for peace), I think the dude might know what he's talking about.

Also, having a pot of chicken soup (even from a can) simmering on the stove whenever you're home can help as well. Breathing in those fumes are very good.

And...if you're really desperate, try putting some breast milk up your nose. No....seriously.

Linus Pauling was a brilliant chemist and won Nobel Prizes for chemistry (not medicine) and peace, but he was not as thorough when it came to biomedical research and his theories on vitamin C are not well supported by evidence. It's very important to look at the evidence (in the case of an experimental treatment this must be a large, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study) and not just take the word of a person, even if he is a genius. For a good recent review of large vitamin C trials, check out this abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=15495002&query_hl=2&itool=pubmed_docsum

Whoops, link didn't work - but you can search "vitamin c cold cochrane review" at pubmed.gov

Dr. Pauling worked with much higher megadoses of Vitamin C than any of the trials being done now. The Cochrane Review, which has examined the majority of the credible trials, concludes that Vitamin C doses administered to subjects in high-stress activities (athletes, soldiers, etc.) reduced the incidence of colds by one-half, which the Review labeled a "considerable benefit." If you've got a marathon coming up, reducing your risk of a cold by 50% is nothing to be sneezed at. Another study showed a "statistically significant" reduction in the duration of a cold when 8 grams of Vitamin C is taken on only the first day of cold symptoms. What I find curious is nobody is doing a study regarding the dosages recommended by Dr. Pauling for study, 100 milligrams every day, 1 gram per waking hour for each day cold symptoms are experienced.

Coldeez cuts your flu time in half. Zicam is also great at the onset.

Tomatos, apple juice and Green Tea all mixed together 3 times a day

Get your five servings of fresh vegetables and four servings a fruit daily. The vitamin complexes in vegetable matter are most likely better than anything a vitamin pill can give.

COLDEEZ

Eat lots of food, and take airborn

my ukrainian roommate says honey and vodka

Airborne works REALLY well for me every time.

olive leaf extract capsules can give a boost to your immune system. they can be found at health food stores

is this vodka thing for real?