sniffles

Remember What The Dormouse Said
Originally uploaded by Greg McElhatton.

Sometime last week this started. *sniff* My chief defense against cold and flu is denial *cough*. Before you criticize, I should mention that sometimes it seems to work. Somehow, pretending that I don't have a cold can allow me to carry on normally for a while and sometimes the cold goes away before it hits the radar.

If denial doesn't work, I start dropping zinc lozenges. On the back of the box, it says that zinc shortens the duration of colds. It tastes kind of bad, so this is believable.

At the third stage, I start the heavier drugs. Dayquil (pictured above) is a fav. I'll also take a puff or two of albuterol if I get congestion in my chest. It seems to do a pretty good job of clearing that up for a while. I worry about over-doing the albuterol, but since I don't actually get many asthma attacks, I have added it to my upper-respiratory infection arsenal.

Once the coughing starts, I have to get serious. Hard, sugar-free candy usually keeps it at bay along with the zinc I'm still sucking on. Of course, judging from the soreness of my abs, I should re-think the hard-candy strategy and go for a regular cough suppressant.

See you when I'm back on line.