My Cold Cocktail

I didn’t think much about it for most of the day.

I sneeze often and have sinus issues and at my age, regulating my body temperature is a regular struggle.

By afternoon on Halloween, though, I felt that familiar tickle in the back of my throat;  that one that signals impending fever, chills, runny nose and a few days on the sofa.

Not long afterward, a chill ran through my body, the kind that comes with fever.

My one pet peeve in life: Being sick. I don’t like being miserable and I don’t like wasting precious time when I could be living.

I practically ran from The Belle Writer’s Studio back to Our Little House and started my “cold cocktail,” the one that has guaranteed me 99 percent of the time, if I start it right away, I can kick a cold before it ever takes hold.

In the past four years since we moved here, I’ve been sick once and that was due to Dale bringing home a bronchial infection of some sort that was going around town last year. By the time he acknowledged he was sick, nearly 10 days later, he had walking pneumonia. One more day and the doctor told me he would have put him in the hospital.

When I felt those symptoms start last year, I knew my cold cocktail wouldn’t be enough to knock it out and I did go to the doctor right away for antibiotics. Still, I was only sick a couple of days, compared to his nearly 3 weeks.

This is a major turn around from my child into young adulthood. I’m familiar with that tickle as I spent about 6 weeks each year down with a cold that later typically turned into bronchitis.

For years before I was diagnosed, I had allergies, one of the main ones being to cigarette smoke and my family was literally unknowingly contributing to a chronic bronchial condition.

Before that diagnosis, though, I developed the cold cocktail before Dale and I married. We had plans one weekend, but by Friday, I was feeling very sick. My mother, I believe, told me that she had just read that massive amounts of Vitamin C would sometimes knock a cold on its butt so I decided to give it a try.

After work, I drove to the local pharmacy and bought a big bottle of Cranapple juice and Vitamin C, took it back to my apartment, wrapped myself in a quilt and drank the whole bottle and downed quite a bit of the Vitamin C.

By the next morning, I was fine and Dale and I were on our way with whatever we had planned.

I perfected and modified my cocktail throughout the years. For example, I no longer drink cranapple juice due to the high sugar content and I’ve added the daily-recommended doses of Echinacea and Zinc. I also take an herbal mix from the health food store that boosts the immune system. I eat the chewable Vitamin C to help coat my throat.

I also learned I have to start the cocktail immediately upon the first symptoms or it will not work. Even just a few hours delay and I could be down anyway.

I caught it in time on Monday, though. By the time I went home that evening to bake the corn bread that would accompany the chili, I was sweating, a sure sign that the small fever I had developed was breaking.

Here’s my cold cocktail:

2,500 mgs. Chewable (pure) Vitamin C

recommended daily dose of Echinacea and Zinc

Two hours later, 1,000 mgs. of Vitamin C, repeating about every 4 hours, or 2,000 mgs. before bed. Don’t swallow anything else after chewing the vitamins, allowing them to coat the throat all night.

We also take the flu shot annually and an herbal immune system booster each day in the winter. Other precautions include trying not to touch our faces when we’re in public, especially the nose, eyes or mouth. I don’t use antibacterial gel at home, but we do use it when we’re going to be out on errands all day, especially if we eat while out.

Do you have a sure remedy for the common cold?