Notice
August 27th, 2002 - 10:07 am
Head cold and home improvements. The free ice cream cones will be 27% smaller, at least until this evening.
Head cold and home improvements. The free ice cream cones will be 27% smaller, at least until this evening.
My grandfather always said it’s feed a fever, feed a cold, feed a stomach ache, feed a hangnail…
Of course, he was awfully fat. But he was healthy… well, right up until that last heart attack. We had to get fifteen pallbearers for the funeral, and that was *after* he was cremated.
And here I was, thinking you were in the errrr, something-or-others of newly-wedded bliss.
My father always said that laughter was the best medicine. I suppose that’s why so many of us died of tuberculosis.
(ok, that’s a deep thought, but it seemed appropriate)
If you suffer in silence no one will make fun of your suffering.
The secret is the two Z’s: Zinc and Zyrtec.
Zinc Lozenges taste nasty but they do a great job of killing colds, especially if you start early on.
If the Zinc doesn’t work, get to a doc in the box preferebly one with a Physician’s assistant quick with the Prescription pad and get her to write you a scrip for Zyrtec, two the first day and one for each day thereafter. Rare is the bug that lasts more than two days under that.
Sorry, but that Z&Z advice is *horrible*.
Colds are viruses and zinc lozenges don’t have any effect on viruses. What they are said to do is reduce the duration of symptoms from a cold virus, but even that has been studied and there isn’t much evidence for it (I should mention the old joke about getting better in 7 days with the treatment but it taking a whole week without).
Meanwhile, Zyrtec is an anti-histamine useful for treating seasonal (and other) allergies without making you sleepy (the way over-the-counter anti-histamines do). Allergies are not cold viruses. Anti-histamines don’t treat viruses.
So if you have a cold, maybe take zinc (though it’s likely a waste of money) and if you have allergies maybe try Zyrtec. But taking both just for the heck of it?
Yeah, I’m an M.D., but it doesn’t take medical school to know this stuff — it’s pretty basic.
I just finished watching a rerun of Martha Stewart on HGTV. She conducted a terra cotta pot extravaganza, followed by labial instructions on how to hang perfect florescent lights in a perfect basement.
I hope you were too sick to watch it.
I only watched it because my dog fell asleep on my lap and my remote control was across the room and I have a heart.
Cheers for that great Lileks reference