The Traffic is Not The Only Thing in Baristaville That is Congested

Urm, the pictures I could do without, thanks. :-)

But feel better, Fran!

Fran,

Sorry that you, too, are ailing. Just about everyone I know either has this crud, is getting over this crud, or is coming down with this crud. I was ill over Christmas week, but I prepared my usual cure, Scotch Eggs.

(1) Prepare three soft-cooked (four-minute eggs); crack shells and scoop whites and yolks into warmed bowl.

(2) Spread butter on freshly toasted wheat bread, cut into 1/2-inch squares and mix with cooked eggs. Liberally salt and pepper eggs.

(3) Pour 3 ounces of good Scotch Whisky into a glass or coffee cup. Throw eggs in sink. Drink Scotch.

You will start to feel better almost immediately.

What kind of a photo gallery is this? Here's what I want to see:

1) Pile of used tissues.
2) video of photo ed flushing her nostrils with a neti pot.
3) Endoscopic video footage of photo ed's nasal blockages

Conan,
I'm getting over a cold so tonight as a preventative measure I will follow your recipe. I'm starting to get a warm feeling.

I don't have a cold but will follow your procedure as well, just substituting Jameson's Irish for the scothc.

Every time I start to feel that itch or burn in my sinuses, I put Zicam nasal gel in my nose. Haven't had a cold yet this year, even with 2 school age petri dishes running around the house.

I don't know what Yummi Bears are, but if that's them lined up guarding the container, I love it!

Ah, a Z-pack and a prescription for ...decongestants?- someone's got the acute sinusitis (sinus infection) following the cold. Symptons: be sick for a week, start to feel better for 6 hours, turn the corner back to hell. Stay there, do not pass go, do not collect a good night's sleep.

I'm often in sinus hell. I saw a remedy on Oprah's show the other day. You need a neti pot (which looks kind of like Aladdin's lamp) but since I don't happen to have that, I improvised and used a Fiesta Ware individual sized pitcher... which of course now resides in my linen closet and NOT in my china cabinet.

Mix 1/4 tsp salt with warm water in the neti pot / Fiesta pitcher. Lean over sink, tilt head. Slowly pour into one nostril. This will go up one side of your nose, swish around in your sinus cavity and come out the other nostril. Oh gross. BUT it feels very soothing and really cleans you out - kind of like being knocked over by a wave and taking in a nose full of ocean water (but no coughing). Repeat on other side.

http://www.healingdaily.com/exercise/neti-pot.htm

oops, wrong place to post that. ^ sorry

oh, damn. It was the right place. oops.

well, everyone had some great suggestions--thanks! especially those scotch eggs. can i substitute a nice red rioja for the scotch?

They have the neti pots with pre-mixed saline packets at CVS. They call them Sinu-Cleanse. There are other brands too. They clean out the allergens. Body temperature water works best.

I agree with Spicoli's Zicam pitch! The key is to do it as soon as you feel a slight tickle-y burn or other similar sign.

I used the salt water flush with great success back in the days when I had chronic sinusitis. Then I stopped smoking. Losing the sinusitis was one of the many benefits.

Try Buckey's Cough Syrup for chest congestion, if yer tuff enuff to take the stuff. No sugar, no alcohol, lotsa menthol & pine tar. It's like drinking liquid Vap-O-Rub. It WILL clear out every last cavity.

Zicam has been implicated in permanent loss of senses of smell & taste in a few cases. A very rare side effect but a huge price; I would not take that chance.

I usually do not get colds even though I use public transport and teach college students who come to class surprisingly ill (they save their "sick" days for good times). I use Cell Forte probiotic and take zinc citrate (50 mg) twice a day. If I feel symptomatic, I take the zinc three times a day.

Sneeze on...Sneeze on...

yes zicam is great! catch it early on though.

If there were AIRBORNE in the picture, there'd have been no story....

If your using the Neti pot don't use iodized salt use Kosher or sea salt and make sure it's fully dissolved. Run your water thru a PUR or Brita filter first.

Been using the Zinc therapy for about five years now. Between the daily doses (only 50 mg a day) of that and giving up the almighty weed at about the same time, I have had maybe two or three mild colds since. Sinus allergies are another story, and that is what I think is really going around now.

LOL, Spicoli -- "school-age Petri dishes."

You can make your own vaporizer using a pot of water on your stove. Add some rosemary and/or eucalyptus and then breathe in. Very cleansing. I found that, for me, Airborne is more effective at preventing a cold than Zicam. Drinking only one cup of Airborne or its generic equivalent and you're covered. I would have to take Zicam a few times to stave off the symptoms.

Husband had the cold. We BOTH had the Dreaded Stomach Virus just before Christmas. I was over it in a day, he took a few days longer.

O for chrissake, you know what? I didn't bother to scroll down until now, and thus didn't see that I'd actually won the contest. Jeepers, I must have sounded like an ingrate. Thank you, Baristas, and thank you, fran dammit, and thank you to all those fans out there who've inspired me over the years.

As for the punks and roses calendar, please deliver it to Liz. I already shower her with love, I might as well add a calendar to the mix.

The cold sucks, but a nice 24 hour bout of stomach virus, while does suck, IS an excellent diet tool for the holidays. Just call me brightside.

"We BOTH had the Dreaded Stomach Virus just before Christmas."

Hope you're both feeling better, Maui. I had that, too, but on New Year's, 102 temp, no appetite. It disappeared as quickly as it came. Very strange.

Giving away your calendar to Liz, Walleroo? Isn't that a no-no if you are running for office? I smell a bribe.

Miss M., it would be but a mere trifle to a Goddess like Liz.

I know a few different Liz's. which one, walleroo?
is walleroo a hybrid of a wallaby and a kangeroo?

A walleroo is no hybrid, fran dammit. It's a gas burning, meat eating, beer swilling hunka hunka burning marsupial..

Liz, of course, is your very own Liz George, the love of my life, the apple of my eye, the cheese on my steak, the mustard on my dog, the chink in my armor, the flake in my frosting, the rust on my bowl, the lace in my sneakers, the cornerstone of my empire, the whip in my will, the flash in my pan, the rum in my coke, the flame in my cave, the drip in my faucet, the light on my stage, the froth on my latte, the fat of my land... .

That's who.