Stopping coughs and colds

[User16625]

I really dread having colds. This is because when I get one, they come with a chesty cough which goes on for weeks! Stops me sleepin properly, stops me cycling properly, stops me being anything good! Get one practically every year, really gets me down.

So is there any effective way to reduce the chances of getting a cold? and effectively treating it once you get one?

How do you find cycling with a cough? Do you find moderate efforts affect it in any way?

The runny nose and sore throat I can handle, but the dam coughing!

 

[PhilDawson8270]

I really dread having colds. This is because when I get one, they come with a chesty cough which goes on for weeks! Stops me sleepin properly, stops me cycling properly, stops me being anything good! Get one practically every year, really gets me down.

So is there any effective way to reduce the chances of getting a cold? and effectively treating it once you get one?

How do you find cycling with a cough? Do you find moderate efforts affect it in any way?

The runny nose and sore throat I can handle, but the dam coughing!

One of the situations where prevention is better than the cure.

Flu jab and avoid confined public spaces.

 

[User16625]

One of the situations where prevention is better than the cure.

Flu jab and avoid confined public spaces.

Certainly don't have a problem doing this. Never have been one for queues or crowds. Ironic then that the local docs have both altho I very rarely need to go there.

 

[I like Skol]

I used to get bad chesty coughs everytime I got a cold. I would be coughing for a week or more, keeping me awake, keeping my wife awake, coughing so much, so hard I would get a headache and my stomach muscles would hurt. Then I started working awful 12hr rotating shifts but began cycling to work. In fact I found cyclechat and started cycling loads, and since then I rarely get a serious cold and hardly ever do they develop into a cough. I don't know if it is improved fitness or just being out in the bad weather and pollution but these last 8-9yrs have been completely different.

I suggest you just ride your bike much more......

 

[User16625]

I used to get bad chesty coughs everytime I got a cold. I would be coughing for a week or more, keeping me awake, keeping my wife awake, coughing so much, so hard I would get a headache and my stomach muscles would hurt. Then I started working awful 12hr rotating shifts but began cycling to work. In fact I found cyclechat and started cycling loads, and since then I rarely get a serious cold and hardly ever do they develop into a cough. I don't know if it is improved fitness or just being out in the bad weather and pollution but these last 8-9yrs have been completely different.

I suggest you just ride your bike much more......

That's a suggestion I will gladly try. Just a couple of hours ago I did do a nice short relaxing ride. My energy levels are alrite, but didnt want to push it in case I trigger coughing fits. Haven't done as much riding as I'd like lately tbh.

 

[vickster]

Avoid children (plague carriers)...and people who have children

The Vicks First Defence stuff can be helpful. Colds last 2-3 weeks assuming your immune system is ok

Assume you don’t smoke? If you do, stop!

 

[ColinJ]

Take loads of placebos

If you think that placebos work, but know that they are placebos, can you get the same effect by pretending to take them?

 

[Svendo]

Wash your hands; don’t touch your face.

 

[Milkfloat]

If you think that placebos work, but know that they are placebos, can you get the same effect by pretending to take them?

 

[MichaelW2]

I get this too, a nasty cough that hangs around for weeks if not months and sets my fitness back to zero.
My wife swears by pine cone jam, a traditional treatment for lung weakness.
The masks that people wear in the far east are most effective in stopping hand to mouth transfer of virus rather than as air filters.
Wash hands a lot.
Avoid other people, public transport, shops, handrails.

 

[Globalti]

Avoiding colds is down to simple hygiene: never pick your nose or rub your eyes, especially when out in public. Always wash your hands immediately on entering your house; we do and we seldom catch colds. Always wash your hands before sitting down to work at you desk or computer.

If you get a sore throat, take zinc tabs and gargle with Corsodyl mouthwash three times a day making sure it gets right back to the back of your nose. Corsodyl is a powerful antiseptic, which does kill viruses. It's also good dabbed on small cuts and spots.

Many coughs are simply caused by inflammation of the bronchia, for which Ibuprofen works well.

Note: the above doesn't work when some ignorant ill-mannered person sneezes full in your face as somebody did when I was on an overseas trip recently. A cold is then almost inevitable.

 

[tom73]

Marry a Nurse they come home with all sort's of nasties and bug's and have hand's that have been in every place you can imagine and many you may not. So over time you become immune to all thing's known to man. But be warned the effect dip's a little when annual leave come's round but once back your soon topped up.

Basically don't get too OCD about it. No amount of cleaning or hand washing will prevent everything. Unless every place you go and your home is more than socially clean you can't stop it. The best way to limit cold's is try not to get run down , stay health and eat well. That way when one come's calling you will be able to get over it that much quicker.

 

[steverob]

I have no advice on how to avoid colds - I typically get one or two a year about 9 months apart regardless of what I try (indeed have just finished my most recent one a few weeks back), but can sympathise with bit about the cough that follows. Until a few years back, a cold to me was just a sore throat for two days, three further days of a runny nose, then it pretty much cleared up on its own after that. It was annoying, but in the scheme of things, it wasn't that bad really.

Only since about 2015 has it been accompanied by this post-cold cough that hangs around for two or more weeks afterwards that is bloody awful and way more knackering than the main part of the cold. Assumed it was just a sign I was getting older, but from what I read on here (and what mates tell me of their experiences), it seems that everyone gets this and I was just lucky not to have experienced it until recently.

 

[CXRAndy]

I've been lucky re colds and I put this down to indoor training throughout the winter. I don't get those pesky coughs or colds so much. I will also stay clear of other folk with illness. I'm not immune to the flu and came down in January this year. I was able to start riding after 7 days off the bike, albeit zone 1 pace

 

[classic33]

Ice cream when you do get one.