The everlasting cold/cough virus

By some miracle I have so far avoided the dreaded lurgi. People all around me have had it and I usually catch everything going. It feels like the sword of Damocles hanging over me. Someone I know appears to have it twice. I had a ghastly virus last April involving antibiotics.

I dread being ill now I'm a widow. We used to support each other through various illnesses and I supported him as best I could during the cancer which took him in a few short months.

Well, just to cheer you up, I have felt better for the last couple of days but feel dreadful again. I think I'm faint for lack of nourishment!!

Did my in capitals

Not sure about that Jalima [SMILE]

Can I just eat olives instead please?

This hopefully will chear you all up australian DIL said give DH olive leaf extract boosts immune system but after seeing the price decided against it, then last week watching Ben Fogal in some far flung place he was helping feed some poorly hens with olive leaves ( apparently fantastic for boosting immune system)claimed Bens host ....so guess whos now having olive leaf extract

I like that idea *blinko'! Currently on train to visit fil so prob another crop of bugs on here.

Metatone and Portugal seem to be the best remedies....

I started with a faint sore throat & bit of a headache Christmas night, Boxing Day, nose running like a tap & headache getting worse. Today, didn't get out of bed until 10 & went back in afternoon for another few hours. Headache all through the night but couldn't drag my self out of bed to take Paracetamol. Feeling a bit better but don't really want to eat. Hope over next few days it's going to improve - hibernation is a good idea. I live on my own but plenty of food in so no need to go out.

I'm on Anti-Histamines all year round, nasal spray & eye drops which seem to help.

I have had Pneumonia twice, once in the Summer (didn't even know I'd got it, anti-biotics cleared that). Last year I was in Hospital for 5 weeks with Pneumonia despite having the jab a few years earlier

boo2410 how awful for you and your family, take care of each other

I have had the worst cold i have ever had this last 10 days, ended up with antibiotics for a chest infection and sinusitis, managed to do the shopping, all the prep and see to poorly father, DH and stepson had a cold and the world stopped !

I'm now into the 18th week of the cough/cold virus and getting soooooo fed up with it. Of course it affects my underlying asthma so add a nasty wheeze and breathlessness on exertion into the mix. I've had blood tests, X-rays and sputum samples analysed and all that's shown up is an iron deficiency. This will not be helping the cough, so I now have a prescription for iron tablets which I hate taking as they make me nauseous. I also managed to have two weeks of laryngitis in the middle of all this. I'm looking forward to 3rd January onwards as all our festive commitments and travelling will be over and I might get a chance to relax and get on top of this. GP has reassured me that I'm far from the only victim in the practice but I've felt quite alone with it. Hope all you fellow sufferers feel better soon

Two things that work for me: COOL bedroom, warm bed. Coat the feet (yes feet!) in Vick or similar lotion and protect with cotton socks. First one I discovered by accident. Second one I read somewhere and was desperate enough to try such a weird idea. I really do believe we keep our houses far too warm but I'm equally guilty. I'm having a go with an extra jumper and thermals, though. Nothing excessive but I'm trying.........

Cerocer13 You do often hear of sickness bugs in the summer, and have you never heard anyone complaining that summer colds are worse than winter ones?

Perhaps people's resistance to germs is lower in the winter, and there's a tendency to gather together in artificially heated environments...not sure really!

campodol we just both fell asleep this afternoon, both feeling 'wiped out' after this lurgy.

I did suggest a walk but after a busy morning a sleep was all we felt like doing.
I'm sure we'll all feel better as the nights draw out; it's the time of hibernation for sensible animals.

Maybe someone to answer this for me, been puzzling me for years. Lots of people say it''s not cold enough to kill off the bugs when we have a mild winter, but why is it then in the summer there's not many bugs about. What kills them off? You never hear of the summer vomiting bug, and flu is never about in summer, nor colds and coughs

A friend of mine was recommended turmeric capsules for a cough that had resisted all other 'medicaments' by her Iranian boss. In desperation I tried it for the 'lurgy' and it worked like magic! Apparently it's such an effective anti- inflammatory it's being trailed by 'mainstream' medicine, it also zapped my arthritis, great stuff

Any suggestions for a DH with fatigue and tiredness, hes into his 6th week with this dreaded lurgy and although the cough is a little better now he's got no energy whatsoever, i do feel very sorry for anyone with this horrible bug i hope you all get better soon

METATONE ladies. My mum gave me it as a child. I give it to my dc every day (much to their distaste). Touch wood, everyone around me has had some for of cough or cold and I've managed to keep it away. I also drink honey, lemon and cinnamon with hot water regularly. Also worth trying silver (colloidal) water. It contains a natural antibiotic and isn't as harsh as the synthetic sort. I hope you all get better soon. Good Health and a happy new year to you all.

Flu jabs will not protect against cold viruses, in fact they only protect against a few strains of (currently circulating) flu.

missdeke I don't want to scare you, but has your GP checked out your heart? My husband had a series of coughs for two years and was prescribed antibiotics and nasal spray. He was effectively told that there wasn't much wrong with him. Eventually we saw a very competent locum who asked us if we could get to the hospital under our own steam or should he call an ambulance? Turned out he had heart failure which had obviously been happening for some time and fluid had built up in his lungs. He has now had a stent and takes lots of drugs which have dealt with his problem, but it would not have reached such a serious stage had it been picked up earlier.

I only had the cold for a few days, but just couldn't get rid of the horrible chesty cough which went on for a month. Also had a bit of a bladder infection I think, though it didn't occur to me that it was connected to the rest of it! I got the virus so soon after I had a flu jab that I don't think it had time to set me up with antibodies.

Incidentally I do take antihistamines all the time as I have allergies to pollens, bites and fungi, so I know that the cough is not due to an allergy.

French pharmacists are magic! They have so many wonderful remedies for just about everything. For coughs and colds my pharmacist friend makes me up a bottle of cinnamon and cardomum and then another one of eucalyptus, three drops of each on a teaspoon of honey and down the hatch. Takes the top of your head off but boy does it work.

They have supositoires pour mal au gorge, that's suppositories for sore throats, yes really! Works like a dream, well a bad one. Put the blunt end in first, not the pointy end. My great friend is a pharmacist and laughs whenever I ask for them as she is well aware that Brits safe wimpish about them!

Potters Vegetable Cough Remover and Fisherman's Friends (not with sorbitol or you end up on the loo). The only answer. So much better than cough syrups.

Istarted with congestion in my sinus was advised to use a decongestant tablet by Boots pharmacy. It made things worse. Rang 111 on Boxing Day and was told I really needed a expectorant mixture. As the decongestant would just dry up things even more. So much for Boots pharmacy. My ribs are sore through coughing and I still sound awful. I do suffer from sinus as I have a distorted septum. Using salt sprays. Dog isn't happy hasn't been a walk at all.

Anya I'm waiting for the call back to the respiratory clinic at the hospital for the results of the allergy tests, I'm inclined to think it is something in the house that I am allergic to and certainly hope to find out next time I go. So far the only thing that seemed to help to any great degree was a course of steroids but I can't take them all the time. Have tried antihistamine tablets but they didn't seem to make much difference, fingers crossed they sort me out soon.