Natural remedies for flu, cold, sore throat, etc.

Fresh ginger, grated, infused in boiling water for five minutes or so, and then strained and drunk with honey added, and lemon juice if you like it, but I don’t. But my favourite go to for a cold is homemade chicken broth, made from a chicken carcass and any left over meat, and vegetables, and it seems to work for me. As for flu, I have only had it once and could not eat or drink anything - I just wanted to die!

When we were kids my mum used to chop up an onion, sprinkle brown sugar over it and leave it aside until the liquid from the onion seeped into the sugar, then she'd give us the liquid on a spoon for coughs and colds. Can't remember if it worked but we used to love it.

A very hot drink (of tea,coffee, anything) taken as soon as I notice the first signs of a cold. As I drink it, I try to hold the hot liquid in my throat for a few seconds before swallowing. I've found that if I do this early enough, it often seems to stop the cold from developing.

NotTooOld my remedy which came from our milklady ( the D of the farmer who the unpasteurized milk came from) was a turnip covered in brown sugar and the syrup which resulted taken as a cough syrup.
Sore throats were treated with sugar beaten with sugar and then with vinegar added to make a paste. It was so delicious I used to invent sore throats just to be given it.
Summer ailments were treated with sulphur tablets from the chemist, they were awful, but the ultimate was Fennings Fever Cure which was formulated by the devil himself and one dose cured all as you didn't want a second.
At my advanced age I find most things are cured by going to bed with a larger whisky, brown sugar and hot water with 2 paracetamol. Cures all my ills..

The turnip was thinly sliced, I missed that bit out.

Sambucol.
It's elderberry, and you can make elderberry syrup or vinegar if you have any in your garden, but not now, unfortunately.

I was wondering about that, annsixty. I imagined you cutting the top off the turnip and hollowing it out.

I was just reading about sulphur tablets last week and how commonly they were used, yet there's no proof that they can do anything at all.

I really only have one approach and that's Paracetamol and sleep.

If my ears are bad, I have an inhalation cup thingy that I use instead of holding my head under a towel over a bowl of boiled water. When I was still at home my Mum added Friar's Balsam, but these days I just use a teaspoon of vick.

If I get a full blown cold I slather Vaseline on the end of my nose and use really soft tissues.

Throat..salt water gargle! Echinacea all through winter..and if just a cold,carry on as normal and just work it off?

I agree with Farview about salt water. Please don't make the solution too strong as it will burn the delicate mucous membrane. There is a trick of sucking slightly salted water up the nostrils and down the back of the throat that helps to disinfect the area. Don't sniff though as that makes it go up the sinus.

Wilma I do like Friars balsam and I keep an old jug at the back of under the sink for steam inhalations containing this pleasant mild disinfectant.

Nearly 5 weeks now with this unpleasant lurgy so feeling no better have caved in and made a gp appt this afternoon.

Fenning Fever Cure.......ohhhhh myyyyyyy evil stuff as you say....also seems to remember Fennings Little Healers...no idew what they were fore and they were in a little round tube tiny tablets.

"idea" "for" tut...

If you have a really irritating cough and sore throat, don't rely on hot drinks because heat will aggravate the inflammation. If you have an inflamed joint, you use an ice pack, so if you have an inflamed throat and larynx, suck an ice cube and sip iced water.

Yes I remember the onion and brown sugar remedy. We were told that it was a cheaper Liquafruita!

French cinnamon, eucalyptus and camphor distillations dropped on to honey and ingested. takes the top of your head but magic, forget inhalations, this is far more effective.

Also French suppositories for sore throats, yes I am serious, also uber magic.

Brits need to get over using suppositories, they are far more effective as the gut absorbs it into the system much quicker, and better than orally which can bring its own problems.

By the way - blunt end first, not the pointed end which you would logically think.

Does anyone believe what I was told that you feed a cold and starve a fever.?In many cases when one is under the weather we don't always feel like eating so just staying indoors keeping warm, lemon and honey for respiratory problems lots of fluids mainly water is the best thing we can do. Keeping yourself hydrated is most important but also to flush out of your system that which has caused you to become unwell.

I haven't succumbed to colds and flu this winter (fingers crossed) but I have home made veg soup everyday, plus a small glass of veg juice, including ginger, carrots, celery, spinach etc. first thing. I am hoping that increasing vitamins will keep my immune system happy x

Fennings Fever Cure! There was a bottle st Home for as long as I could remember but it was never used! We had a small heap of flowers of sulphur ( powdered sulphur) put onto mouth ulcers overnight. You never needed a second dose!

"Prevention is better than cure"! My daughter is studying to become a nutritionist dietician. She went on and on about the benefits of kefir and started me on "home made kefir" last year. It boosts your immune system, so they all say! I haven't had a cold or been ill at all since. My blood pressure is down, my skin is glowing, arthritis is not bad at all and I've lost weight. Maybe a fluke? I make it every day (takes 2 minutes) and drink one cup of the stuff ever morning.
I hated it to start with but I love it now. Weird stuff!
I also have home made soup every day. So far so good this year

Have the flu injection each year. When I have a cold which is not very often touch wood. I stop putting milk in my tea or coffee for a few days and avoid any milky hot drinks. Such as drinking chocolate. I find after a few days my cold starts to clear up. I do still eat yogurt because that is made in a different process.

Did anyone as a child have Parishes Food? It was absolutely disgusting. Not sure what it did but one dose was enough to cure you - a 2nd would probably have finished you off

Hot lemon honey and paracetamol always works for me, last time I had a bad cold was 2008.

The onion and brown sugar cure for coughs does work, my Grannie used it too. Daddy and I were convinced it scared the cough away as it tasted absolutely horrible.