My Journey With Health And Fitness – Dealing With A Cold

It was really cold this morning so I figured I needed to add some extras to my walking outfit. I had been cleaning out the console in my vehicle the other day and found a pair of large gloves. I decided to wear those today and use some hand warmer packs. That worked really well as the gloves fit quite loosely and that meant the warmers worked so well that I actually had to take them off a couple times. I also added a gaiter which for those who don’t know is really just a neck scarf. I guess I made the right decision because I stayed nice and warm.

Last week my husband came down with a cold. While he tried his best to keep it from me including sleeping downstairs in the family room, by Saturday I knew I was about to get hit with it. My colds always start in my throat and by time I got to Sunday I had a baritone voice. However, I didn’t feel too bad. I went to the gym as normal yesterday but afterwards instead of going for my 10 km walk I came home and crawled straight in to bed. I then spent the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing which seems to have worked because I feel much better today.

I have my personal go to list of products to use when I have a cold. I am a firm believer in using decongestants especially at night. I simply can’t sleep if I’m all clogged up. I also like to use cough medicine and there is one brand in particular that has a no-sugar added version which works for me. I always ‘read the label’ when buying OTC products and I have to say one of the cough medicines I was looking at for my husband had pretty scary warnings about significant damage to the liver which could result in liver failure or even death. Yeah, I left that one on the shelf.

About 40 years ago my Mom was working in the postal outlet at a pharmacy. I dropped in to talk to her one day and mentioned I was coming down with a cold. Her boss, the pharmacist and owner, immediately brought me over some zinc supplements and told me to take them until the cold was gone and in future do the same whenever I felt a cold coming on. I was skeptical but I admit the cold wasn’t that bad and only lasted a few days. Ever since then zinc is my absolute go to product. There have been numerous studies done on zinc’s ability to block the rhinovirus (cold) from getting in to human cells. Some studies did not find any results but others found that taking zinc reduces the virus’ life span (less time sick) and the symptoms. That is what I have experienced over the years but there is also a few things to watch for. I never take zinc on an empty stomach (I only made that mistake once) and because supplements are much higher than the RDA, I stop taking them as soon as I feel I am out of the woods with the cold.

There is one other thing I am doing, staying away from people. Yes, I went to the gym again today but I am back to the keeping 2 meters away from everyone (and at our gym each of us disinfects our weights at the end of the session). Today I should be cofacilitating my caregivers’ support group but everyone who attends are seniors so I don’t want to risk infecting any of them. I’ll see how I am doing tomorrow and decide then if I will join my weekly coffee group.

I think the bottom line is that when dealing with a cold just do what works best to help you get through it. Yes, go for those comfort foods you might not normally indulge in (for me it was a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup for dinner last night). Get lots of rest, drink plenty of fluids and keep away from other. Here’s hoping that once this cold is over I don’t get another one for a while.