I wanted to post this last month after I had overcome my cold but the Olympics and everything else kept me busy. I hope this post will still be helpful for those of you who are battling colds and flus on this first day of Spring (or during Autumn for my readers in the Southern Hemisphere)! Get well soon!

• [Room-temperature or hot] Water – This one is obvious. Keep yourself hydrated and keep using the loo!
• Sleep – The second obvious one. Let your body rest or else you’re only going to make yourself feel worse.
• ColdFx – These are made of natural ingredients and are meant to help boost your immune system. There are 2 kinds
  • ColdFX: This is the one I have. From what I understand, take this during the cold/flu, or even when you feel like you’re coming down with something. 1 capsule to be taken once daily in order to boost your immune system.
  • ColdFX Extra: This is to help prevent you from getting colds and flus as soon as you feel like you’re coming down with one
• Buckley’s – This is Canada’s awful-tasting syrup but it certainly works! Cures coughs, sore throats, plugged noses, etc. Turns out there are different kinds of syrups too. At home, we have the Original Mixture.
  • There are two new Buckley’s lozenges: Menthol Outburst and Bite-Me Cherry (I have the latter but have not tried it yet. I’d rather have something somewhat sweet!).
• Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa – This is the better-tasting Traditional Chinese sweet herbal syrup. It soothes dry and sore throats. ‘Pei Pa Koa’ means loquat syrup
  • Nin Jiom Herbal Candy – I prefer HALLS’ syrup center candies but these are sweet and we usually have at least one tin in our medicine cabinet.
  • Nin Jiom Herbal Gummy – I think this is exclusive to Asia since I can’t find these anywhere in Canada or online. Surprisingly, this has the same throat-clearing ability.
• Eucalyptus Menthol Candies – I sucked on a whole bag of these (I recognised the wrapping when I googled for a photo) when I came down with a cold in München. I was over my cold within 2 days!
• HALLS Cough Drops – HALLS is the all-in-one herbal candy + syrup remedy that I love. My favourite, of course, is the cherry-flavoured cough drop. Other flavours available: mixed berry with honey, apple cider with honey, lemon and honey.
• Tea – I recommend peppermint (clears and cools the through) and lemon & ginger (warms up the body). For lemon & ginger, add honey to your tea. 🙂 David’s Tea has a page of suggested cold fighting teas, as well as a Cold Fighting kit (5 teas, 10 honey sticks, 10 tea sachets) that works wonders.
• Yujacha – This is a traditional Korean citron herbal tea. It is so naturally sweet, you can forget about all the tea and nasty syrup suggestions from above. It looks like a jar of marmalade but you can mix it with hot (winter, cold/flu season) or cold water (summer). By the way, AVOID cold water. I know this can be found at T & T (and most likely H-Mart) but I’m not sure if it can be found in other stores.
• Hot Whiskey, Brandy, Vodka, Scotch, etc. – This is what I call the ‘European household cure’. If you have a cold, every European country it seems has its own alcoholic remedy that the people swear by. I’ve been recommended Hot Whiskey, Brandy, and Vodka by many people who swear that they’re better by the next day. Supposedly, even children are given it (smaller or watered down dosages?). Before you think heating up alcohol should help, please google some recipes first. I think all of these include fresh lemons.

Where can I buy these syrups, pills, and cough drops? Where can I buy these syrups, pills, and cough drops?

• Canada: Pharmasave, Rexall, Shoppers Drug Mart, London Drugs, etc. Any pharmacy should have these or something similar.
• Germany: The Eucalyptus menthol candies can be found at DM. Any apothecary should carry several kinds of natural/herbal medicines.
• Other countries: Check your local pharmacy or on Amazon. 😉

What’s your remedy?