10 Cold and Flu Home Remedies

Hydrogen Peroxide in Humidifier

Posted by Sharon (Greenville, S C Usa) on 08/12/2011
★★★★★

You can also use peroxide in your humidifer when suffering from flu, colds, etc. Add 1 cup of peroxide to the tank and fill with water. Set humidifer close to your bedside so you can breathe the mist. Works wonders in stuffy nose and congestion.

Garlic

Posted by Neukoln (Edinburgh, Scotland, Uk) on 10/10/2010

I absolutely swear by taking raw garlic for knocking a cold on the head. Garlic takes 1.5 to 2 hours for its effects to be felt. So, when you first start taking it for your cold you need to take it every 2 hours, for about 4 doses... Then there is enough in your body to have an effect on your cold symptoms.

I take it this way: get a large clove of raw garlic or two small ones, chop it up very fine, put it on a spoon and swill it down with a cup of water. When my symptoms are really bad (i.e. At the start) I sometimes take two large cloves at a time. Once your symptoms dip down you'll get a feel for how often to take it thereafter. They'll come back if you haven't taken enough, for long enough. I promise you that it works. I thought I was dying last night cos I felt so bad, but I got up every two hours (I couldn't sleep anyway) and had a finely chopped clove of raw garlic with a cup of water. By the morning my symptoms were OK, not gone but a lot better. I took another clove 4 times through the day, and I feel well enough to go to work tomorrow. Amazing stuff!

Hydrogen Peroxide in Humidifier

Posted by Alexandra (Toronto, On) on 11/11/2009
★★★★★

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to all of the wisdom on this site. I have been using all of the information for a couple of years but haven't written in till now. Two of my kids (14 and 18) came down with colds this week and then started running fevers. My daughter has also been vomitting so has not been able to do the lysine/Vit C remedy for flu. She also threw up the capful of HP in 1 litre of water remedy so I tried the HP in a cool mist humidifier... I added 2 capfuls to the resevoir of water and after 12 hours of sleep she woke up - no fever, no sore throat!

Vapor Rub

Posted by Linda (Eugene, Oregon) on 09/15/2009
★★★★★

I have been reaping the rewards of the many postings on Earth Clinic and now it's time to give back. My grandmother spent some time living on an Indian reservation in the 40s and 50s and she learned from their medicine "person" a remedy for severe chest colds. Begin by using a vapor rub or a similar camphor product and rub it on the chest, back and neck. Using two thin cotton squares, (large handkerchiefs work well) wet them in ice water then apply them at once to the chest and back. Then quickly put on a heavy wool sweater, keeping the handkerchiefs in place. Add a wool scarf around the neck and pin it in place. Lastly, pull a cotton sweatshirt over all and then go to bed. This combination will do it's work during the night. By morning the cold will be gone. I used this on my nine year old daughter....she didn't like the treatment but it worked!

Good luck and thank you Earth Clinic for this wonderful site.

Cayenne

Posted by Alex (Los Angeles, CA) on 02/14/2009
★★★★★

Hi, the recipe that worked for me was : boil water , squeeze lime and thown it toguether with it, add a teaspoon of cayenne pepper and, add a table spoon raw honey. felt better after few hours.

Black Elderberry Syrup

Posted by Maxine (Havana, Arkansas, USA) on 11/13/2008
★★★★★

Flu and Colds: Black Elderberry syrup, this stuff was discovered by a doctor in isreal , it had clinical trials cuts cold and flu in half. I used this with great success. It also helped fibromyalgia pain, unusual side effect. It works for anything viral, and I read somewhere it would work for bird flu.

Vitamin C

Posted by Russell (Lawton, Oklahoma) on 10/23/2008
★★★★★

I have twin boys with allergies and they both can't stand to take pills, so I use pharmacuetical grade SODIUM ASCORBATE powder I bought over the internet, and mix 1/3 of a tsp (that's about 1200 mg) in just a small amount of juice or other drink. The sodium ascorbate works faster and your body absorbs it better. If they are coughing and getting congestion I give them 1/3 tsp every 30 minutes for 2-3 hours in the evening time. I also learned this from Linus Paulings writings!

I've been able to deal with congestion and allergies myself over the last 3 years by this same Vitamin C regimen. I just call it Vitamin C "Megadosing". It works great and my blood pressure is perfect!

Vitamin C

Posted by Bryce (Vancouver, Canada) on 06/17/2008
★★★★★

At the first signs of a cold, I dose myself with 1000's of milligrams of Vitamin C. I will take 2000-3000 milligrams at a time, throughout the day. Perhaps the most I've taken in a day is 6000-7000 mgs. This is the first thing that I have found that actually stops a cold in it's tracks. It's great, give it a try.

Hydrogen Peroxide in the Ears

Posted by Susan (Springfield, Missouri) on 03/31/2008
★☆☆☆☆

WARNING!

I tried using the Hydrogen Peroxide in my ears for my Cold. As I was waiting for it to bubble holding my head sideways - the room started spinning. I couldn't wait the 5 minutes suggested so I just drained it and tried the other ear. Again the spinning started so I endured as long as I could. I ended up getting very dizzy and queasy and lost my dinner. It's now the next day and I'm still feeling horrible. Not sure why it affected me like this - is it my cold or the procedure??

Msg (!)

Posted by Ted (Bangkok, Thailand) 392 posts

Assuming you were right, still the monosodium glutamate would destroy the other functions pituitary, thyroid and most importantly, the control centers of the brain, the hypothalamus. There are countless research on the the dangers of monosodium glutamate. It should also be noted that a chicken soup, not in a canned one as it contains female estrogen, that is found in nearly all plastic lined canned foods and packaged food made from Bisphenol-A, where accumulative effects may also lead to miscarriage, obesity also.

It would be a lot safer to take L-Glutamine, which is a close cousin of the Monosodium glutamate, but doesn't have the brain damaging effects of the sodium attached to the glutamine molecules. The L-Glutamine has immune supporting effects and protect against cold. Adding l-glutamine with freshly cooked chicken soup (never canned), which is cysteine rich, with added vinegar would have been a better safer alternative. L-Glutamine is popularly used by body builders to reduce fat, but increase muscle mass, while monosodium glutamate does the opposite, by stimulating the appetite, but yet causes morbid obesity in rat studies, decrease growth and endocrine damages, so well known in many rat studies. A remedy for this cold require about two of L glutamine, with freshly cooked chicken soup and plenty of vinegar (or apple cider vinegar).

Gargling With H2O2

Posted by Colleen (Ontario, Canada)
★★★★★

I would like to give my natural remedy for : allergy suffers, colds and sinus problems. At the onset of any of the above, put two drops of 3% hydrogen peroxide in one ear and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Tilt head and drain on clean tissue. Repeat in other ear. I do this for two days and all troubles are gone. This is also good if you have itchy ears. This is safe and proven to be effective. You may hear a bubbling sound in your ear but don't be afraid. It feels so good when you drain it out of your ear. Once you get past the fear you will wonder how you ever managed without it. Hydrogen peroxide is cheap and available at any drugstore. Just make sure to purchase the 3% type.

Gargling With H2O2

Posted by Brian (Florida)
★★★★★

I have found that peroxide in the ear can stop a cold even after it starts. I lucked up when doing this method, I didn't know about these home remedies then, I was just off from work because I was sick and decided to clean out my ears because I had extra time. Gargling might help to break up irritation and mucus in the throat. I say this because my ears nose and mouth don't seem to be as closed off from on another as the average person. After adding peroxide in my ears, I immediately tasted it in my mouth (really in the back of my throat). It felt like I needed to belch, and when I did, all the stuff in my throat came up. It was weird for me but it does seem to break up and stop symptoms of colds.

Baking Soda and Zinc

Posted by Bill (Cottonwood, AZ)
★★★★★

As soon as you feel a tickle or sensation in your throat. Take 1/2 to 1 tsp. of baking soda in a glass of water followed by a zinc lozenge under your tongue and you will never get a cold. My family has been doing this for years and it works. One night I was lazy and didn't do it; sure enough, next morning had a cold.

Apple Cider Vinegar + Hydrogen Peroxide

Posted by healer Larry (central point oregon) on 11/26/2023
★★★★★

I woke up choking, gasping for air, stumbled to the bathroom trying to clear the mucus clogging my lungs and sinuses. I knew I had to figure it out quick and do some bathroom chemistry. so I grabbed a cup and poured 1/3 hydrogen peroxide and added 1/3 apple cider vinegar and1/3 hot tap water.

I quickly started gargling the mixture and spit it out, it started cutting the phlegm immediately. I continued gargling, rinsing with another cup of water between.it seems to have a drawing effect pulling from the sinus and the lungs. This is hands down the best mucus busting gargle ever. It's cheap, fast and works. It has never not worked for the people I have recommended it to. I call it Larry's gargle.

Zinc

Posted by Prioris (Florida, US) on 10/15/2014

FYI: There are several kinds of zinc that you can take for colds. But only two kinds of zinc are actually effective against colds.

The best kind is zinc acetate. It's the only kind of zinc that consistently slashes the duration of a cold in half. Zinc gluconate was the second best choice, but zinc acetate worked much better.

None of the other kinds of zinc were effective at fighting colds.

Why are zinc acetate and zinc gluconate effective and other kinds aren't? Because they both release zinc in the form of a positively charged ion. The ionic form is what makes the difference in whether zinc can cure your cold or not.

They discovered that zinc acetate was best. Zinc acetate releases 100% of the zinc in an ionic form. Zinc gluconate was second best. It only releases 70% of its zinc in the ionic form.

The researchers also found that you need at least 75 mg of zinc acetate a day to fight colds. And finally, they found that zinc is only effective when cold viruses are exposed to zinc for at least 20 minutes at a time.

Since zinc needs 20 minutes of exposure to fight colds? pills, syrups, or sprays simply won't work. You need slow-dissolving lozenges that release the zinc right where the viruses are.

Sea Salt

Posted by P (Middle, Fl) on 12/06/2011
★★★★★

Last couple of weeks I was assisting an elder to hospital & doctor visits and at the same time we cought a cold front. Well my hubby, son and myself caught a cold in the same order. Well I helped them get over it with my usual concoctions and made them to tea for myself, but I must have stopped a day too short because it hit me real hard the day after and man I haven't felt that in a long while! Being angry at myself for getting fever, running nose, sleep I went to EC my favorite site in the whole wide world! ;) and searched cold remedies, hoping to find a quicker remedy than the one I do; and low & behold I did!

1 teaspoon in a glass of water knocked it right out; like minutes later my congested head stop feeling congested, my nose immediately stopped running and my cough subsided, fever went down! Wow!

It suggests 2tsp, but I couldn't, it was too much! Maybe my new excitement will allow me to do it again.... U know; one for the road!