Member Comments

I find these tablets give great protection if I find myself in a situation where I am to be more exposed to other people with colds.

As someone who suffers from chronic respiratory allergies, including hayfever year-round, it is ofen difficult to identify the onset of a cold or a hayfever attack...until it's too late for any of the Vit C, Zinc or softer medications. By then it's time for the whole armoury of serious medication including antihistamines and decongestants, without which I simply cannot breathe. I rarely ever experience pain with a headcold, so I am always mystified as to why they shove paracetamol into those composite Night/Day concoctions.
For a hacking cough I chew Airwaves gum - it's a briiliant suppressant, until the cough develops into a proper productive one, when preparations containing dextro are pretty good.

Can you tell me anything about First Defence? There is almost no information on the box about what is in this preparation, it just says 'natural' products. As opposed to 'unnatural' I suppose. Is there any evidence that it works to stop you getting a cold? It hurts like hell up your nose and I have a feeling it mya have worked, but maybe it is just a 'nocebo' (noxious placebo). Apparently, placebos that have side effects work better.

Vit C taken the minute you feel a scratchy throat seems to beat the onset of illness. And then continue to dose yourself throughout the day until the symptoms subside as per Sheldon's comment. Gargling with salt water seems to speed up the passing of a sore throat too.

The only thing that I found that really worked for relieving the symptoms of a cold was the Codral Day and Night Original. Unfortunately they are no longer on the market because they contain pseudoephidrine. It's such a shame that a few spoil it for others, and now it requires a doctors prescription.

I make a drink of lemon juice and grated ginger add boiling water and leave before drinking add a tsp manuka honey, works a treat.

As someone who suffers from sinus problems (and associated middle ear problems), I find decongestant-antihistamine products invaluable when I have a cold. Without them, my eustachian tubes block up, my middle ears invariably fill with goo, and I'm in pain and unable to hear properly for days (and if I have to take a flight, the pain and pressure become excruciating).

This isn't the placebo effect. Maybe those products aren't necessary for everyone, but for some people they are vital. The phenylephrine products don't work - I now have a doctor's prescription for pseudoephidrine, because it does!

The table listing differences between colds and flu (Drs call them URTIs - Upper Respiratory Tract Infection - suggest fever is rare for a cold.

This is perhaps slightly incorrect: colds often cause mildly raised temperatures and sometimes above 38Celsius.

The presence of a temperature can not be used as a marker of flu over a cold.