For me the first sign of catching a cold is a scratchy throat. If I am diligent at putting the following steps into place I am able to stave off getting too sick. Where a cold typically is said to last for a week to 10 days, I am very sick for only one or two days.

I don't get sick very often, so I am fortunate in that regard, but sometimes everything aligns against me and I end up with a cold or the flu (once every 2-3 years seem the norm for me). It surprises me that I don't get sick more often as people are sick a lot at my job. Some are out sick at least once a month with one ailment or another.

My youngest son visited last Sunday night and by Tuesday he was sick. My throat started feeling scratchy on Wednesday, so I think I caught the cold from him. I believe what aligned against me this time is sleep deprivation. I'm trying to get to work at an earlier time regardless of how much sleep I get. After my adrenal fatigue incident, my boss said I could make my own hours and sometimes I don't arrive at work until 10:30 or 11am. This does not set well with me and I've decided recently that I need to get to work by 8:30 or 9am.

This means sometimes I don't get enough sleep. I get to bed with enough time to get enough sleep, but some nights I wake in the middle of the night and can't sleep. Last week I had a bad night and only got 5 hours sleep. If I weren't trying so hard to get to work earlier, I would have just stayed in bed and tried to sleep for another two hours before making myself get out of bed to get ready for work, but I decided to get up and get going. I also drank coffee [affiliate link] that morning since I needed it to get myself going.

I ended up leaving work a couple hours early since my throat felt scratchy and I felt exhausted. Since I tend toward having asthma and allergies (which rarely bother me nowadays) I thought it could be a reaction to something but just in case it was a cold or the flu, I decided to give my body all the help I could.

I have several tools in my “fight a cold before it gets worse” arsenal:

1. Liposomal C
2. L-Lysine
3. Completely avoid sugar
4. Chicken soup
5. Detox bath
6. Raw garlic
7. Drink plenty of water and clear liquids
8. Rest and sleep
9. Wash your hands frequently
10. Dispose of tissues properly

Please note some of the following links are Amazon affiliate links.

Liposomal C

I first learned about Liposomal C from the story of a man named Allan Smith, a dairy farmer who in 2010 was dying from Swine Flu. Literally. But he survived to tell the tale and here is an update from 2014: Allan Smith today.

After I got home, my throat started feeling more sore. My first line of defense is Liposomal C. My husband keeps a fresh supply in the refrigerator at all times.

Two years ago my husband, son and my mother all got sick with the flu and they were sick for many days. My son and husband got sick first and I didn't realize they had the flu but four days later when my symptoms started I realized this was either a cold or flu, and made a batch of Liposomal C. I started taking it right away and put my son and husband on it, too. I was sick for only 3 or 4 days compared to them being pretty sick for more than a week. My mother didn't want to take the Liposomal C and ended up with bronchitis and had a cough that lasted for weeks. I ended up taking two days off from work but was able to keep on taking care of everyone else in the house that was sick. I was convinced of how well Liposomal C works for my body.

Increase Absorption Dramatically – Regular vitamin C is absorbed at approximately 19%, the balance remains in the gastrointestinal tract to attract water and loosen the bowels. Nanotechnology, liposomalized vitamin C is absorbed at 93%, measurable in the blood stream. A 390% increase in absorption! Get IV results with oral dosage! ~https://www.quantumbalancing.com/liposomalC.htm

L-Lysine

In 1991 I got a sore on my lip, plus my gums were inflamed and sore. I went to the doctor but he was not able to figure out what was happening to me. He even swabbed my mouth to test for STDs! A few weeks later, another sore on my lip began. My mother-in-law told me that was a cold sore. I had never had one before, and learned that most people harbor the Herpes Simplex virus which causes cold sores. Often the virus will manifest for the first time when a person goes through a period of stress. I also learned that taking the amino acid L-Lysinee can be taken to greatly reduce the healing time and will also reduce pain. If you can learn to detect the tingly numb feeling of a cold sore which is just beginning, you may even be able to prevent it from fully forming.

I also learned that L-Lysine is a helper of the mucus membranes, so for any pain or sore involved with my mouth or gums I will take it. If I burn my mouth while eating something hot, I take L-Lysine. If I feel a cold sore starting, or if my gums are inflamed, I'll take some. I feel that I have a good sense of what my body needs. I'll usually begin with taking 1000mg L-Lysine and then as I think about it throughout the day I'll take 500mg several times.

Completely Avoid Sugar

I've been allowing myself some sugar, mostly in the form of chocolate chips! But when I am sick, I stop all sugars. I even make a point to avoid honey [affiliate link], fruit and concentrated fruit sugars (like dried fruit).

Chicken Soup

Next I pulled a chicken from the freezer to make chicken soup. It really doesn't need to be elaborate, just pop the whole chicken into a pot covered with water, onion, celery and carrots and start it boiling. While the soup is boiling, either lie down and relax or take a detox bath. After a couple of hours remove the chicken and take off the meat, return it to the pot and add in a few more vegetables, boil half an hour and you're soup is ready to nourish your body!

Detox Bath

Taking a detox bath will help your body remove toxins and usually makes me feel a lot better. I actually crave getting in a hot tub of water when I'm not feeling well. I use one of three ingredients: usually I opt for Epsom salts, but I will also use apple cider vinegar or baking soda [affiliate link]. Just fill the tub and add one to two cups of one. I ended up staying home from work on Thursday and took three detox baths, alternating ingredients.

Raw Garlic

When the soup is done, I pour a nice big bowl, crush some fresh garlic and mix it in with plenty of sea salt [affiliate link]. It is so soothing and delicious! Garlic is a powerful healing food with antioxidant, anti-fungal, antiviral and antibacterial properties. If I have zucchini on hand I'll spiralize a couple and put it into my soup and it makes me think of ramen noodles.

Water and Clear Liquids

When I'm sick I drink a lot of water. This time I just happened to have in stock several cans of coconut water, so I drank quite a bit of that. Drink soothing teas, there are some made specifically for colds, some for sore throat, and coughs.

Rest and sleep

If you can, stay in bed all day long. Try to sleep as much as you can. Your body needs to have this down time to recover. I stayed in bed for the whole day. I tried to sleep, but every time I felt drowsy and was just drifting off to sleep someone from worked call me!

I went through two boxes of tissues, my nose was running like a faucet, eewww, I hate when that happens! I was able to get a good night's sleep and the next day I had to go into work as I was working on a project that had a set deadline. I thought I would be there for 3 to 4 hours but my computer was not working properly and I had to wait around for the IT department to get it repaired. Finally I was able to do the work and ended up being there for a full day. This was day 2 of a cold, and I was able to stay at work all day. Normally on the second day of a cold I am not good for much more than staying in bed and watching television!

I am really grateful to have found these helpers for my body and love being able to decrease the days I'm uncomfortable with cold symptoms – without having to take over the counter medications!

Wash your hands and dispose of tissues properly

Okay, these last two I added mostly to help prevent getting the rest of the family sick! You're already sick so you probably won't get any less sick if you wash your hands and throw away your tissues. When I was younger, we used Lysol to spray the bathroom handles but nowadays I just make sure to wipe them down after spraying with water mixed with apple cider vinegar.

And I know when you're sick it might be tempting to throw tissues every which way all over the place, but make a point to bring a trash can or grocery store bag and put it next to your bed to contain them.

Do you have any secret weapons against the common cold?