I’m full of cold or flu. Taken some paraceptamol to reduce the fever. What do you like to do to feel better even for a short period of time. Need some tips! Feeling so crap
Fevers are your body fighting the infection so unless it gets too high you should just let it do it’s thing. Keeping the fever will shorten the duration of a mild or moderate illness. If your fever gets up to 102-103f or ~39c take medicine to reduce it, if it hits 105f or 40c then you are in danger of cooking you brain and should go to the ER. Stay well hydrated, getting some electrolytes is a good idea if you are sweating more than usual or vomiting. Eat regularly, your body is using extra calories to fight the infection so even if you activity level is lower you need the same or a little more calories than normal. The more balanced your diet the better. Have something to do. Don’t just focus on the illness and lay around getting bored, do some light housework, engage is a light hobby, catch up on some TV or movies, replay an old favorite video game. Anything to keep your mind engaged and to make the time pass faster.
I agree. Unless it is too high or too long, let it work it’s magic. You will be miserable, but likely get well faster. Take something for the congestion, drink plenty of fluid, and go to bed and sleep or lay on the couch and watch movies.
Water + rest. Take off work!
Your body is fighting hard
Soup always makes me feel better. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just something hot and healthy and tasty. And a piece of bread to mop up afterwards.
My mother always made chicken soup when I was sick with a cold/flu. I always felt worse afterwards and she would be upset when I told her because “that’s so unkind to say”, like it was a criticism of her cooking. It took me so many years to figure out that I am slightly allergic to celery which I was only fed when I was already sick …
Mostly, I sleep. When I’m not sleeping, I play relaxing video games or watch older TV shows/movies. So it’s like Stardew Valley and Better Off Ted/Airplane all day.
And, of course, chicken soup or your regional equivalent sick people food.
A hot, spicy, citrus-laden soup loaded down with potatoes, chayote, spinach, onions, cilantro, and a protein source of your choice. Flavor with stock. Broccoli and/or carrots added in late in the cooking to preserve their crunch.
The psychological effects of a hearty meal and the nutritional benefits are great. Make it in a big enough pot and you can keep coming back to it over 2 days, leaving you free from cooking and limiting additional dishes to mess with while sick.
Spend that time practicing self-care instead. The mental boost is considerable and lessens the awful feeling of being sick.
Also, make sure to take in sunlight, but also spend some time cozy in a dark setting. Falling into a hard habit can adversely affect your mood.
Don’t neglect grooming. A hot shower and a clean, head of hair/scalp is something people may take for granted, but I’ve had to go days without a shower sometimes and the feeling of a freshly washed head is revitalizing.
That sounds delicious. I never considered citrus in soup. Lemon, I’m guessing?
There’s a delicious recipe for chicken/tortilla/lime soup somewhere on imgur… Lemme find it rq… Here we go:
Lime, actually. Lime pairs a little better with legumes or red meats in my opinion, and pairs equally as well with pork as lemon. Lemon is a winner when paired with chicken, however.
If you can stand it and the temperature isn’t life threatening, let the fever go without fever reducers. It may shorten the duration of your convelesece.
I agree with what everyone else is saying. Keep your electrolytes up, eat healthy foods, eggs, liver, if you can. Stay hydrated. Rest. And sleep.
I like to cook a spice tea with cinnamon, star anise, cloves, and black pepper (cook it all for 10 minutes), and then add some fresh orange juice and honey. Goes well with deliriously binge-watching a series from my “to do” list.
I got people calling it “the undead-turning lamen”:
Get some chicken (thighs? breast? whatever, include the bones but take them afterwards). Dice it, season with ginger, red pepper, black pepper, brown sugar. Brown it in a pot large enough to make some soup out of it. Then add wasabi, vinegar, minced garlic, soy sauce and water or chicken stock, fix the seasoning as necessary. (It’s fine to add a bit of salt to avoid making it too soy saucy.) Then add sliced cabbage, carrot, onion, leek, whatever you have in your fridge (see note on order), plus instant noodles (no packet seasoning). Let it cook all together and serve it.
It won’t cure your cold or flu. But it’s comforting, and nutritive. Make it spicy, but not uncomfortably so. If you’re struggling to chew it’s fine to just sip the liquid itself, as plenty nutrients from the vegs will leak into it.
NOTE: vegs and noodles take different cooking times, so plan accordingly. If using the ones that I’ve listed I’d probably add the carrots and cabbage, wait a bit, then onion and leek, wait a bit more, then the lamen. I usually go by texture but I guess five minutes between steps is reasonable?
Well that’ll clear the sinuses right up lol
Yup - the heat (wasabi, ginger, red pepper, black pepper) is part of the “raising undead” combo, not just seasoning. The rest is just a bunch of easy to digest nutrients, including water (people tend to get dehydrated when sick).
If it’s not too hot outside, sunshine. It helps get rid of that icky, germy feeling of being cooped up inside and the vitamin D doesn’t hurt either.
In addition to what people have advised so far, I can’t stress enough how important rest, and especially sleep is when you’re ill. Whenever I’ve fallen ill with a cold, flu, cough, etc., I find that if I try to fight it and go about the day as normal, the illness lasts much longer. If I try to sleep it off, I get better a lot faster. If you can, and especially on the first day, don’t go to work, don’t run errands, and especially don’t go to the gym/exercise. Good luck!
Drink a lot. I personally always like tea brewed with a few thin slices of ginger. It’s refreshing and makes me feel better.
It is important to drink enough. If your nose is swollen and shut, xylometazoline does handle that. Paracetamol (1000 mg for adults) or Ibuprofene (400 mg for adults) will help against pain and fever.
If you’ve been ill for just a few days and it’s available to you, get a COVID-19 test and seek Paxlovid. The new variants are about so many are sick with it and Paxlovid is effective at reducing illness severity. Same is true of Tamiflu for the flu but it’s likely to be COVID-19 at this time.
Paxlovid
In the UK I bet it’s hard to get this unless you’re in a high risk group with severe symptoms. I am up to date on all my jabs though.
Ah, yea the UK is very strict on Paxlovid eligibility. Glad you’re up to date on the vaccines, if it is COVID that should help with initial illness and resting as much as possible can help with reducing Long COVID development. I may have missed others make this suggestion but a good heat pad or similar for aches can be wonderful. Hope you feel better soon.
If you’re on psych meds, you may not be able to get the antiviral. I couldn’t get it. I got Prednisone and it’s barely doing anything
The prednisone makes sense, its generally not recommended to start it while sick at least (or any cortico-steroids). I’m not in the medical science field enough to be able to explain why, but I’ve had to be on prednisone quite often in the past and remember my doctors bringing this up.
Vitamin C , lots of water. Rest and real non processed food such fresh fruit and vegetables. I also avoid carb heavy meals when unwell to give my system a break. I still eat some carbs but just keep it light.
“There’s been a rumor that – you know, a very nice rumor – that you go outside in the sun or you have heat and it does have an effect on other viruses,”
“I’m going to speak to the medical doctors to see if there’s any way that you can apply light and heat to cure, you know, if you could.”
