24 replies to this topic

[Nine]

I'm a college student, which means I'm broke and don't have much as far as food and stuff go.

Any tips on how to get rid of the nasty congestant thats ozzing around the back of my nasalpharynx?

[Tetiel]

I'm a college student, which means I'm broke and don't have much as far as food and stuff go.

Any tips on how to get rid of the nasty congestant thats ozzing around the back of my nasalpharynx?

Take a hot shower with loads of steam. It'll help you feel better and might make it unplug. Of course you might have to spit it out...

[Kyle]

Get a tea pot with luke warm water and a little salt, and tip your head on its right side. Pour the water up your left nostril. Repeat as necessary with either nostril. It doesn't feel great at first, but it works wonders.

EDIT: The spout of the tea pot must fit snugly inside your nose. Click here for a picture.

Edited by KyleBigMac, 25 February 2008 - 05:59 PM.

[Jewbert]

Take a hot shower with loads of steam. It'll help you feel better and might make it unplug. Of course you might have to spit it out...

Speaking of hot things... every time I eat SPICY foods, my nose runs. That might help.
Also, some mentholated drops may help... MAYBE.

[Hater_Boxden]

Take a shot of whiskey, trust me it works.....

[ToxicS]

Buy hot sauce and chug it, ull clear your nose.

[misakirose]

Get a tea pot with luke warm water and a little salt, and tip your head on its right side. Pour the water up your left nostril. Repeat as necessary with either nostril. It doesn't feel great at first, but it works wonders.

EDIT: The spout of the tea pot must fit snugly inside your nose. Click here for a picture.

This does actually work, strangely. I saw it once on Oprah.

[Sunset]

found this online:

Sniff an onion. "Basically, the only thing you get from rubbing on menthol or other decongestants is some irritation that stimulates the nose to run and unblock the stuffiness," says Venice, Florida, otolaryngologist Hueston C. King, M.D., visiting professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. "You can get the same effect from smelling an onion."

Go heavy on the spice. The cure for a stuffy nose is to make it runny, and few things make it run faster than spicy meals. "Hot and spicy foods trigger a reflex response to make your nose runny," says Gordon Raphael, M.D., an allergist and a former researcher at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland. "Eat some hot chili peppers and your nose will immediately start running." This running helps break up congestion and remove irritants that may be causing the stuffiness, adds Dr. King.

Try Mom's chicken soup. Or any other hot liquid taken from a cup. When you drink anything hot, the steam of the liquid helps unclog nasal passages, and the fluid itself helps dilute mucus in the nose and makes breathing easier, says Varro E. Tyler, Ph.D., professor of pharmacognosy at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and author of The Honest Herbal. Besides soup, hot tea with lemon and even hot water are excellent decongestants.

Hit the showers. Breathing the steam from a hot shower is probably the easiest way to cut mucus and keep it from getting thick--a common cause of stuffiness, says Douglas Holsclaw, M.D., professor of pediatrics and director of the Pediatric Pulmonary and Cystic Fibrosis Center at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia.

Run a humidifier. A humidifier certainly helps put moisture in the air, but it can be counterproductive if it also spreads water impurities, spores and germs. "Use distilled water to fill the humidifiers and you won't have impurities," advises Alvin Katz, M.D., an otolaryngologist and surgeon director at Manhattan Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital in New York City. And clean the unit weekly by circulating a solution of half water, half white kitchen vinegar. The solution should be run through the unit for 10 to 15 minutes near an open window to avoid the persistence of a vinegar odor. Then discard the vinegar solution and fill the unit with fresh distilled water. The unit can run for up to, a week without cleaning again. Keeping open pans of water near the stove and radiators can also help humidify, but the water needs to be changed frequently.

More can be found here

[Nine]

Spicy foods are definatly out, I can't handle them one bit. Sticking a tea kettle doesn't sound too pleasant either. I'll try some of the steam methods. Only problem with a hot shower is it'll dry out my skin too much.

[Bryan]

Beef Bouillon Cubes =]

[Christopher Robin]

A table spoon of hotsauce I'd say should do it...

[phalkon]

Speaking of hot things... every time I eat SPICY foods, my nose runs. That might help.
Also, some mentholated drops may help... MAYBE.

i used to have one of those menthol stick things you could stick in your nose, but i dropped it on the ground, and it got dirty. so i thought, "hey i'll just rinse off the dirt" so i did, except i couldn't get the inside dry, so i started fling/shaking it, and ended up flinging mentholated water into my eye. x_x liquid-fucking-fire.

Take a shot of whiskey, trust me it works.....

that one i think i'll def try though.

[Cyo]

Mix custard with paprika/chili add some black pepper and onions and then mix that together in the mixer. Apply said mixture on bread and it'll do wonders.
P.S. Eat said bread.
Or you could always snort wasabi.

Edited by Cyo, 26 February 2008 - 07:19 AM.

[Tetiel]

Spicy foods are definatly out, I can't handle them one bit. Sticking a tea kettle doesn't sound too pleasant either. I'll try some of the steam methods. Only problem with a hot shower is it'll dry out my skin too much.

Ooo... right. I forgot that some people don't have oily skin like I do. Blessing and a curse at the same time. Anywho yeah the other methods people mentioned do work. There's a reason why they say chicken noodle soup is good for colds. There's nothing in it that helps it, but it's the comfort food approach as well as the hot steam flowing right into your nose as you try and cool each spoonful off. Tea, of course, is the same concept. Though... try doing decaf coffee. Caffiene (maybe as it dehydrates you?) causes the mucus to be thicker and therefore worse. It's really no fun.

Oh yes and if you do attempt to just pick up some decongestants at the store don't take them long term. What they do I suppose is the same effect as caffiene but in a more... effective way. It causes your nose not to run and such and it causes the mucus to be more... erm... globular. If this is allergies or something it's not a good idea as that's long term. Eventually the mucus becomes like cement and it'll never come out

[phalkon]

Or you could always snort wasabi.

Christ... he's not on Jackass!

[Brad]

I'd go with the Nasal Lavage.

[Fatal]

I would go with the teapot in the nostril idea, but you shouldn't be getting sick anyways

[Will]

Take a hot shower with loads of steam. It'll help you feel better and might make it unplug. Of course you might have to spit it out...

Take a shot of whiskey, trust me it works.....

Definitely do both of those. I'd say fill a glass 3/4 of the way up with OJ and then just top it off with whiskey. I don't know why but that does work pretty well for getting rid of colds. Oh and take some Ibuprofen, that's never a bad idea.

[Bryan]

Oh and take some Ibuprofen, that's never a bad idea.

Yes it is, especially after taking a shot of whiskey.

You're trying to kill the poor person =[

[Will]

Yes it is, especially after taking a shot of whiskey.

You're trying to kill the poor person =[

Oh hush that won't kill him. It'll make him forget about that cold for sure though.

[Nine]

Taking IbuProfun or Tylonol or anything like that with/after drinking causes a lot of damage to the liver. Not a good idea. In general, don't take any Tylonol or anything until at least 24 hours after you drink. Depending on the person's weight, age, ect, it could vary.

I think I'll go with drinking something hot. I'm not sick, it's just I have a lot of problems with drainage and stuff, I have thick muscus and it drives me nuts in the winterly times, or when I have a cold.

[Will]

Quoth the Ibuprofen bottle, "Warning this product may...cause stomach bleeding if you have 3 or more alcoholic drinks every day while using this product."

So I spose it wouldn't be the greatest idea to take it with booze. I still recommend the hot shower though.

[foogie]

HOMG YES

I was gonna maker this exact thread since I've been sick the past week and a half....

I cant take decongestants either cuz of other pills I take.


but I go to the bathroom, run hot water out of the tap, cup some in my hand and bath my nose a few times, then blow the shit out of it. I do that a few times.

also, nasal rinses.... saline shit.

[Christopher Robin]

Yes it is, especially after taking a shot of whiskey.

You're trying to kill the poor person =[

It's only -one- shot Not a bottle.

[Tetiel]

Ibuprofin is fine with the liver. Tylenol however is NOT. Tylenol is possibly the most likely OTC painkiller to kill you if you OD. Ibuprofin is bad because it can cause severe stomach damage if taken with foods that are very acidic/spicy or with alcohol as it's not very kind to the stomach as well. Same with asprin. Frankly I think it's just a bad idea to be taking any type of painkiller with alcohol :\