Ray and I have a difference in opinion on how to treat a cold.
He says drink Emergen-C. Anytime Ray has been around anyone who is coughing or when he feels even the slightest symptom of a cold, he starts mixing it up and drinking it three times a day. I think he carries the little packets in his pocket all winter...just in case. He'll admit it, he has a germ phobia. He's convinced drinking this can even prevent you from getting sick.
I, on the other hand, believe the best way to beat a cold is to use a neti pot. A few years ago I saw Dr. Oz on the Oprah Show and he picked someone out of the audience to demonstrate using a neti pot. I had never seen anything like it. Just pour water into one nostril and somehow it runs out the other like an open faucet. It was a little freaky to watch, but a month later they had a follow up show and several people had written in testifying how well it had worked for them. I promptly got on Amazon and ordered myself the ceramic one that looked like the one I had seen on TV. I wanted to be prepared for the next time I had a stuffy nose. Eventually I had the opportunity to use it. And it worked! I found that it cleaned me out for several hours and eliminated almost all the nose blowing.
My kids will thank me for NOT posting a picture of the neti pot in use. It's a mental picture that can be hard to get out of your head.
Because of that I have had a hard time convincing anyone else in my family to use it. Some of my friends have tried it though and have loved it.
The key is to hold your head correctly, because if you don't, it feels like when you are swimming and get water up your nose. I also only use distilled or boiled (and cooled) water after reading in the news a nasty story about someone using it with contaminated tap water.
I swear using it has significantly lessened my cold symptoms and shortened the duration of the colds I have recently had.
Ray did convince me to drink Emergen-C along with using the neti pot this last cold and I actually think that helped even more. So maybe we're both right.
