Curious/not HA - common cold once every 4 weeks?

[helenhoo]

I'm usually taking vitamins but haven't been latelty. I had a cold jan, mid feb and now feel my throat acting post drip nasally. Colds usually go in a week with right treatment! Is it time of year? Colds are never that bad. Always ok to go into work etc.

[silver_shoes]

I hate to use that phrase, "there's a lot of it around at the moment"... however this year it seems there really is lol.. I know a couple of people who have recently had colds that have hung on for a few weeks.

[helenhoo]

I had one end of jan, few weeks back and now creeping back ha. Ugh.

[Fishmanpa]

Spring is coming, things are beginning to bloom, allergies get into full swing and yes, people catch colds, especially when they're run down and stress can do that to you.

Positive thoughts

[MyNameIsTerry]

You get different types, some linger more, some are quick, some don't develop into full blown and bother more the throat, etc. I've had a throat virus for over a week now and it keeps getting better then getting worse then getting better. Loads of people around here seem to have it so something is certainly going around.

Unless you are allergic to tree pollen (starts February), in the UK it's unlikely the hayfever will be kicking in with our weather.

Dose up on your vitamins. The immune system may not be tip top from anxiety, which is known to make us burn through nutrients quicker than normal, as it may help. Get lots of vitamin C too. I've treated one chest infection last year with high strength vitamin C and it's the first time I've dodged antibiotics as an asthma sufferer. It's working for my throat virus too.

[helenhoo]

Anyone know if I use multivitamins with iron (i haven't taken in a while and these did help me stay away from office lurgies) if I can take vitamin C on top?

[helenhoo]

I've had that oh sh*t why is my Poo a bit darker and I read about the iron intake. Easier to get mag with iron and then VIT C or stick with multi?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Vitamin C is one of the safest things to take. You can take it in huge doses which is actually used by some doctors to treat various conditions quite successfully. At a high level it will give you the runs, called bowel tolerance, which is what these doctors aim for as a start to therapy and then they go much higher.

However, we can't absorb a lot of it at one time (250mg I think) so large doses can be wasted. That's where timed release comes in. The alternative is to take smaller doses throughout the day. I've done both of these.

So, if your multivitamin has vitamin C in it already, take the separate vitamin C tablet at a different time. The idea is to keep your blood plasma levels up of it so you get a more consistent prolonged effect and waste less of it.

I've taken 2000mg a day with the methods and found they help. This level is safe long term but "mega dosing" as mentioned earlier us something only to do when needed.

[helenhoo]

Would that be an everyday thing or just while full of cold?

[MyNameIsTerry]

2000mg is certainly fine everyday. It's not recommended to stay on doses higher than this for long periods.