Season of sniffs and tissue-full-ness. How to cure the common cold.

You can't, sorry. However while there is as yet no cure for the common cold, there is quite a lot that you can do in order to feel less dreadful while you have one, whether that is less dreadful as you groan in your bed with the cold from hell, pausing every five minutes to blow your nose, or less dreadful with the cold from purgatory, with which you still have to go to work. And since I have extensive experience in this area, I thought I might as well share it.

There are three options when you have a cold.

(1) Do nothing. I have done this in the past, in the "you're just treating the symptoms" mindset. I don't do that anymore. It probably won't harm you unless you are predisposed to secondary infections, or you decide to garnish it with things like going running in the cold. But if you've got a mild sniffle, time to rest, and like drinking tea, it's not a terrible idea.

(2) Do a bit. Probably what most people do, really. A combination of personal preference, need, and what you know about and can physically take.

(3) Hit it with everything that the pharmaceutical industry can throw at it. This is my way. It will not cure a cold, nor reduce the time you have it. But it makes me feel a lot better while I have it, and may reduce complications.

( Option 3 got long... )