I have a multi-day Scrabble tournament soon and a brand-new cold. Help!

October 18, 2009 4:04 PM

I have a multi-day Scrabble tournament soon and a brand-new cold. Help!

I've searched AskMeFi but haven't had any luck; if I've missed something feel free to point it out and I'll (try to) delete my question.

I can feel a cold coming on (Sunday). I'm congested and have a sore throat. On Wednesday I'm flying half way across the country to play in a multi-day Scrabble tournament. This means 8 hour days of nerding it up.

Generally I do not take cold medicine, so I'm a bit at a loss here. What should I take (day and/or night) so that I can minimize symptoms but, most importantly, not be a zombie. I'm going to need to stay somewhat energized and fairly sharp. Several of my classmates have had a cold recently, and it lasted for quite a long time. No idea if this is the same thing, or something new and improved.

Also, so far as I know, there is no drug-testing program, so if you know a cold medicine that will also give me super-duper powerful anagramming abilities, that'd be peachy.

posted by iftheaccidentwill to health & fitness (15 comments total)

Is there any way you can cancel and get your flight refunded? I don't think you should risk getting the people on the plane or the other scrabble players sick. It looks like you have the letters to spell C-O-N-T-A-G-I-O-U-S (triple word score).
posted by sharkfu at 4:23 PM on October 18

I just got over something that started as congested and sore throat, and ballooned into a flu that, a week later, is still not completely gone.

Honestly, the best thing you can do is sleep, if you even want to try to fly on Wednesday. Take Nyquil if you have to. Drink LOTS of fluids.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 4:28 PM on October 18

sharkfu: I hadn't really thought of that, to be honest, but I believe by the time I play I'll be well past being contagious. I first felt symptoms Friday, and my first game isn't until Thursday. Your thought is a good one, though, and I'll look into it a bit more.
posted by iftheaccidentwill at 4:29 PM on October 18

Do everything you can now to help your health: drink lots of water, eat fruits and veggies, get lots of sleep, avoid stress. If you still go to the tournament with symptoms, DayQuil is a god-send. Just don't do any drinking if you've had it that day, or you (particularly your head, stomach, and liver) will regret it.

Also, please bring a big bottle of hand sanitizer to the tournament with you and use it constantly. This may help keep your fellow players from catching whatever you've got, and will definitely help keep your recently-beaten-down immune system from having to fight off any new bugs that other people bring with them.
posted by vytae at 4:34 PM on October 18

Fluids and sleep, man. Nothing else works or even helps. Avoid decongestants, take sleepy-antihistamines like Benadryl or Nytol if you are too stuffed up to sleep.
posted by KathrynT at 4:47 PM on October 18

My (health care professional) mother recommends* gargling with salt water -- warm water, with a generous but not crazy amount of salt, every few hours. Don't drink anything for half an hour afterwards. After the half hour, drink a lot of liquids (i.e., water or hot tea).

I don't know why it works. But in my experience, it helps to ward off colds, or to soothe a sore throat or cough that somehow snuck up on me.

*By "recommends" I mean "badgers me into."
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 4:48 PM on October 18 [1 favorite has favorites]

Saline nose spray, too.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 5:41 PM on October 18

There is a supplement called "Wellness Formula" made by a company called Source Naturals, that is available at many natural foods stores in the US and Canada. This "Wellness Formula" contains some kind of Chinese herbs that are supposed to help strengthen the immune system.

The reason I bring it up is that, time and time again, it has never let me down. Every time I feel a cold coming on, I pop Wellness Formula tablets for a couple of days, and it just DESTROYS the cold. I've recommended it to friends and family when they've struggled with intractable flus, and everyone always comes back saying "What IS that stuff? It's the only thing that worked!"

Again, I don't know exactly what's in it, and I don't normally buy those kinds of supplements at all, but having stumbled across it I'm kind of amazed by the stuff and would recommend it for your situation.
posted by dacoit at 6:30 PM on October 18 [1 favorite has favorites]

Zicam, available near the cold meds. Lemon-lime dissolvable tablets. They work. They shorten the durations of my colds. I was an extreme skeptic until I tried these. I wish they were paying me to endorse but really I've been impressed with noticable results -- I just never have time to be sick these days! Good luck.
posted by theredpen at 7:10 PM on October 18

I started feeling a cold coming on this Saturday night, and last night it was definitely well and truly dug in -- stuffy nose, chills, fatigue.

So Sunday night I combined all of my known cold-fighters and symptom-soothers in one fell swoop:

* I had a cup of tea with echinacea.
* I then had a big glass of water with grapefruit seed extract (15 drops) stirred in.
* then a cup of homemade chicken broth.
* Then I had a very hot bubble bath, using the Kiss-My-Face brand "Cold Comfort" gel for the bubbles and for the soap. ("No cure, just comfort," it says on the label; it's strongly scented with mint and eucalyptus, and the resultant vapors are strong.)
* Then I had a tablet of whatever cold/decongestant was in the house (sinus headache for me -- there was an analgesic, but I was taking it for the decongestant effect.)
* Then I piled a lot of blankets on my bed and got in, and went to sleep.

The echinacea and the grapefruit seed extract were pitched as immune boosters to me. The chicken broth and eucalyptus soap was just to ease the symptoms, as was the decongestant. And all the blankets on the bed -- as well as the temperature of the bath -- were designed to get me to "sweat it out," so to speak.

I still have a cold -- congestion mainly -- but that's the only symptom, and I feel a bit more on top of things.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:37 AM on October 19

Note, the symptoms you're describing can be the early stages of the flu as well. If you develop a fever, cough or nausea please do not go on your trip for the sake of others. The flu is highly contagious for up to 7 days after symptoms start depending on your age and overall health.
posted by Kimberly at 8:29 AM on October 19

I eat spicy, garlicy, oniony foods like Chicken Vindaloo, salsa, etc. Followed by plenty of fluids, zinc supplements, hot showers, and sleep. I also think very moderate exercise ( walking ) helps get things going quicker.
posted by jasondigitized at 8:57 AM on October 19

I have used the Zicam lozenges to good result--but remember, the FDA has issued a warning about the swabs so don't use those.
posted by agatha_magatha at 8:59 AM on October 19

If you do go to the tournament with your symptoms, I suspect you will not perform well.
I don't think it's just me, but if I'm sick I can't think. I have tried going to chess tournaments with a cold, but I don't bother anymore. I can't see regular cold medicine improving this in any way.
Are you going to Calgary? A five day tournament would probably be a big enough strain if you were healthy. Going while sick will probably make you sicker. </Mr. Downer>

I don't know of any supplements that make you think better (especially while sick), but if there are, they are probably advertised in Scrabble magazines and websites. Good luck on getting well.
posted by MtDewd at 9:11 AM on October 19

If you're near a Whole Foods, you should definitely try Quantum Cold + Flu. It's a small bottle with a dropper. Instructions are to drop 60 to 90 drops in water or a drink a couple of times a day. It curbs your symptoms and stops teh full blown cold or flu from happening.

It really works in my experience. It worked for me and two other sicky people I knew in the last three weeks. The clerk at Whole Foods said it was a top-seller at Whole Foods, and the internets say it is Quantum's #1 selling product.
posted by alice ayres at 11:08 AM on October 19