I've tried Cold-Ease and Airborne with no success.
Like others, I have trouble with OTC "cold remedies," i.e., Sudafed, DayQuil, NyQuil, etc. I often feel worse taking these things than not.
Last cold bug I got was five days before a trip to WDW (this past September). We had lots of drinking and days in the sun planned, so antibiotics were not something I was looking forward to.
I followed my mother's advice. I made a huge pot of homemade chicken noodle soup. Chicken stock, celery, tons of onion, carrots, shredded chicken breast meat, herbs, broken up spaghetti noodles. I ate that soup for breakfast, lunch and dinner for three days, until it was gone.
In between my soup meals, I drank premium, loose-leaf tea. 32 oz of rooibos and 32 oz Chinese white per day. I found these teas at Teavana (they have a website, too). When I wasn't drinking tea or soup, I was drinking water.
My cold was gone in three days flat, and it never got really bad (I smoke, so my colds usually end up "bad"). I'll never doubt my mother's word again
