Page 4 January 18, 2018 TORRANCE TRIBUNE
TerriAnn in Torrance
Tending a Cold: You’re Not Alone
Story and Photos by TerriAnn Ferren
It happened last week. After all the festivities
of Christmas and the New Year’s
celebrations, it hit. Not like a bomb, but
more like a sneeze or a coming fog. Achiness
swelled up to weariness and then my
throat began hurting. It was coming. I knew
it. By Wednesday late, I was done. Yes, a
full-fledged cold was upon me. The news
programs told me of many who had the flu
and although it felt like the flu, I knew this
was a full-blown cold caused probably from
being overdone.
A doctor once gave me some great advice
when he said never check the Internet when
you have an ailment. Though going online
won’t completely confirm or dismiss your
symptoms, it will most assuredly give additional
symptoms and diseases for things
that are nowhere near your particular ailment.
Anxiety surely follows. Instead, I conferred
with my trusty Encyclopedia Americana.
Actually, it had quite a bit to say about the
subject of colds. “Catching a cold is a term
of wide popular use, and signifies an affection
which is little treated of in medical literature,
although an affection widespread and
unpleasant…” Oh, how I love the beautiful
language of 1953! Unpleasant? Coughing
uncontrollably and spitting out “ick” with
a head that feels like it is about to explode
-- on top of achy bones and little appetite?
Well, yes it is unpleasant.
Many people have home remedies for a
cold. Chicken soup is a favorite and I really
think that could be the best advice. Warm,
healthy broth feeding the body as well as the
soul somehow soothes in a way second only
to a mother caring for a child with a cold.
Tea is another prescription I adopt when my
throat feels on fire and coughing fits wear
me out. Herbal tea sooths as it warms my
raw throat and slips down easily. Like most
people, when I am sick I ask for suggestions
on how to get well quickly. Since my mom
Teddy is a nurse, I always turn to her first/
“Drink a lot of fluids and rest,” is her prescription.
My daddy Tom said, “You should
stay inside and drink lots of water and take
aspirin and relax as much as possible because
your body will correct itself if you give it a
chance.” Hmm. Sounds like my daddy has
been listening to my mom.
Next, I asked friends who are in the same
predicament with a cold, or have had a cold
this season, what they recommend. Ronnie
told me, as I waited for him to stop coughing,
“First thing I say is, ‘I am not happy.’
I don’t like getting colds and have actually
been pretty lucky and didn’t have one last
winter, so I almost forgot what it was like
to have a cold. It is just uncomfortable and
I get anxious and worried it’s the flu or
something worse.” Ronnie told me he simply
slows down his pace and tries to rest as best
he can. He confessed he eats way too many
cough drops, and puts a wet alcohol compress
on his head if he has a fever. “I am getting
over a cold now and I can’t wait to get better
again. There is nothing more important or
precious than our health.”
Former Torrance Councilwoman Hope
Witkowsky told me, “Drink water constantly.
Chicken noodle soup has been our family
generational get well. Cause of colds is all
of us touching things outside the doors of
our home.”
Torrance resident Leslie Cortez said her
dad likes to relive his many years of working
at the hospital (he is a physician) and
insists on nursing her back to health. “He
brings in his elixir that has been in his family
for centuries. It’s a ‘tea’ he makes with
ground ginger, lemon, honey and apple cider
vinegar. He makes it piping hot so you can
breathe in the steam while drinking it. It
tastes god-awful and I have to plug my nose
to get it down, but surprisingly it silences
an uncontrollable cough and loosens up the
sewage in my lungs.”
Former Jared Sidney Torrance Awardwinner
and Torrance Historical Society Board
member Janet Payne told me she doesn’t ever
get colds, but has another family recipe to
share. “The Kentucky [where she is from]
remedy for the cough that accompanies a
cold is a mixture of honey, lemon juice and
Kentucky Bourbon,” she said. “Mix in a
bottle and shake before taking two teaspoons
three times a day. That was always the cold
cure in our family from when I was a young
girl. Everyone even took it to school and the
nuns would let us take our dose at lunchtime!
Imagine Catholic school in the late 1950s
allowing that! OMG!”
Carolyn Weyant doesn’t get colds either
and can’t remember having one for the last
15 years, but does suggest chicken soup.
Marla Hastings told me she has worked in
retirement living for a lifetime, so infection
control rules. She stated, “Colds are caused
by germs that get sneezed out as particulates
into the air and by shaking hands or touching
surfaces that an infected person has touched.”
She told me covering your mouth with the
inside of your elbow (not your hand) if you
are sneezing is important. Also avoid shaking
hands during cold season. Frequently washing
your hands is best and Marla also suggests
not touching bathroom doors on the way out
if you can help it. Sounds like good advice
to me. My sister Linda told me she tries to
avoid places where there are lots of people
-- like the grocery store -- and she washes
her hands a lot too.
Torrance Councilwoman Heidi Ashcraft told
me she finds, “…drinking hot water with lots
of lemon and a little honey helps the cough. If
it is a cold, it’s not caused by cold weather, but
by germs! Wash hands with soap and during
this sick season, probably not a good time to
shake hands. Hopefully, no one gets offended!”
Brad Walker told me, “The common cold
I don’t feel well…
See TerriAnn in Torrance, page 7
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