I take echinacea (spelling?) every time my kids or wife have a cold or any of my students are sick. It is an herb that supposedly strenghtens the immune system. I swear that since I have been taking it (3 years) I have not had a serious cold. The key is to take it immediatley after you feel the symptoms.

My understanding of echinacea is that it actually attacks your immune system to make it stronger, like lifting weights damages your muscles. It's the process of reacting to the attack that strengthens the immune system. I've read to avoid echinacea once you get sick and to only take it when you are healthy.

Interesting... I've always heard it helps you not get sick and to take it if people around you are getting sick. Yet the boy and I tried that this year when my roommate got sick and both of us got sicker than we have in a while! Maybe that is part of why.

I woke up with a cold yesterday, and i was wrecked with it all day in work. I did my usual cold remedy: disolvable vitamin c drinks, lots of them, two pints of beer after work to help me sleep, and then when i went to bed i wore a hoody with the hood up with an extra blanket, and as it always does, it worked. I guess with a marathon coming up the beer's out of the question, but the "sweat it out of ye with a pile of blankets and lots of clothes" always works for me. and vitamin c, lots of it. good luck buddy.