While I'm a skeptic about alternative (or naturopathic) medicine, if I hear about a treatment for the more annoying symptoms of the common cold, I'm quite willing to check it out, especially if it's harmless. And if it works, I spread the word.

For exammple, I have long believed in the value of sage tea in drying up even the most stubborn cases of sniffles. What I do is fashion a teabag from a coffee filter and dump in at least a tablespoon of sage, throw that into a large (12 ounce) glass and add boiling water. When the color turns yellow, it's ready to drink. It's a lot cheaper than Sudafed (which is now a real hassle to buy), and I use both in combination. The sage tea will make you a little drowsy, and if you fall asleep you'll almost always wake up feeling better. I don't know what active ingredient might be responsible (a number of them are listed at Wiki), but I doubt there's enough money to be made for such a common substance that would justify expending the huge sums it would cost to bring a drug to the market.
It has been used for many years in treating sinus infections, but I've never read about a serious double-blind study.

So sage is classified as food; just a kitchen spice. I have no idea how it works against rhinitis, but it does.

The worst part of having a cold is the cough. I don't get colds very often, but when I do the accompanying coughs are awful and seem to drag on endlessly. As they are aggravated by rhinitis, both sage and sudafed tend to help, but what I really need (especially to sleep) is to suppress the cough at night. I have tried just about every cough remedy available at the drugstore; I find guaifenesin useless, and dextromethorphan to have side effects more horrible than the cough. While it is possible to go to the doctor for prescription cough medicine, that is not always feasible for a cold.

But once again, there are remedies easily available in the kitchen. Firsty there's chocolate. One official study found chocolate to be more medically effective against coughs than codeine.

In a cough suppressant study performed by London's National Heart and Lung Institute, chocolate's theobromine significantly outperformed codeine, the primary active ingredient in prescription cough medicine. Participants in the study were treated at different times with a placebo, codeine, and theobromine before being exposed to capsaicin via an inhaled gas. Capsaicin, a chili pepper derivative, has long been used to induce coughing in clinical research.

As a cough medicine, codeine (mostly known as a painkiller) had nominal success compared to the placebo, but theobromine was 33 percent more effective than codeine to stop coughing. Theobromine was found to work directly on the vagus nerve, which is responsible for triggering coughing. Researchers found nearly identical results in guinea pigs as in humans.

Beyond theobromine's increased efficacy, it's safer than over-the-counter and prescription cough medicines. Cough medicine is rarely harmful, but can have minor side effects; most common are drowsiness, constipation, and dry mouth. We've been conditioned not to operate heavy machinery after taking cough medicine. It is, however, perfectly safe to eat dark chocolate in your crane, forklift, or other industrial vehicles, provided you're still paying attention. Theobromine has not been connected to any side effects (though it should be noted that the substance has just begun to be studied in the past few years).

The quantity of dark chocolate that should be eaten to stop coughing--about two ounces for an adult and about half as much for a child--is not enough to get children wound up, or for the minimal caffeine to cause sleep disturbances.

Theobromine levels are directly related to the cocoa content in chocolate. Milk chocolate contains little theobromine, while dark chocolate usually has about 400 to 450 mg of theobromine per ounce. Thus, to stop a chronic cough, or even a coughing fit, eating dark chocolate with as high a percentage of cocoa as possible is preferable when using chocolate as a cough suppressant. Or, to put it another way, the higher the cocoa content, the less chocolate needed to stop coughing.

However, I did find something that works quickly, and remarkably well.

A concoction of four simple kitchen ingredients as described here:

It soothes an irritated throat and relieves chest congestion and phlegm. The bad news: it tastes terrible -- it really does -- but if you have a persistant cough, it's worth a try.

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 Tablespoon honey

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 Tablespoons water

Mix and take by the teaspoon.

The recipe doesn't indicate how much to take. I took 3 teaspoons the first time because I had a bad dry cough for over three weeks, and I was desparate for some relief. It worked and I got a good night's sleep. I have been recommending it to others ever since, and many have confirmed my positive results.

Consider the beneficial effects of the individual ingredients...

Frankly, I was very skeptical about this, but I made it up and tried it. I didn't have the cider vinegar, so I used balsamic vinegar instead. I disagree that it tastes terrible, as I rather like it. It has a medicinal taste, somehow like spicy Asian food, and there is a distinct peppery sting as it tickles the throat. It made me cough immediately, then things quickly calmed down noticeably. I can highly recommend it (or cocoa) over any of the over the counter remedies I have tried, hence this public service post.

While the FDA would probably arrest anyone who tried to sell the above as treatments for the common cold, I'm not selling anything; just relating my personal experience (which I think the First Amendment still allows).

Besides, what with impending collapse of the health care system, nothing beats being prepared.