Acceptable cold treatment

  • My wife and I begin IP about a week and a half ago and it's been going well but she has now started coming down with a cold and I'm curious what symptom remedies are acceptable to use during phase 1. I am hesitant to use most over the counter could medicine due to inclusions of sugar, alcohol and or acetaminophen ( I fear acetaminophen may not be good on a liver that is working hard to detox the body ) any suggestions folks may have would be greatly appreciated.
  • It depends on what symptoms you are trying to treat. For cough you could try Muccinex DM (tablet) (generic options are available).
  • You can use liquid cough medicine made for diabetics.
  • My coach advised me that Tylenol is fine, but if you have concerns, that's fair.

    I always tend to stick to the more old-fashioned remedies instead of cold medications when I'm sick
    -drink tons of water and hot liquids to loosen mucous
    -use a humidifier in my room at night
    -elevate the head of my bed (I usually just pile on the pillows) if I have a cough or am having a hard time breathing
    -gargle with salt water and/or apple cider vinegar
    -nasal rinses (eg Neti pot) if you want
    -as much sleep as you can get
  • What do you do about food when you have a bad bug? In the good old days my fallback would be saltines and ginger ale which are both off the list now. its hard to make yourself eat a bag of bbq crisps when you are nauseous
  • When I had a cold on P1, I did a cold pill and sugar-free cough drops. Vicks vapor rub might be a good non-systemic way to manage also.

    For the stomach flu, I think you do the best you can. If you are really dealing a serious flu, a few saltines shouldn't hurt you....you can always skip your restricted pack since the carbs values wouldn't be too different. Hope you feel better soon!
  • Be careful, I used a CVS theraflu type medicine that said it had sugar free sweeteners. Whatever was in it, I was kicked out of ketosis and starving. Hope you wife is feeling better.