Despite the usual claims of "Unproven in blind randomized blah blah," the zinc remedy works wonderfully for me. As soon as I feel a cold coming on I power down those Zicam tablets that you dissolve on your tongue. One every 3 hours for a day. Kills the cold before it ever takes hold. Don't use the nasal gel, however; apparently it can damage your sense of smell.
I have drastically reduced the number of colds I get by removing viruses from my body at the first sign of a cold. It sounds real spooky, but if you want to learn to do this, go to Welcome and do the tutorials. There is an icollege with zillions of pages of teaching on this. I could explain it here, but it is better on the website.
I used to call my cold remedy "the Irish special" that dated back to the 1600's and has been a family trait ever since. Nothing Irish about it, i just used to add some sort of mystery to it as i gave it to my girlfriend when she was sick. Basically it was just warm water with honey, ginger, garlic and lemon juice. I have allways used this, when sick, as im not a big fan of the doctor prescribing antibiotics that must be completed from start to finish. Worked wonders for us but the chunky stuff on bottom was hard to swallow without the feeling of vomiting!
Also i remember my father giving me a good old glass of Sherry to help!
This came to me from a friend who swore by it. I tried it and found it to be helpful.
Get some distilled water and a whole bulb of garlic. Chop the garlic fine or put it in the food processor. Pour a quantity of distilled water into a microwave-safe container and heat the water. Put the garlic into a jar and cover with hot distilled water to soak for 24 hours. (Put it in the refrigerator after it cools.)
Next day, remove the garlic pulp, extracting all the liquid you can. Add an equal amount of honey (preferably locally produced) and mix well. Store the syrup in the fridge. It will last a long time. Take a spoonful (5cc) as needed to calm a cough.
Another thing I have found helpful for a cold with a sore throat and nasal congestion is to eat "Flaming Hot Cheetos." There is something about the cayenne pepper that sooths the sore throat, and it also helps to open congested nasal passages.
Another massage for congested nose is from a comment posted today on the site:
The pressure points really do work. I have a method a little different than the picture.
I start at the top of my face between my eyes and work the pressure up and around my eyes, then down the sides of my face and below my ears. Next I put pressure between my eyes at the top of my nose and work the pressure outward across each cheek and toward my ears and down to my neck on each side. Finally I put pressure behind each of my ears and down through my neck. If I still feel congestion, I will put pressure at the top of the back of my neck and massage down to my shoulders.
This ALWAYS works for me. You just have to be patient and wait until you feel the congestion moving out. I practice this same technique on my husband and my two young kids (if they let me) when they are congested. We never have to take decongestants. It's GREAT!!!
I'm not sure if you all have heard of this one or not so here goes.
For those of you who have asthma but hate the inhalers, try drinking hot tea or coffee. I understand you can't exactly carry these with you but for when you are at home and your chest tightens up.
Common cold 
Zinc, zinc, baby 
