Vitamin C takes on the common cold

As I write this, I am chasing off the last vestiges of a cold I contracted on Christmas. I woke up with nasal congestion. That happens occasionally to me but it usually wears off in an hour or so. When this lasted more than a couple of hours I decided it was probably a cold. The first thing I do when I detect a cold coming on is reach for the Vitamin C. Yes, I know, this sounds more like a cliche than a remedy. But, I'm not talking about a few extra glasses of orange juice or the Vitamin C they sometimes put in throat lozenges. I'm talking about downing enough Vitamin C to saturate my system.

I normally take two 500mg tablets of "C" every morning as a maintenance dose. But, when I feel a cold coming on I up that to two 500mg tablets every couple of hours. So, instead of getting 1000mg per day I am saturating my body with 5000-10000mg (5-10 grams) of "C" per day. This is similar to the daily dose advocated by Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling. Maybe it is just the placebo effect, I don't entirely discount that possibility, but it surely seems to work for me.

Anyway, we spent Christmas morning at my mom's house. When we returned to my daughter's house I asked if she had any Vitamin C - figuring that she probably did. In the course of the evening, I downed probably 5-10 grams of "C". Didn't sleep particularly well that night since my head by that time was completely "clogged". But, yesterday, my head started to clear as I continued the high dose and today I am definitely on the mend. If the weather cooperates, I'll certainly go for a ride. That's my brother's cure for a cold: Just"ride" it off! :-)