I assume we're talking about an adult here since you are trying to get to work. This question has multiple answers! When I first feel something coming on - I take hot, steamy showers and/or get into a sauna so I can sweat out the toxins. The steam in the shower helps to open up the respiratory system and break up the congestion. I also take 4 Echinacea & Goldenseal capsules every 2 hours to knock it.

When there is heavy congestion, there quite often is a sluggish bowel. The body is trying to eliminate and when it can't eliminate where it wants to (the colon), it will quite often switch to the respiratory system. By using an enema or colonic to open the bowel, we can quite often find relief for the respiratory system because the body can now eliminate where it wanted to in the first place.

Other suggestions would be: stay away from dairy as these products are extremely mucus - forming, use mullein oil on the chest, throat & back to break up the congestion, drink hot yarrow tea to help cleanse, stay hydrated, use a hot water vaporizer with eucalyptus oil in it, my mother used to rub cayenne ointment into her throat and chest to open it up and help eliminate, my daughter rubs garlic oil on the bottom of her childrens' feet to get the anti-biotic properties of the garlic into their system (3 gloves of garlic can be equal to an adult dose of penicillian)- in serious cases, such as bronchitis or pnuemonia, I use the 'cold sheet treatment'.

People quite often ask me if it's OK to take echinacea on a daily basis - the answer is NO! The way echinacea works: it tricks the body into thinking it is being attacked by a virus which stimulates the immune system - if you take echinacea for more than 10 to 14 days in a row, the trick no longer works.

If you want drugs - you came to the wrong forum - hope some of these suggestions help, Dr Mom