showers or better baths, hot tea, and albuterol. sudefed or guifenison - Keep the mucus flowing. ( seconding the no cold air, the shock can make coughing worse) Sleep and rest as much as possible. Do not overexert yourself. I tend to treat my colds as serious illnesses - and I have stayed healthy.

Albuterol plus antihistamines and maybe Mucinex. Breathe steam. If the air is dry, try to increase the humidity. Lots of fluids.

Also, yuck. Feel better soon.

Yes. Hot tea with lemon and honey mixed in. (My grandmother's cure for anything respiratory. It really does help.)

Thanks guys. I should have asked yesterday. I'm fairly new to asthma, and had segregated asthma and cold/flu in my mind.

I've taken albuterol and am starting to feel better. I think I'll stay inside, have some tea with honey (all out of lemon, boo), and take some guifinesin (that's the same as Mucinex, right?). Fresh air sounds wonderful, but it's pretty cold and dry right now, which sounds much less wonderful to me right now. Thanks again! The b.org hivemind is the best.

If you have asthma and get a cold and you're coughing a lot and wheezy and crackly a bit, what do you, keeping in mind that urgent care is closed and while it'll be open tomorrow, it's kind of meh unless you just need antibiotics. Do you take OTC cold meds? Albuterol?

Definitely albuterol. If you're coughing a lot, try some Robitussum to see if that helps, but other than that I'd stay away from OTC stuff. Tea, steam, all that stuff can really help as well. Mostly, what they said.

What kind of social programs, and by "social" I mean "socializing" rather than "social security" would be available in the suburbs of a place like Cleveland? And how can I get my mom some outside social contacts so she won't be so terribly dependent on my SiL (who just attempted to guilt me over not calling very often) for basic social interaction? I don't even know what to search for.

It seems SiL's blood pressure is high enough she's at risk for a stroke, and she needs me to call mom more often because when when mom talks to someone, anyone, else - then SiL is off the hook for a day or two. And SiL desperately needs a break from mom calling and talking at her for hours every day.

There are reasons why I don't call mom a lot. There are reasons why I think I'm being pretty forgiving and kind to ever call her at all. There are reasons why she's lucky I don't just hang up on her if she were to call me. She doesn't call me. Ever.

So I'm thinking if I can get mom set up with someone else to talk to, it might help SiL's burden, without having to really cross my own boundaries.

Any ideas?

Apparently China has a big storm, too.

I'm telling you, people. The Dark Lord? Not so dead.

To brighten everyone's day:

Women Teach Suspects a Very Hard Lesson

Feb 1, 10:39 PM (ET)

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. (AP) - It looks like a couple of suburban St. Louis purse snatchers picked the wrong women to attack. The victims fought back - with a snow shovel.

Police in Maryland Heights released details of the Sunday incident outside a Schnucks grocery store. The women were unloading groceries when the thieves tried to steal two purses from their cart.

One of the women grabbed a shovel from the suspects' pickup and smacked one of the men upside the head. The other woman jumped into the cab and attacked the other suspect, then grabbed the keys so he couldn't drive away.

Police tracked the men to a hotel. The man struck with the shovel required staples to close the gash in his head.

Both are jailed and charged with robbery.

Information from: KMOV-TV, [link]

Happy Groundhog Day!