When I have a cold.

It almost always begins with a sore or scratchy throat. For a day and a night im bothered, mostly at night. By day 2/3 I begin to get all stopped up. Conjested. Day4/5 sees the cold move down to my chest. Dry coughing to the point that my head hurts with every cough. The cough moves deeper, becomes productive and can linger past 7 days.
I hate to take any medicine. I don't like how decongestants make me feel. Sometimes at night I used to take cough syrup that had codine, but that's harder to find any more. Can't get it over the counter. I will, sometimes, stick with what's tried and true, wiskey. Not to much though, or it's worse than the cold. Sometimes mixed with lots of orange juice.
I won't go to a doctor. For twenty five years I've worked without missing a day. I'm like Cal.
I get about 2 colds a year. Sometimes 3. People say it's the flu. Flu/cold, often hard to tell the difference. If there is serious aches and or fever, you gotta take it easier. No working out whith the aches or fever. Now that I'm older I tend not to work out at all when I have a virus. Stay off the bike. In the past few years I've gone ahead and gotten on my bike, only to make the virus worse. I notice my heartrate is higher when I work out sick. A heart rate monitor is a great thing.