Home remedies · Colds, nose & fever
No home remedy here replaces treatment, and none is talked down. What has done good for generations does good — even if no one ever measured it. Where something is well studied, it says so. Where it is only experience, it says that too.
Nine grams of salt to a litre of boiled and cooled water, rinse once or twice daily with a pot or nasal douche.
The rinse mechanically carries away secretions, dust and pollen and moistens the lining. For sinus and hay fever complaints this is well studied.
It does not replace treatment of a bacterial sinus infection.
Use only boiled or sterile water, never tap water directly. Not with a completely blocked nose and not after nasal surgery without advice.
Have it assessed: fever beyond three days without improvement or rising again, breathlessness, pain on breathing, confusion. In infants under three months any fever is a reason. Also a nosebleed that has not stopped after twenty minutes of correct pressure.