Six Flu Season Remedies Everyone and Their Mom Swear By

by Brenda Gimotea Depasupil / November 13, 2019

Of course, we should consult the doctor when we get sick, especially if there is fever involved.

It’s that time of the year again: rains are heavy, typhoons are frequent, sunny days make us feel like we’re cooking inside a furnace, but we feel like we are in the freezer when the temperature drops. These wild (to us tropical people, anyway) weather fluctuations mean that a lot of us get sick with cough, colds, and even the flu. This can be such a hassle because the –ber months are also the busiest time of the year, due to all the holidays and the approaching end of the year.

Of course, we should consult the doctor when we get sick, especially if there is fever involved. But it doesn’t hurt to add a few trusted over-the-counter remedies to help alleviate stress and the symptoms of our sickness, and to help speed healing up.

Here are six flu season remedies that have worked for a lot of people, and are easily available whenever you need them.

Berocca

Berocca is your good old multivitamin supplement, in the form of a tablet that you can dissolve in a glass of water to make a fizzy drink! A lot of people avoid soda when they have a cough or sore throat, but drinking Berocca can scratch that soda itch. While you’re at it, you can make a toast to a quicker recovery!

Lola Remedios

Lola Remedios is a relative newcomer to the scene. It is a syrup made of mint, honey, clove, fennel, and ginger, and it comes in 15 mL sachets. Just one serving of Lola Remedios is all it takes, and that powerful minty taste will soothe and cool your sore, scratchy throat. The recommended dosage is one to three sachets a day, but since it’s made out of ingredients that we usually consider food, you can take more than three. It’s quite yummy; it’s mint candy for people who are not feeling well.

Pei Pa Koa Syrup

This wouldn’t be a comprehensive list if we don’t include Pei Pa Koa syrup. Singers, theater actors, and lots of other performers who earn money by using their voice swear by Pei Pa Koa’s restorative properties. Pei Pa Koa has been around for a long time, and it tastes great! You’d take meds that taste bad for your own good, so remedies that actually work and taste good to boot are such a heaven sent!

Make sure to buy the original one. Look for the one with the black, yellow, and red box with Chinese characters written all over it. (Yes, there’s a fake one!) 

Pei Pa Koa also has lozenges, if that’s what you prefer. The lozenges are just as effective at providing sore throat relief.

Tolak Angin

Tolak Angin is very much like Lola Remedios, but with different ingredients: cardamom, fennel, nutmeg, Indonesian cinnamon, gotu kola, ginger, clove, honey, Asian rice, mint, Indian screw tree, tree bean, and usnea. Tolak Angin may have lots more ingredients that Lola Remedios doesn’t have, but they taste quite similar and have similar effects, too. If you’re not sure which of the two works better for you, why not take both? They’re quite affordable anyway. You can take half of your dosage in Lola Remedios, and the other half in Tolak Angin. Sounds like a plan, right?

Woods Lozenges

Woods is much more affordable than Fisherman’s Friend, yet just as effective at relieving throat discomfort. If your throat condition is mild enough to not need the medication found in Strepsils, or if natural remedies like peppermint and anise oil work better for you, then Woods is for you! Woods also has several different flavors, and has varying strengths for you to choose from, depending on how much soothing your throat needs.

Woods is also available in syrup form now, so those who prefer syrup over lozenges have one more option to choose from.

Salabat

Do we really need to say this? Nothing will ever beat the time-tested home-made ginger brew? It may not taste like candy like the aforementioned remedies, but it’s more effective if you don’t use any sweeteners. Some people prefer to add honey, and honey may help because of its antiseptic and antibacterial properties that amplify those present in ginger.

The smell of salabat being prepared at home also evokes memories of those times when we were younger, and Mama or Lola cared for us when we were sick. This hot drink is perfect for those rainy days when we snuggle under the bed covers.

While all these remedies are effective for a lot of people, keep in mind that these remedies are still no substitute for medical advice from a licensed doctor. May we all be healthy enough to enjoy the rest of the –ber months! Stay safe and dry, everyone!