Got a cold, cure it by yourself?

Question

When a person got a cold, but he didn't want to have any medicine as he believed that it could be got well after having a rest. In this situation, does this sentence below sound natural? Or how would you express this?

He wanted to cure it by himself after he got a cold.

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:55

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Firstly, it sounds unnatural to refer to "it" before introducing the word "cold" in your sentence. Secondly, the word "by" is unnecessary. I would phrase the sentence as such:

He got a cold and wanted to cure it himself.

You might also use the word "insist" to emphasize how your subject didn't want to take other people's advice.

He got a cold and insisted on curing it himself.

To make it clear that the subject wanted to get better without the use of medicine, you might also say:

He got a cold and insisted on letting it heal naturally.

Another suggestion from snailboat's comment, which makes it absolutely clear that there was no treatment is involved:

He got a cold and insisted on letting it run its course.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:55

Community

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answered May 24 '13 at 12:56

Stephan B

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I'm not really sure whether heal is the right word here, because it usually refers to the injury such as a cut wound. – canoe May 24 '13 at 14:08
@canoe: Possibly, but I'm struggling to find a better word for it. I sometimes hear people say a cold "goes away", so... "Let it go away naturally?" – Stephan B May 24 '13 at 14:15
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I've always used the phrase let it run its course. – May 24 '13 at 23:42

Jerry · Answer 2 · 2013-05-24T13:58:27.470

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To be more natural though, building on Stephan's answer, you might turn it to something like...

He got a cold, but insisted on recovering naturally.

"curing it (by) himself" can also mean to take medicine of his choice.

edited May 24 '13 at 13:58

answered May 24 '13 at 13:42

Jerry

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Yes, so @Stephan's answer might not consider this condition. But get over really means another thing, which is getting better after sickness. See here. – canoe May 24 '13 at 13:55
@canoe We use 'get over' to mean that usually where I am, I guess it lost a bit of its meaning! I changed it to 'recover', which is more to the point. – Jerry May 24 '13 at 13:59
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@Jerry: Good point! I have expanded my own answer to better address this. – Stephan B May 24 '13 at 14:00

Got a cold, cure it by yourself?

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