The Coulson Group of Companies

Combatting a Cold

No one knows what makes a person prone to colds. Some people believe that being overtired or under emotional stress can "bring on" a cold. Others blame pollution or other external factors. There's no proof one way or another.

Small children are the most susceptible to colds, and can have six or eight a year. People who spend a lot of time with children, such as teachers, also tend to have numerous colds.

Because of the great variety of viruses, no one vaccine could ever be effective against all colds. To track down every virus type and make a "magic bullet" for each would be a horrendous and probably futile task.

Yet in one sense, every cold is your last - from that particular virus. One compensation for growing older is that you develop immunity to a progressively larger number of viruses and thus catch fewer colds. By age 60, most people have one cold per year, if any.

The best way to avoid colds The most effective way to keep a cold from spreading is hand washing. If you have a cold, remember that it spreads via your fingers, so wash them in soap and warm water. If you are around people with colds, wash your hands often and try to avoid putting your fingers to your nose and ears.

Try not to share objects with cold sufferers - their telephones, pencils, and other tools, drinking glasses, towels or bars of soap. Paper towels and paper cups are worthwhile investments during cold season. See that used tissues are disposed of promptly and properly. They should be discarded in a plastic-lined receptacle or paper bag, or in any manner that makes rehandling them unnecessary.

Though megadoses of Vitamin C have been highly touted as a means of "heading off' a cold, no clinical trial has ever shown Vitamin C to be more than marginally useful.

Managing a cold

There is little or nothing a doctor can do for the common cold. Antibiotics, including penicillin, cannot cure or alleviate a cold, nor it is wise to take antibiotics in any attempt to prevent later bacterial infection. Most colds last a week or less, but two-week colds are not unheard of. Your symptoms, however uncomfortable, are a sign that your body's defenses are working against the virus. A fever, for example, may represent one way of killing viruses, so there is no need to take measures to bring down a mild fever.

Do's and don'ts of cold therapy

Don't automatically take something for a cold or insist on giving medicine or vitamins to a child. Many over-the-counter cold medications made for adults contain ingredients that are harmful when taken by children.

A salt or sugar-water gargle can help relieve sore throat symptoms. Saline nose drops (also 1/4 teaspoon salt to eight ounces of water) may clear your nasal passages.

Drink plenty of fluids is time-honoured advice, but there is no evidence that an increase in fluid intake will do anything but increase the need to urinate. Drink as many fluids as you want, ease a dry throat. But you need not force them on yourself.

Hot drinks, on the other hand, are definitely comforting. In one study chicken soup (as compared with cold water and hot water) was shown to increase the flow of nasal secretions. Some other hot soup might do as well, depending on your preferences and the availability of the soup. Tea with honey is not bad either.

Hot alcoholic beverages or brandy may sound tempting, but alcohol dilates blood vessels and may produce stomach upset and headache.

Bed rest will not cure a cold or even alleviate symptoms, but if you feel exhausted or your symptoms are distractingly painful, rest at home.

If a child has a cold, going to school will do him no harm. But for the protection of other children; a child in the first stages who has a severe runny nose should probably stay at home:; The most infectious period generally begins about a day before symptoms appear and last only another day or two.

Increased humidity in the air you breathe can sometimes make you fell better, at least temporarily.

There's no harm in exercising if you feel up to it, but you should never force yourself if you feel too tired or unfit, or if you have a fever. A break of two or three days in your exercise program won't be a significant setback.

A red and sore nose and lips caused by mucous secretions and aggravated by nose blowing can often be relieved with alight application of petroleum jelly or skin location.

October, 2007 Volume 07-129

Combatting a Cold

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