Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1986)
ual drugs are too low,” explains Gwalt ney. And ingredients may actually be con tradictory. An expectorant encourages coughing, but a cough suppressant controls it. Nor are over-the-counter drugs always harmless. Combining antihistamine's with alcohol or major tranquilizers, for exam ple, can depress your central nervous sys tem, impair your motor coordination and knock you out. Nasal decongestants can cause a rebound effect if used for more than three days—your cold will actually be worse when you quit taking them. "It can be very unpleasant to go cold turkey,” warns Gwaltney. Oral decongestants can increase blood pressure. "Over-the-count er or not,” warns Dick, "people ought to check with their physicians about these drugs.” And remember that antibiotics are useless against viral infections. No matter how miserable you may reel, most colds are over in about a week. In the meantime, Dick believes that good ventila tion to remove stale air may at least keep your roommate from catching your ail ment. Ditto for keeping your used tissues to yourself. But can’t you catch a virus from a doorknob or handshake? That’s debatable. In a recent study, Dick kept groups of Wis consin undergraduates up for 12 hours playing poker. At each table there were some infected players and others who were potential victims. At half the tables the potential victims wore large plastic collars that kept them from touching their hands to their faces and thereby infecting them selves with viruses shed on the cards or poker chips. Whether or not the players were wearing collars, they had the same rateof infection. "It appears that the prima ry dissemination of the virus is by air, not by hand-to-hand contact,” concludes Dick. To keep the viruses from ever becoming airborne, Dick has designed a series of "killer Kleenexes.” An early model, im pregnated with iodine, was "spectacular” in controlling colds in the Antarctic, but the iodine evaporated once the packages Old Moms’ Tales About How to Treat Your Ms Most of us grew up with lots of conven tional motherly wisdom about the avoidance and treatment of colds. Some of it is even correct: a If |M tm't wear yaar »* testes sad ■ sweater. yee II elm fwr Nim •» cm. Colds are caused by vi ruses,. not by coldness or dampness. Studies show that chilling the air be fore exposure to a virus, or even after exposure, has no measurable effect on whether or not people get sick. On the other hand, some animal re search does seem to indi cate that freezing tem peratures may make you more susceptible. It’s pos sible that cold slows down the action of the nasal cil- ; ia that normally sweep away invading viruses. No one has tested stu dents who stayed upfor48 hours to study for exams, then ran through the snowinTshirtstotheoth er side of cam pus to deliv er term papers. ■ If ywkmicsM. staybM mi rest. There is no scientific evi dence in favor of bed rest. However, taking it easy is common sense, and you do your friends a favor by staying out of classrooms and dining halls, where you could infect large numbers of people. ■ Stares a fever. fasti a csM. pfVTVflMf Will CRKMR SVVf You should listen to Mom on this one. Hot drinks can loosen the phlegm in yourthroatand humidify the air around your nose to moisten dry, irritated membranes In at least one study, chicken soup proved superior to other hot liquids in clearing the nasal passages Spicy foods have also been found to unblock a clogged nose ■ Ym cm warty ysarsalf sick. There is some evidence that stress can worsen a cold. One English study found that people who had experienced a stress ful event in the previous six months, such as a death or divorce in the family, developed more severe symptoms. Intro verts had worse symp toms than extroverts. ■ ’Mesial tka Hairy auik af a amna' cm cars a caM. There is no scientific evi dence to support this remedy, which was tout ed, not by Mother, but by naturalist Pliny the Elder—before he died in the 79 A.D eruption of Mount Vesuvius. were opened. The other problem was es thetic: iodine turns your nose brown. Then Dick developed a tissue laced with pluin old citric acid, which proved highly effective Kimberly-Clark test-marketed the tissue last year under the brand name Avert, but it failed to catch on and has been "recalled for further thought.” In the meantime, humidify your room, drink hot liquids and gargle with salt water to ease a sore throat There are times when a trip to the infirmary is necessary to rule out more serious illness. A sore throat or cough that lasts for weeks should be looked into. Most colds are not accompanied by fever If your fever goes above 103, or over 100 for more than three days, you may have thetiu, pneumonia or mononucleosis With most colds, the best strategy is to simply surrender and enjoy the sympathy And it your mom is Jewish—at least at heart—it won’t hurt to send home for a container of chicken soup Si MAN K AT/
