STAYING HEALTHY SERIES
SURVIVING THE COMMON COLD
HOW ARE COLDS SPREAD?
To infect you, the causative agents in most "common
colds", rhinoviruses, must enter your nasal passages.
Three possibilities exist for getting them: They may
travel to your nasal passages through the air (from
sneezing or coughing); they may be transmitted through
direct contact (shaking hands with a cold sufferer, for
example, and then touching your eyes or nose); or they
may spread via a telephone, toy, or cup used by a cold
sufferer.
HOW CAN I KEEP COLDS FROM SPREAD
ING? Since colds may spread in different ways, it makes sense
to take multiple precautions. The most effective way to
keep colds from, spreading is to wash your hands
frequently and if you are around someone with a cold,
avoid touching your nose and eyes. Equally important,
dispose of used tissues promptly, discard them in a
plastic-lined wastebasket or paper bag, or in any way
that makes rehandling them unnecessary. Don't share
eating utensils, telephones, and other objects with family
members who have colds, paper towels and paper cups
in the bathroom also make sense, and cover your mouth
when coughing or sneezing.
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REMEDIES?
Pain relievers aspirin, acetaminophen (such as tylenol
or panadol), or Ibuprofen (Advil or Nuprin) can
reduce fever and muscle aches. Generic brands are as
good as name brands in all cases. Children under 16
should not take aspirin, which may cause Reye's Syn
drome, a rare but potentially fatal disease. Alcoholics or
those with liver disease should avoid Acetaminophen. In
treating a sore throat, avoid aspirin chewing gum and
aspirin gargles, aspirin applied directly to the mucous
membranes won't reduce pain and can act as an irritant.
Cold remedies, as a class, are expensive and useless.
Some are actively harmful Decongestants, which dry up
secretions may help temporarily but can have a rebound
effect more congestion than ever. Antihistamines,
which can work against hay fever, may make cold
congestion worse. They also induce drowsiness. Combi
nation cold medicines are unlikely to do much good -they
often contain ingredients that work against each
other, and may contain antihistamines.
WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF
COUGH MEDICINE?
Coughing serves a useful purpose by clearing secretion
from your throat. If you have a wet, productive cough,
you should just go ahead and cough, unless it keeps you
from sleeping. In that case try hot drinks, steam, or a
hard candy - but don't take cough suppre chants, which
contain codicne or other ingredients which inhibit the
cough reflex. However, if you have a dry, unproductive
cough, a suppressant may help you get a good nights'
sleep. An expectorant can loosen mucous. It's generally
wise to avoid multiple -ingredient formulas:
-The suppressants or expectorants they contain may be
present in less-than-effective doses.
-They may also contain decongestants and antihista
mines, which you don't need.
-Choose a single-ingredient product that seems best
suited to your symptoms.
WHY CANT SCIENCE FIND A WEAPON
AGAINST COLDS?
There are at least 100 strains of rhinoviruses, as well as
other varieties of viruses that produce cold symptoms,
developing a vaccine for all of them is a very compli
cated task at the present stage of scientific knowledge.
If it's any comfort, you develop your own immunity to
each cold you have that particular virus won't bother
you again (or at least not for some time; no one is sure
how long the immunity lasts). This explains why
children get so many more colds than adults they've
had fewer, so they catch more.
WHAT ABOUT HOME REMEDIES?
Though nothing really cures a cold, some of the com
mon sense home remedies do help:
-Scientific studies have shown that hot drinks, especially
chicken soup, can increase the flow of nasal secretions
and help you feel better. The taste and aroma of soup,
. as well as its hot vapors, may all be part of the therapy.
-Hot alcoholic beverages or a shot of brandy may sound
tempting. But alcohol dilates blood vessels and may
produce more nasal congestions. Overindulgence,
obviously, may bring on stomach upset and headache.
Pregnant women are advised never to drink alcohol
-Saltwater gargles (14 teaspoon of salt in 8 ounces of
warm water) can soothe a sore throat; homemade saline
nose drops (same formula as the gargle) may make your
nose feel better.
WHEN DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO SEE A
DOCTOR FOR A COLD?
There's nothing a doctor can do for a cold. Antibiotics,
including penicillin, are good for bacterial infections but
can't fight cold viruses (or any other virus). Nor can
antibiotics "head off 'bacterial infections. Some
symptoms, however, should tip you off that what seems
to be a cold may be something more serious, requiring
professional care:
-oral temperatures above 103 degrees or a fever above
100 degrees that lasts for more than 3 days, especially if
combined with a very severe sore throat.
-severe pain in the chest or head, with or without
enlarged neck glands.
a severe cold that is no better after a week
-and, in a child, difficulty in breathing, marked irritabil
ity, and lethargy.
WONT A FLU SHOT HELP WARD OFF
COLD?
Not at all. Influenza and colds are caused by different
viruses. Flu shots can prevent about 70 of all flu
cases, but are recommended only for those over 65 and
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those with chronic illnesses who might risk serious
complications. These people need to be immunized
each year.
DO WET FEET, DRAFTS AND OVER EXPO
SURE CAUSE COLDS?
To catch a cold, you must come in contact with a cold
virus. In experiment after experiment, people have been
known to catch colds only if the are exposed to viruses in
just the right way. It doesn't matter whether their
environment is wet and bone-chilling or warm and dry.
Of course, laboratory experiments and real life are two
different things, and the role of chills, drafts and wet feet
in promoting susceptibility to viruses is not a completely
closed question, obviously you'll be more comfortable in
winter if you avoid drafts and wet feet But, if your
boots start leaking in the rain, don't assume that you're a
goner. In children, the seeming association between
forgotten overshoes and a runny nose is probably pure
coincidence.
ARE SUMMER COLDS WORSE THAN OTH
ERS? Often, the so-called summer cold is really a respiratory
allergy. If you have an itchy throat, runny nose, and
sniffling every summer, you should suspect pollen.
Trees generally shed pollen in the spring, but grasses do
so in the summer, and ragweed takes over in early fall or
sooner. If you suspect you are suffering from something
other than a cold, you might consult an allergist, antihis
tamines can help a nasal allergy, though they don't do
anything for colds.
SHOULD YOU EXERCISE WHEN YOU HAVE
A COLD?
That depends on how you feel. Never force yourself if '
you feel too tired or unfit, or if you have a fever. It's not
possible to "run off a cold or sweat it out of your
system. A break of one or two days in your exercise
program won't be a significant set back.
WHAT ABOUT VAPORIZERS AND HUMIDI
FIES? Increased humidity in the air you breathe can sometimes
relieve symptoms. Hot-water vaporizers offer some
advantages but can cause burns and scolding. Use a
cold-mist vaporizer or humidifier, if you wish to use a
humidifier at all.
There is no value in adding medications to the water,
remember that humidifiers can harbor molds, which
may cause allergic reactions. Clean the tank daily,
rinsing with a mild chlorine bleach solution and refilling
with fresh water. ,
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ISNT IT BEST JUST TO GO TO BED UNTIL
YOU'RE OVER IT?
If you feel too ill and tired to make your daily rounds,
you should stay at home or even in bed. But bed rest
will not cure a cold or actively alleviate symptoms.
If a child has a cold, going to school won't harm him or
her. However, a child in the early stages of a cold who
has a severe runny nose will expose others and might
stay home a day or two for that reason.
Remember, if you do have a cold, your miseries should
be miraculously cured within ten days.
Carol Terp,RNC
Community Health Nurse