How do you treat colds?

[Stahlmann]

Hi!

I live in hot home. I go to cold environment (about 5 deg C lower temperature). I walk 15 minutes. Then I commute. I get sick . I know that should some time to adapt to walking outside, but in country the winter is about to come. So I do not have other options rather than to treat cold now.

Cheers

[Eureka]

Germs make you sick, not cold weather. You have to come in contact with rhinoviruses to catch a cold.

Of course, cold air may dry out the mucus of your nasal passage and make you a little more prone to get the virus into your body should you encounter it, but a strong immune system will easily fight it.

So eat well, sleep well, keep your body active with a lot of varied movement on a daily basis, stay away from unhealthy substances and leave out chronic stress and you are well protected against common colds also during cold seasons.

Also, better ventilate your (warm) house with fresh air twice a day, as the better the air you breath in is, the healthier the mucus and the little hairs in your nose - and the better they can protect you from viruses and bacteria entering. Also ventilate your work place in the same way, of course.

But it seems, you already have caught a cold? Then stay home from work, rest, treat yourself to healthy food, listen to your body and give it the 2-3 days it needs to recover.

And allow yourself to enjoy the rest - you most likely needed it.

[vexed87]

^^ Everything you need to know about the common cold right there, however with one caveat, it doesn't have to be that specific virus, it could be one of several which is why one can have multiple colds a year...

However, I suspect you don't have a cold. What you have is a serious case of man flu, the only known treatment is to moan about your sickness to anyone that will listen, and hope that you will still be alive by the end of the week.

In all serious, I'd recommend you take a few days off work (yes even for a cold), screw presenteeism.

[BRUTE]

Stahlmann could turn down the heat in his very hot home. brute in generally dislikes changing environment temperature too drastically and finds it much easier to just adapt to one. doesn't mean the home needs to be freezing, but Stahlmann could always wear a sweater at home.

[MZMpac]

My biggest pet peeve is when patients come in to my office with cold symptoms for 2 days. Sometimes even less. I'm not sure what they think we can do for them. It's a hallmark feature of WUMCA (White Upper Middle Class America). No one has any tolerance for discomfort. They also think we have nothing better to do than waste time with common viruses.

In all seriousness though, common sense fights the common cold. Avoid frequent drastic temperature changes (like keeping your home at 80 degrees during the winter), consider a humidifier if you live in a dry climate, take 1-2 grams of Vitamin C and 600mg NAC a day during cold season (I do this year-round), sleep at least 7 hours a night, exercise 4-7 days a week, and wash/sanitize your hands fastidiously after visiting public places and during cold season.

I wear a mask every time I see an actively sick patient and sanitize my hands and stethoscope after every single visit. Some people think it's rude for a doctor or PA to wear a mask, but I think it's rude to come into the clinic and cough in my face. I'm a human too, I can get sick.

[BRUTE]

I'm a human too, I can get sick.

MZMpac is also a disease vector. seeing hundreds of sick humans every weak, wouldn't it almost be reckless to be exposing each of them to each other's viruses and bacteria?

brute thinks it's probably a great idea to prescribe a full 14 day course of antibiotics to every soccer mom with a cold. what could possibly go wrong.

[vezkor]

Zinc inhibits the replication of respiratory viruses by physically blocking (rhinovirus in particular) from binding to the ICAM-1 site in respiratory-tract cells. This will greatly reduce proliferation of the virus, and give your immune system the time it needs to react.

Suck on zinc lozenges... or pennies, paperclips etc. It will reduce the duration of the common cold. If you don't have the common cold, it won't do anything... except possibly a placebo effect (which actually helps!).

Also ingest supplementary vitamin C to reduce the duration (mainly by boosting the immune response), but do not take more than 5000mg/day because vitamin C is water soluble and there is a definite limit on how much is useful/can be absorbed. You'll know you've had too much if your pee is significantly different looking and smelling than usual.

Hope you recover quickly!

[jacob]

You'll know you've had too much if your pee is significantly different looking and smelling than usual.

If nothing else the explosive diarrhea should give it away.

[vezkor]

That too!

... Might help you feel better, though. Never have to buy laxatives again in any case.

[chenda]

Cold and flu tablets like night and day nurse usually are very effective in treating symptoms. They also make you high if you drink on them, often at work Christmas parties...

I rarely get colds, although I used to get severe hay fever and a steam room was very effective for that as well.

[Stahlmann]

My biggest pet peeve is when patients come in to my office with cold symptoms for 2 days. Sometimes even less. I'm not sure what they think we can do for them. It's a hallmark feature of WUMCA (White Upper Middle Class America). No one has any tolerance for discomfort. They also think we have nothing better to do than waste time with common viruses.

In all seriousness though, common sense fights the common cold. Avoid frequent drastic temperature changes (like keeping your home at 80 degrees during the winter), consider a humidifier if you live in a dry climate, take 1-2 grams of Vitamin C and 600mg NAC a day during cold season (I do this year-round), sleep at least 7 hours a night, exercise 4-7 days a week, and wash/sanitize your hands fastidiously after visiting public places and during cold season.

I wear a mask every time I see an actively sick patient and sanitize my hands and stethoscope after every single visit. Some people think it's rude for a doctor or PA to wear a mask, but I think it's rude to come into the clinic and cough in my face. I'm a human too, I can get sick.

Zinc inhibits the replication of respiratory viruses by physically blocking (rhinovirus in particular) from binding to the ICAM-1 site in respiratory-tract cells. This will greatly reduce proliferation of the virus, and give your immune system the time it needs to react.

Suck on zinc lozenges... or pennies, paperclips etc. It will reduce the duration of the common cold. If you don't have the common cold, it won't do anything... except possibly a placebo effect (which actually helps!).

Also ingest supplementary vitamin C to reduce the duration (mainly by boosting the immune response), but do not take more than 5000mg/day because vitamin C is water soluble and there is a definite limit on how much is useful/can be absorbed. You'll know you've had too much if your pee is significantly different looking and smelling than usual.

Hope you recover quickly!

quite informative. could you tell me your background?
thanks for your efforts

[Lucky C]

If you are getting a runny nose or other sinus issues without feeling sick otherwise, you may have nonallergenic rhinitis (a runny nose or sneezing that doesn't come from allergies or a virus). It can be triggered by temperature changes alone. It's somewhat common (affects millions of Americans) and can be hard to distinguish from a cold or allergies, especially when it first develops which isn't until after age 20 normally.

I get a really annoying runny nose and sneezing if I wake up cold, like if I go to sleep comfortably without a blanket but then the temperature drops way down overnight. It can take an hour or two before the runny nose goes away, but of course hot food, hot shower, and exercising helps. Also, cigarette smoke and perfumes can give me sneezing fits and a runny nose.

Try to determine if you are just getting cold symptoms from being cold rather than a virus or allergies. Then the recommended treatment is to warm up!

[Dragline]

I hardly ever get colds anymore (like once every 2 or 3 years), and generally just ride them out, maybe using a decongestant spray to breath at night if necessary. Exercising through a cold usually helps, too.

But I used to have a lot of sinus-related issues like LuckyC mentioned. They pretty much went away when I stopped eating a lot of things that caused inflammatory reactions. For me that was mostly bread products and processed foods. On the flip side, I think eating a lot of vegetables helps, as does the juice of lemons and limes. Take some vitamin D unless you get a lot of sun already.

You'll have to experiment, but if you are getting a lot of colds, you probably need to eat and move differently. Not everything works the same for each person.

[DSKla]

This works. http://www.icemanwimhof.com/science

About halfway down there are links to published papers on Wim Hof's method of stimulating the immune system. I already did something like this--just "willing" myself not to get sick (or being destined not to get sick for the no free will crowd). Then I convinced my work that paying for me to get the Wim Hof Method course was a work-related expense. They are a bit loopy like that. And I have done most of the course, enough that if people are getting sick around me, I do a bit of breathing and meditation and nothing happens to me. Same if I start to feel the tickle of a sore throat, etc. Note that I'm not toughing it out, it never materializes, and has not for many years.

It also works for your body's thermoregulation.

Lots of people tell me you can't consciously influence autonomic functions just by thinking about them. They tell me this while shivering with a cold.

In all seriousness, a ton of factors go into your immunity. If you have decent genetics and optimize things like sleep, stress, diet, and exercise, I think it puts you into a position where you can give yourself a little boost with something similar to the Wim Hof Method. And as far as I'm concerned, the "method" is nothing more than learning to control breathing and concentration, so you could do this without buying a course.

Works for colds and flus in my experience. Haven't tested it against zika, ebola, or malaria. Not optimistic.

Edit: I forgot to mention that after years of verbal abuse on this topic from my girlfriend, I finally got her to give it a try when she was feeling sick. She didn't do any training prior, I just talked her through some breathing and told her what to focus on while we were bedding down for the night. She immediately felt a lot better, and the next day whatever she was catching was a crumbling husk of an illness.

[LiberateMind]

Few things which we do at our home:

- Add lots of pepper eg.,in omlete. Have only easily digestible food.

- Similar to this drink,http://www.wildturmeric.net/2014/07/tho ... l-use.html we prepare and drink it hot.

- Get lots of rest.

- Always drink hot water.

- Before going to bed, add one spoon of turmeric powder with 4 spoon of pepper in a glass of milk and drink it. ( Tough one I know).

- If its severe cold,we do this http://drsrevathi.blogspot.in/2014/01/s ... hthal.html.

- For cough, having a teaspoon of honey.

- Add bettle leaves to water and boil it and have it.

[Chad]

Exercising through a cold usually helps, too.

Agreed, with a caveat...intensity matters.

http://www.coreperformance.com/knowledg ... unity.html

[vezkor]

quite informative. could you tell me your background?
thanks for your efforts

Bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Michigan. High Honors! whatever that means.

[Stahlmann]

The cold stroke one more time!
Also my ear hurts. Any thoughts there?

I used expensive small-packaged ear drops. According to the label it contains ,,borax". Quite funny! Last time I saw this ingridient was the time I made laundry in those movie-like shop. Should I just treat my ears with washong powder ?

[BeyondtheWrap]

I use DayQuil for colds. The other methods people suggest generally don't work as fast as I need them to.

[EdithKeeler]

Once you have a cold, there's actual evidence chicken soup helps clear mucus out of your head. Any hot beverage will work, but chicken soup is best.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/chicken-sou ... ally-help/

I rarely get sick--I attribute that to washing my hands a lot and the fact that I'm not around small children or people who are around small children--small children are like little germ-covered bags of germs, especially when they go to day care or school. But when I do get a cold, I'm a firm believer in lots of chicken soup, lots of hot tea, sometimes with a shot of whiskey and a squeeze of lemon when my throat is sore, Dayquil and Nyquil, and SLEEP.