Common Cold

      

         The common cold is a self-limited contagious illness that can be caused by a number of different types of viruses. The common cold is medically referred to as a viral upper respiratory tract infection. Symptoms of the common cold may include cough, sore throat, nasal congestion, runny nose, and sneezing. More than 200 different types of viruses are known to cause the common cold, with rhinovirus causing approximately 30%-35% of all adult colds. Other commonly implicated viruses include coronavirus, adenovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, and parainfluenza virus. Because so many different viruses can cause the common cold and because new cold viruses constantly develop, the body never builds up resistance against all of them. For this reason, colds are a frequent and recurring problem. In fact, children in preschool and elementary school can have six to 12 colds per year while adolescents and adults typically have two to four colds per year. The common cold occurs most frequently during the fall and winter months.

Causes :-

         The common cold can be caused by more than 200 different viruses. Up to 50% of colds are caused by rhinoviruses, other cold causing viruses are:

• Human parainfluenza virus
• Metapneumovirus
• Coronavriuses adenovirus
• Human respiratory syncytial virus
• Enteroviruses

         When the viruses manage to overpower the body's immune system infection occurs. The first line of defense is mucus, which is produced in the nose and throat by the mucus glands. This mucus traps anything inhaled, such as dust, viruses and bacteria. Mucus is a slippery fluid that the membranes of the nose, mouth, throat and vagina produce. 

         When the mucus is penetrated by the virus which then enters a cell, the virus takes control of the element of the cell which makes protein. It uses this element to manufacture more viruses, these viruses then attack surrounding cells.

Symptoms :-

       

         The body reacting to the cold virus is mainly what brings about the symptoms. A release of chemicals is triggered, making the blood vessels leak, causing the mucous glands to work harder. The most common symptoms of a cold are:

• Dry throat
• Sore throat
• Cough
• Mild fever
• Sneezing
• Hoarse voice
• Blocked nose
• Mild headache

The rarer symptoms are:

• Muscle aches
• Shivering
• Pink eye
• Weakness
• Reduction in appetite
• Extreme exhaustion

         Approximately 25% of people do not suffer any symptoms when infected with the cold virus; perhaps because their immune system reacts differently to the virus. Sometimes bacteria can infect the ears or sinuses - this is known as a secondary bacterial infection - and can be treated with antibiotics.

Prevention :-

As there are so many cold causing viruses, it has been difficult for scientists to develop a vaccine. However there are some precautions that can be taken to help avoid catching the common cold, these are:

• Avoid close contact with someone infected with a cold.
• Eat lots of vitamin-rich fruit and vegetables regularly so that your immune system remains strong.
• When sneezing or coughing make sure it is done into a tissue. Discard the tissue carefully and wash your hands.
• If you sneeze into your hands make sure you wash them with soap and water immediately.
• If you have no tissues or a handkerchief cough into the inside (crook) of your elbow rather than your hands.
• Wash your hands regularly; cold viruses can be transmitted from one person to another by touch.
• Keep surfaces in your home clean - especially in the kitchen or bathroom.
• Avoid touching your face especially your nose and mouth.

A few tips to treat cold :-

        Unfortunately, both antibiotics and antiviral medications are ineffective against most viruses that cause the common cold. A cold normally lasts up to ten days; however some symptoms do stay as long as three weeks. Although there is no real way of treating or curing the common cold, the following measures may help ease the symptoms:

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  • Drink plenty of fluids and keep well hydrated, being dehydrated when infected with a cold can make you feel worse.
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  • Get plenty of bed rest, it is important to get as much sleep/rest as possible when infected as the body's immune system is fighting off the virus.
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  • Take aspirin, paracetamol or ibuprofen to relieve headache or fever. Do not give aspirin to children under the age of 16.
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  • Some people find that inhaling steam helps ease the symptoms of nasal congestion.
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  • Antibiotics are useless - Italian scientists presented evidence at CHEST 2012, in October 2012, showing that antibiotics are no good at treating cough due to the common cold in children. Francesco de Blasio, MD, FCCP, Clinic Center Private Hospital, Naples, Italy, explained that when children have an acute cough, anti-tussives provide some relief of symptoms, while antibiotics do not.

       Taking decongestants during pregnancy - scientists at Boston University reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology that pregnant women who take over-the-counter decongestants during their first trimester may have a greater risk of giving birth to babies with rare defects in their digestive tract, ear and heart.

Home treatment :-

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  • Drink plenty of fluids to help break up your congestion. Drinking water or juice will prevent dehydration and keep your throat moist. You should drink at least 8 to 10 eight-ounce glasses of water daily. Include fluids such as water, sports drinks, herbal teas, fruit drinks, or ginger ale. Your mother's chicken soup might help too! (Limit cola, coffee, and other drinks with caffeine because it acts like a diuretic and may dehydrate you.)
• Inhale steam to ease your congestion and drippy nose. Hold your head over a pot of boiling water and breathe through your nose. Be careful. If the steam burns your nose, breathe in more slowly. You can buy a humidifier, but the steam will be the same as the water on the stove. Moisture from a hot shower with the door closed, saline nasal spray, or a room humidifier is just as helpful to ease congestion.
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  • Blow your nose often, but do it the proper way. It's important to blow your nose regularly when you have a cold rather than sniffling mucus back into your head. But when you blow hard, pressure can carry germ-carrying phlegm back into your ear passages, causing earache. The best way to blow your nose is to press a finger over one nostril while you blow gently to clear the other.

• Use saline nasal sprays or make your own salt water rinse to irrigate your nose. Salt-water rinsing helps break nasal congestion while also removing virus particles and bacteria from your nose. Here's a popular recipe:

          Mix 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda in 8 ounces of warm water. Fill a bulb syringe with this mixture (or use a Neti pot, available at most health foods stores). Lean your head over a basin, and using the bulb syringe, gently squirt the salt water into your nose. Hold one nostril closed by applying light finger pressure while squirting the salt mixture into the other nostril. Let it drain. Repeat two to three times, and then treat the other nostril.

          To avoid exposing yourself to other bacteria and infections, it's important to watch what you put in your nose. According to the CDC, if you are irrigating, flushing, or rinsing your sinuses, use distilled, sterile, or previously boiled water to make up the irrigation solution. It’s also important to rinse the irrigation device after each use and leave open to air dry.

• Stay warm and rested. Staying warm and resting when you first come down with a cold or the flu helps your body direct its energy toward the immune battle. This battle taxes the body. So give it a little help by lying down under a blanket to stay warm if necessary.
• Gargle with warm salt water. Gargling can moisten a sore or scratchy throat and bring temporary relief. Try a half teaspoon of salt dissolved in 8 ounces of warm water four times daily. To reduce the tickle in your throat, try an astringent gargle -- such as tea that contains tannin -- to tighten the membranes. Or use a thick, viscous gargle made with honey, popular in folk medicine. Steep one tablespoon of raspberry leaves or lemon juice in two cups of hot water; mix with one teaspoon of honey. Let the mixture cool to room temperature before gargling.
• Drink hot liquids. Hot liquids relieve nasal congestion, prevent dehydration, and soothe the uncomfortably inflamed membranes that line your nose and throat. If you're so congested you can't sleep at night, try a hot toddy, an age-old remedy. Make a cup of hot herbal tea. Add one teaspoon of honey and one small shot (about 1 ounce) of whiskey or bourbon if you wish. Limit yourself to one. Too much alcohol inflames those membranes and is counterproductive.
• Take a steamy shower. Steamy showers moisturize your nasal passages and relax you. If you're dizzy from the flu, run a steamy shower while you sit on a chair nearby and take a sponge bath.
• Try a small dab of mentholated salve under your nose to help open breathing passages and help restore the irritated skin at the base of the nose. Menthol, eucalyptus, and camphor all have mild numbing ingredients that may help relieve the pain of a nose rubbed raw.
• Apply hot packs around your congested sinuses. You can buy reusable hot packs at a drugstore. Or make your own. Take a damp washcloth and heat it for 30 seconds in a microwave. (Test the temperature first to make sure it's right for you.)
• Sleep with an extra pillow under your head. This will help relieve congested nasal passages. If the angle is too awkward, try placing the pillows between the mattress and the box springs to create a more gradual slope.

         Learn about natural remedies like zinc, echinacea, and vitamin C. People looking for natural cold remedies often turn to supplements. Many of these remedies have not been shown to help and some hurt.

Zinc : While early studies showed that zinc could help fight off a cold more quickly, the latest consensus seems to be that zinc has a minimal benefit at best. According to the Food and Drug Administration, zinc nasal spray can cause permanent loss of smell.

Echinacea : While echinacea was once a very popular cold remedy, the latest science indicates that it does not appear to prevent colds and is not an effective treatment. Researchers are continuing to study echinacea’s effects on respiratory infections to determine if there is some benefit. People with asthma may make their asthma worse with medications like Echinacea.

Vitamin C : What about vitamin C? In a recent review of prior studies, researchers found limited evidence that vitamin C prevented or treated colds.

Ayurvedic Treatment :-

Diet & Lifestyle Advice

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  Make sure you get at least 7-8 hours of good sleep every night. This will boost your immune system and enhance the ojas (energy) in your body.
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  Try Panchakarma therapies – specialized Ayurvedic massage techniques – that are extremely useful in cleansing the body and giving it renewed vitality.
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  Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water each day to flush accumulated ama (toxins) from your system.
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  Eat a healthy and balanced diet to keep your body strong, nourished, and ready to fight infection. Stick with whole grains, colorful vegetables, and vitamin-rich fruits.
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  Support your immune system by exercising moderately on a regular basis. It helps in increasing blood circulation and eliminating the blockage in body channels.

Top 4 Ayurvedic products for the best and the fastest cures, remain the following Ayurvedic products:

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  Fluvin Capsule– It’s the “one stop cure” for the common cold. It is antiviral, anti inflammatory and increases the body’s immunity.
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  Agasthya Rasayanam – It is a decongestant with a anti-histaminic property.
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  Thalisapatradi Choornam with honey – It releases excess cough
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  Karpooradi Thailam- Apply on the chest and face, put 4-5 drops of oil in water, boil it and take steam. It decongests the chest and is anti- inflammatory.

These are the top 5 home remedies to cure the common cold: 

              

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  Drink ginger tea. It acts as a decongestant, helps stimulate slow digestion and improves the taste buds too.
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  Lemon juice with water and honey. It soothes sore throat, boosts vitamin C intake and releases excess cough.
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  Garlic contains antiseptic property, garlic in soups or supplements is the best remedy.
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  Tulsi and long pepper in equal quantity, ground together and rolled into small pills, take 3-4 times daily. Tulsi has antiviral, antioxidant property. It is good immune-modulator. Long pepper relieves inflammation.
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  5 gm ginger juice mixed with one amla's (Indian gooseberry) juice and one teaspoon honey  with a little water. It boosts body immunity and acts as a decongestant.

Prevention is definitely better than cure, here are ways to prevent it altogether: 

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  Cover the head and neck with clothes
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  Gargle with hot saline water
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  Take fresh fruits and vegetables to boost your immunity
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  Keep yourself warm at all times
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  Do not sleep during the day
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  Do not sleep late
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  Do not share towels and glasses
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  Avoid deep fried and processed food

          If there is uncontrolled sneezing, excess thirst, foul smell in nose, insomnia, fever of 102 F or more, consult your doctor as soon as possible.

         To avoid the common cold forever, It is critical to continue build the immunity, Panchakarma is a great way to supplement and strengthen the immunity.

Homeopathic Treatment :-

Not every cold needs to be treated, since the body's natural reaction to the cold virus is a healthy response. Consider treating a cold if the symptoms are significantly disturbing the child, if the condition lingers, or if the child needs to attend a special event without having respiratory difficulties.

     

Remedies listed in capital letters represent more frequently indicated remedies.

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  • ACONITUM:

        This remedy is useful primarily during the first 24 hours after the onset of a cold. Typically, the child develops her cold or cough after being exposed to dry cold weather. She wakes from sleep with a dry, hoarse, croupy cough, especially worse at night and after midnight. She has a dry mouth, shortness of breath, and little expectoration. The cough is worse from being cold, drinking cold water, from tobacco smoke, lying on either side, and at night.

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  • ALLIUM CEPA:

        This common remedy for colds is effective when the child has a profuse, fluent, burning nasal discharge which is worse in a warm room and better in open air. The nasal discharge will irritate the child's nostrils, causing pain from simply wiping his nose. He may also have profuse bland (non-burning) tearing from the eyes. He has reddened eyes and a tendency to rub them. He also tends to have a raw feeling in the nose with a tingling sensation as well as violent sneezing. Sometimes the discharge starts in the left nostril and moves to the right. The child may occasionally experience a congestive headache in the front part of the head.

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  • Anas barbariae:

        Although this medicine (commonly marketed as "Oscillococcinum") is primarily effective in treating influenza, homeopaths have also found that it can also be helpful in treating the common cold. There are no known symptoms from which to individualize treatment, though it has been found to be very effective when used within 48 hours of onset of symptoms. Consider giving it if you don't know which other medicine to give.

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  • Arsenicum:

        These children have a burning nasal discharge that irritates the nostrils and upper lip. They are very chilly and are sensitive to drafts or cold air. They may, in fact, sneeze from any change in temperature. Typically, the cold begins in the nose and moves down to the throat (once it goes down into the chest a different remedy is usually needed). They also have dryness of the mouth that leads to a great thirst but for only sips of water at a time.

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  • Belladonna:

        This remedy should be considered when there is a sudden stopping of nasal discharge, and it is replaced by a congestive, usually throbbing, headache and high fever.

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  • Bryonia:

        Like children who need Belladonna, children who need this remedy have little or no nasal discharge but a more prominent head pain over the forehead. Rather than throbbing pain however, these children have a dull ache. They sneeze often which may cause stitching pain on top of the head. The less the nasal discharge, the more painful becomes the headache. Their mouth is dry, as well as their throat, and they may also have a dry cough. They are very thirsty for cold drinks. They feel worse in a warm room.

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  • Calcarea carb:

        This remedy is for infants or children who experience frequent colds and who fit the typical Calc carb syndrome. These children are chilly and very sensitive to anything cold, though they prefer to drink ice drinks. They may develop their cold after being chilled. They sweat profusely and have a sour perspiration. Likewise, their stools are sour smelling. Typically, these children are fair skinned and pudgy with poor muscle tone. They may concurrently get a sore throat with swelling of the tonsils and lymph nodes. They have a thick yellowish nasal discharge and rattling respiration due to loose mucus in the throat and chest.

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  • EUPHRASIA:

        Children who need Euphrasia have profuse burning tears from the eyes and a bland nasal discharge. The whites of the eyes and the cheeks become reddened from the burning tears. The eye symptoms are worse in the open air. The profuse bland nasal discharge, often accompanied by sneezing, is worse at night, while lying down, and in windy weather. After a day or two of these profuse discharges, the cold then moves to the larnyx, creating a hard cough and a hoarse voice. The cough is worse in the daytime and is ameliorated by lying down.

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  • Ferrum phos:

        This remedy is effective for children who get head colds with nosebleeds or who have blood in their nasal discharge.

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  • Gelsemium:

        Children who need this remedy experience a watery nasal discharge, sneezing, and fullness at the root of the nose. Concurrent with this cold may be a fever, body aches, general fatigue, aching in the back part of the head, and sometimes a sore throat.

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  • Hepar sulphur:

        This remedy is indicated for children who sneeze from the least exposure to cold air. Their nasal discharge is thick and yellow, and their nostrils and the bones of the nose are very sore. The nasal passages are sensitive to cold air. Sometimes these children concurrently have a headache. Typically, they are sensitive to touch and are generally irritable.

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  • Kali bic:

        Stringy, ropy, yellow mucus is characteristic of children who need this remedy. When children get a thick, viscid nasal discharge, this medicine is invaluable. They may also experience post-nasal drip with tenacious mucus and pain at the root of the nose which is better from applying pressure there. There may be a constant inclination to blow the nose. The discharge, along with the sneezing, is worse by exposure to cold or in the open air. Sometimes these children get a swollen throat which is relieved by warm liquids. A cough may also occur concurrently.

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  • Natrum mur:

        This remedy is most often given to children who get recurrent colds and whose symptoms match the certain Natrum mur characteristics. These children tend to develop their symptoms after an emotional experience, especially after grief. Death, divorce, unrequited love, or homesickness may create a grief that is not fully expressed, eventually leading to various physical complaints. They experience frequent sneezing and a profuse watery discharge from the nose and eyes, and a loss of taste and smell. Eventually, the nasal discharge may lead to a state of chronic nasal congestion and thick white mucus. Their symptoms are worse in the morning, at which time they usually hawk up much mucus. Dry and cracked lips or a cold sore may accompany the cold.

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  • Nux vomica:

        These children develop their cold after overindulging in over-eating of rich foods or after prolonged mental or emotional stress. The nose alternates between having a fluent discharge and being dry and blocked. The discharge is usually fluent in the daytime and obstructed at night. This medicine is also a common remedy for the sniffles in newborns.

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  • PULSATILLA:

        This remedy is commonly given to children who experience either acute or chronic colds. Typically, they have a thick, yellow or greenish mucus, and a bland discharge (a discharge that does not irritate or burn the nostrils or facial skin). They have nasal congestion that is worse at night, especially upon lying down, which leads to mouth breathing during sleep. Nasal congestion tends to alternate sides. This congestion is worse in a warm room and is more fluent in the open air. They sometimes develop their cold after overindulging in fatty or rich foods. Despite having a dry mouth, they are thirstless. Pulsatilla is a very common remedy for the sniffles in newborns, especially when their nasal discharge is yellow or green. The children who most commonly fit the Pulsatilla syndrome are emotional, sensitive, and easily hurt. They are moody and weep easily. They crave affection and sympathy and cannot get enough of it. They are impressionaonable, so much so that if parents are worried about their child's health, the child will tend to get worse, while if parents are confident that the child will get better, the child usually does.