Your questions about common cold

Neil Walker answers:

NyQuil is my favorite for when I’m trying to get some rest. Drink tea for the throat, and use honey, I don’t like lemon b/c it works against my dry throat b/c its so sour. Definitely chicken soup, and no the condensed kind, the $3 a can kind! Oh, and try to keep your nose lubricated, I usually use my Chapstic, b/c it really hurts after wiping it a thousand times. I hope you feel better!

Neil Walker answers:

The common cold is a viral infection that affects the upper airways including the nose, voice box, throat, windpipes and the lungs. There are more than two hundred viruses that can cause colds and are commonly known as rhinoviruses or the nose viruses. These viruses cause inflammation or swelling of the mucous membrane lining the airways.

Colds are very contagious. The viruses are airborne and are transmitted when one sneezes or touches infected objects. Anyone can get a cold. Children are more likely to get a cold than adults because they are not immune to certain viruses that cause the cold.

The main causesof cold are

The cold virus is spread via air particles that are expelled while coughing or sneezing. It also spreads when someone with a cold rubs his eyes or nose and then touches an object such as a doorknob, towel, bed linen and other such commonly used articles.

Symptoms generally show up about two days after a person becomes infected. Early signs of a cold are a sore, scratchy throat, sneezing, and a runny nose. Other symptoms that may occur later are:

Headache

Stuffy or runny nose

Watering eyes

Chills

Weakness

Cough and congestion

Sore throat

Fever and muscle ache.

The symptoms generally last for 2 to 7 days and in some cases may last for weeks.

There is no specific test to diagnose common cold. The diagnosis is based on the symptoms reported and the physical examination made by the doctor.

Managing the symptoms is the best that can be done for the cold, as there is no specific treatment. A runny nose can be treated with antihistamines, such as diphenyhydramine or clemastine, and decongestants, such as pseudophedrine. Fever can be treated with drugs such as aspirin, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen. The use of aspirin should be avoided in case of children. Antibiotics will not cure colds, as they are caused by viruses and not bacteria. A person with a cold should drink plenty of fluids and take rest.

Neil Walker answers:

Nothing can accelerate the course of a cold. A bucket of vitamins, 3 hives of honey, a grove of lemons and a health food shop full of Echinacea will never help.

Take paracetamol for fever, a decongestant for catarrh and then gargle with alcohol and swallow it.

Neil Walker answers:

The average length of the common cold is 9 days. Of course that all depends on the individual could be longer or shorter. You’ve been treating it well but if you have any questions or want some more help on treatment you can visit: http://www.familyresource.com/health/cold-and-flu-remedies/conquering-the-common-cold or contact your doctor.

Neil Walker answers:

The common cold is a rhinovirus that effects the cells in the upper respiratory tract. Once it affects the cells, it triggers the sneeze and cough reflexes. This is good for the virus, because not only does it mutate rapidly (by the time you sneeze, you are most likely sneezing a different genome strain than effected you to begin with), but it promotes the spread of the virus to other hapless souls!

Unlike other respiratory viruses that kick off the interferon system to fight infection, rhinoviruses interfere with interferon production. Why is this important? Because as the result of this evasion strategy, you get a runny nose and fever, caused by the innate immune system’s inflammatory reaction to the virus, rather than the flu-like symptoms you would get if you had the flu.

Because rhinoviruses are cytolytic (e.g. they kills the cells they infect), the innate system is on the lookout for excess cell death. Once it sees this happening, the innate system is so powerful, that it can eradicate the virus within a couple /few days.

The cough is from a natural process in the body called the “mucosal escalator”. There are 2-version, the ‘up’ and ‘down’ versions. In the ‘down’ version, which is relevant here, the mucus from the nasal cavity is moved ‘down’ to be swallowed. Once in the stomach, it’s destroyed. This sounds good, right? Well…not so. When getting moved down, the temperature cools. What does rhinoviruses look for so they can replicate? Cool temperatures. Hence, the escalator actually helps the virus spread. Fortunately, the virus is also a weakling and the immune system can handle it at this point.

As for a cold causing a cold, that’s just a old wives tale. If that was the case, then everybody in colder climates would have colds virtually all the time, which, obviously, does not happen. Your immune response, the ability for the virus to remain labile in an environment and exposure to others who are transmitting a cold play more importance than the cold temperatures itself.

You feel weak because the immune system is fighting a battle. Generally though a cold will make you feel more miserable rather than weak.

Glucose reserves will not be really be affected because it’s not causing a major systemic infection that limits appetite. You might feel lousy, but it won’t stop you from eating pizza!