The common cold is caused by any one of some 200 viruses, so there is really very little that is common about this malady. And while colds do afflict most people in the fall and winter, cold weather itself isn’t always the culprit. It is, rather, the greater amount of time people spend indoors during those chillier seasons that increases the risk of the virus spreading. As if by reflex, people reach for one of the over-the-counter medications on their shelves to treat their illness. However, even at recommended dosages, these over-the-counter medications can have side effects. At higher dosages, they can cause serious problems. Forget about antibiotics – they can’t kill cold viruses.
Before turning to decongestants, expectorants, or antihistamines to cure your cold, there are actually a number of simple home treatments that can be of great help in your recovery:
1) Stay at home. Preferably, stay in bed and have a good rest. Going to work with a bad cold will make it worse and last longer. Your colleagues at work will appreciate it more if you keep your illness to yourself. Again, colds are caused by a virus that can spread easily by sneezing, coughing, or merely talking.
2) Get lots of sleep. If possible, stay in bed the whole day and sleep. Give your body a chance to fight the cold and recover from weariness or exhaustion from labor, exertion, or stress. You might have over-worked your self, and so this is your opportunity to catch up with your rest. There is a great probability that if you stay in bed for a day at the start of a cold, you will be up and about the next day.
3) Avoid over-eating. While you are at home, don’t over-eat. Have light meals with plenty of fruits, fruit juices and soups. Stay away from sweets such as chocolates, cakes, ice cream and pastries. Sugar in the blood lowers your resistance to infections.
4) Drink plenty of water. This means at least 10 glasses of water to wash out the virus in your system. When awake, drink a glass of water or fruit juice every hour. Two glasses of water before breakfast can help in your excretion.
5) Gargle with hot salt solution. Usually, colds have three phases and your body may start on any one of them: the head cold, the chest cold, and the sore throat. If your body starts with the sore throat, gargle with a hot salt solution at least 3 times a day. Put half a teaspoon of salt into a glass of hot water; stir until dissolved. Allow the water to roll in the throat for a few seconds while you gargle. It is clear that cold drinks are a no-no for the time being.
6) Apply heating compress on the throat after the evening gargle and just before retiring to bed. Wet a handkerchief with tap water and wrap it around the throat. Cover the wet handkerchief with flannel material completely and wrap the neck.
7) Have a hot foot bath. If your body starts with a head cold, there certainly is head congestion accompanied by headache and stuffy or runny nose. These symptoms have to be addressed right away or the colds will go down to the chest and you might start a fever. A hot foot bath, given twice a day (once in the morning and once in the evening), will help you rid your head of that nasty congestion. The hot foot bath draws the blood from the head, thus relieves the clog on the head.
8) Use a vaporizer if necessary. Steam inhalation will soothe and open the stuffy nasal passages. This is most ideal after a hot foot bath.
9) Apply fomentation on the chest. If your luck goes down further and your colds progress to chest colds with cough and fever, an application of hot, moist substance on the chest with steam inhalations will relieve the tightness of the chest and lower the fever.
10) Go visit your doctor. If your colds persist for more than a week inspite of your having applied all these measures, see your family physician for further treatment.
Remember, too, that you really do not have to set out to cure the common cold. Whether or not you take medicine, you will get better in about the same amount of time (probably in a week or so). Cold and flu treatments can relieve certain symptoms, but the virus will not be affected. Address your primary symptom and keep medication to a minimum.