How to quickly cope with a cold: 6 ways

The common cold is a problem familiar to everyone. It arises suddenly at the most inappropriate moment, turning a person's life into a nightmare. It is impossible to work normally, study, relax and even sleep due to poor health. As is known, an untreated cold will pass itself in seven days. What to do in order not to wait for improvement for the whole week?

A bit of terminology

The common cold is a collective concept that does not exist in medicine. In the language of specialists there is the term "acute respiratory disease" or acute respiratory disease. ARI is a term for the inflammatory process of the respiratory tract. These include: rhinitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis, tracheitis, sinusitis and related complications.

In addition, there is such a thing as "ARVI" - inflammation caused by various viruses. It turns out that ORVI is part of the acute respiratory disease.

Influenza is an infectious-inflammatory disease caused exclusively by the influenza virus.This is a fairly dangerous virus that acts not only on the respiratory tract, but also on the walls of blood vessels throughout the body. Influenza is more severe than ARI of a different etiology and can lead to death.

Cold symptoms

The first, as a rule, there is a rhinitis. It can manifest itself in the form of a constant outflow of fluid exudate from the nose or, conversely, congestion and the inability to breathe and smell. Sometimes weakness, fatigue, heaviness in the whole body and a headache occur before the cold. It is important to notice the appearance of these symptoms.

In addition, there may be a cough, sore throat, pain in the forehead or upper jaw, fever. Sometimes the cold is quite easy, it can be moved on the legs without complications. In other cases, you have to take sick leave and lie at home. It is possible that there is a cough or sore throat without a cold. All symptoms may be present in any combination.

How to recognize the flu

The following symptoms may indicate flu:

1. Severe intoxication. The temperature rises above 38 ° C, severe weakness, up to the impossibility of getting out of bed, pain in the whole body, loss of appetite - all this suggests that the disease takes a very serious course. Colds rarely manifest themselves.
2. Symptoms of irritation of the meninges. These include the fear of bright light and loud sounds. A person in this state wants to close all the doors, shut the windows and cover the head with a blanket.
3. Damage to the eyes and ears. The virus can also reach these organs. Then the eyes are constantly watering and sore, the sclera are red, in the morning on the eyelids there are crusts that are difficult to remove. In the ears or in one of the ears there is a sharp sharp pain, hearing deteriorates.
4. The defeat of the digestive tract. Manifested by diarrhea, nausea or vomiting. These symptoms mean that the virus has reached the digestive system.

In addition, the flu has many complications. The most dangerous among them are hemorrhagic meningitis and influenza pneumonia. Death from such complications can occur within a few days, they are treated very hard.

Note! At the first sign of flu, you should immediately consult a doctor.It is easier and safer to prevent the occurrence of complications than to treat them.

How to quickly cope with a cold

It is best to start to deal with a cold before it appears. If the weather is bad, a SARI outbreak or you just feel that you are starting to get sick, do the following:

Take a loading dose of vitamin C. This substance not only boosts immunity, but also strengthens the walls of blood vessels, preventing inflammation. You should drink 1-2g of ascorbic acid or tea with the juice of half a lemon. Often, this can not be done, but at one time the side effects will not occur.

Dibazol - cheap and cheerful. This is a tool that once began to release to reduce pressure. It turned out that the hypotensive effect of dibazol is weak, but antiviral effect is pronounced. You must take 1-2 tablets per day, but only if there is no hypotension.

Antiviral. This is all well-known advertised tools. It is worth noting that it is useless to treat them with a viral infection, but you can prevent its occurrence. Their cost is higher than that of Dibazol, but less side effects.

Echinacea tincture.With its help, you can increase the immune forces of the body. 10 drops of tincture diluted in a glass of water and drink. Take thrice a day.

If the cold has already gained momentum and the symptoms are pronounced, only these methods are unlikely to be enough. However, vitamin C and echinacea are still worth taking. In addition, you can resort to the following methods of dealing with a cold:

1. Bed rest During an illness it is important to rest more and work less. It is easier for the body to fight infection.
2. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. These are drugs such as aspirin, analgin, ibuprofen, nurofen and others. They reduce inflammation, thereby alleviating all the symptoms of a cold, and also reduce the temperature.
3. Antihistamines. The main culprits of unpleasant manifestations of ARD are the molecules of serotonin and histamine. Antihistamines will help to cope with them. In addition, they will eliminate the allergic component of inflammation.
4. Healthy tea. You can brew tea with raspberries, ginger root or eucalyptus leaves. Drink it as often as possible in the form of heat.
5. Cough syrups. There are a lot of them; before buying, you should clarify the effect the drug has.If you suffer from cough with sputum, then it is necessary to give preference to expectorants, if there is no sputum - antitussive. If you do the opposite, there will be no effect from the treatment.
6. Nasal spray. You can buy the drug with a specific medicinal substance, for example, vasoconstrictor in case of persistent cold. You can buy medicine on the basis of sea water, it will reduce congestion, pain and a burning sensation in the nose.

Note! Contrary to popular belief, antibiotics do not treat either SARS or flu. They do not affect viruses and inflammation. They are used to prevent the development of complications of a bacterial nature. It is necessary to take antibiotics only after consulting with a doctor and strictly according to the recommendations given by him.

It can be concluded that the main thing in treating the common cold is a timely start. The sooner the treatment is started, the easier the course of the disease will be, and the sooner recovery will come. In addition, you should take preventive measures as often as possible so as not to get sick.

Video: how to quickly cure a cold