Jacque Janssen, arts/features editor
University Daily Kansan / Thursday, January 21, 1988
Health
5
The cold, hard facts about the common cold Symptoms can be eased,but the sickness leaves only in its own good time
By Regan Brown
Kansan staff writer
You can guzzle all the chicken noodle soup you want. You can doze yourself with Vitamin C and antihistamines. You can wear the warmest caps and mittens you have all winter long.
But you'll probably catch two to four colds a year, no matter what you do.
Although there's no cure in sight for the common cold, largely because stuffy heads and drippy noses are brought on by one of at least 200 different cold viruses, there are steps you can take to keep from catching a cold as often. And there are all kinds of ways to make you feel better after you catch one.
"Even if you do all the right things and avoid all the wrong things, you will still catch colds," said Charles Watkins Hospital. "No one is immune."
But take note, cold sufferers. A cold will probably last seven to 10 days, no matter what you do, because whatever virus is bugging you needs to run its course.
Colds are treatable but not curable.
Voycey said. The best way to treat a
cold is to rest and stay hydrated.
"But then, to quote 'Voltaire',
Yorkshire's common sense is not so
common. it is'."
Uncommon cures
A cold is an infection of the upper respiratory tract, caused by a virus. The all-too-familiar symptoms can include sneezing and coughing, a runny nose and watery eyes, a stuffy nose, general body aches, a scratchy and sore throat, a headache, and a temperature of 101 degrees or less.
We all know what colds feel like. The common cold is truly a common bond between many times and cultures. Through the ages, people have tried just about everything to ward off the sniffles.
of virology developed within the last 40 years, diagnosing and treating colds was almost impossible, said Robert P. Hudson, chairman of the department of the history of medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Differentiating colds from flu and other upper-respiratory-tra infections was impossible as well. Thus, a look at colds throughout history is inevitably imprecise.
Current research tells us that a strong immune system is the body's best defense against colds, but rumors and folklore from various cultures have credited everything from garlic to buttermilk with preventive powers where the common cold is concerned.
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had slightly different views on how to ward off a cold. "Contentment preserves one even from catching cold," he wrote in 1888. "Has a woman died, and she was well grooved ever caught? No, not even when she had scarcely a rag to her back."
Hot beer with camphor, garlic with sour pickles, raw peanuts, onion poullets, standing on the head underwater, rubbing socks with anions every day — all have been washed off. Hot beer with onion poullets, anything that pungent may well have kept cold at bay simply by repelling germ-bearers.
Humorist Robert Benchely advised frequent naps, steak dinners, and trips to Palm Springs to anyone serious about avoiding colds. He cautioned readers not to breathe through their mouths or noses and to avoid crowds by locking themselves in their rooms all day.
The truth, Yockey said, is that a strong immune system will ward off
'Even if you do all the right things and avoid all the wrong things,you will still catch colds.'
Charles Yockey
infection.
chief of staff at Watkins Hospital
This means getting plenty of sleep and exercise; avoiding alcohol and nicotine, both of which suppress white blood cell functioning; and minimizing stress.
"Any kind of stress will weaken the immune system," he said. "Rapid weight loss, depression, a death in the family, pulling all-nighters."
"Shaking hands, touching, kissing and sharing a Coke are all good ways to transmit," he said. Coughing and sneezing are the second most common way to spread cold germs.
There are steps you can take to feel better, though. And there are signs to watch for just in case the viral infection that caused your cold turns into a more serious bacterial infection.
When it comes to fighting the cold war, there isn't a strategic maneuver known that will keep you from losing out to a cold every now and then. Once your immunities succumb, you're doomed to suffer until the virus is through with you.
Frequent handwashing will keep down the spread of cold-causing viruses, Yockey said, since the most susceptible person's transmission is hand-to-hand contact.
"The bottom line is that everyone is exposed," he said. "And you are at your most contagious a day or so before you get sick."
Winning the cold war
You've heard the cold-cure ititany a million times, but take heed if you wish to decrease the severity of a cold. Get plenty of rest. Drink plenty of water. Cockey, but avoid dairy products since they thicken nasal secretions.
Annh Kohl, registered dietitian at
Hoboken University, also stressed
drinking lots of fluids.
"Fruit juices are better than pop," well get some more juice, yellower.
Kohl cautioned against alcohol and caffeine because both are diuretics, which rob the system of badly needed fluids.
Aspirin will relieve your body aches and fever, said Yockey. And stay off the alcohol: "Booze will prolong your illness." he said.
Cold sufferers should eat three soups meals a day. Yokohama said.
Foods such as soup and fruit are easy to digest and help restore lost fluids and sodium, Kohl said. High-fat or fried foods — especially fatty cheese — are worth avoiding, she said, because they're so hard to digest.
Questionable cures
"Feed a cold, starve a fever' is baloney, by the way," he said.
Yockey cautioned cold sufferers about many remedies sold in health food stores, such as zinc tablets and
megadoses of vitamin C. He said that both were harmless in small doses but that larger amounts can be toxic.
"Too much C causes kidney stones. And zinc toxicity can lead to death," he said.
Kohl does not recommend zinc because it is fairly new on the market and relatively unproven so far.
As for vitamin C treatment, she said, "I don't think there's evidence that it will prevent a cold."
High doses — 10 times or more the recommended daily allowance of 65 milligrams can cause kidney damage if the vitamin is water soluble, she said.
However, the owner of a local health food store said that zinc lozenges and vitamin C tablets are popular with his student customers.
Bob Johnson, owner of Nature's Best Health Foods, 711 W. 23 St., said that zinc lozenges could relieve sore throats and upper congestion. The lozenges dissolve after being placed on the tongue.
"It's important to build our systems up," he said. "The chemicals and preservatives in what we eat stress our systems and make them break down."
Other cold remedies include an herb called golden seal, which Johnson termed a natural antibiotic, and odorless garlic tablets.
You should be able to treat most colds at home, but don't ignore your symptoms. A common cold is still nothing to sneeze at.
Treat your cold
Wise sufferers will steer clear of dubious folk remedies like the "two-hat cure." That's the one where a cold victim puts two hats at the foot of the bed, drinks whiskey until there's only one hat, and then sleeps
it off. But alcohol will only dehydrate you.
If rubbing Vicks on your chest like Mom used to do will make you feel better, by all means do so, said Yockey. It will serve as a decongestant, even though it can't be absorbed through the skin.
You should seek medical attention if you notice green or yellow drainage from your nose or lungs. This may indicate a bronchial infection; cold secretions are clear.
Other warning signs to watch for are intense sinus pain, which could mean a sinus infection, and high fever, which, along with a sore throat, could indicate strep throat, said Vockey.
Flu is marked by high fever and intense body aches, especially along the back. Yockey encouraged flu sufferers to seek treatment. A drug can shorten the duration and decrease the severity of flu.
Tips for preventing and surviving a cold can be cold comfort indeed — especially if you're halfway through the wheezing, sneezing misery of one. Nothing could be worse, right? Not according to Ann Adams, a local yoga instructor and co-director of Yoga Midwest, 1027 Massachusetts县.
As Adams sees it, we should be grateful for colds.
"The yogic view of a cold is that it is enforced meditation," she said. A cold forces you to rest and meditate on something in order into doing something for yourself."
By changing your attitude to a more positive one, a cold becomes a healthy thing, she said.
So next time a cold strikes you,
just remember it's all in your head.
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