Relieving the Common Cold
About two weeks ago, I felt like a cold was coming on. There was one night in particular where I couldn’t sleep well because my nose was so stuffy. It felt like someone tried to shove a couch up there. So I put a brand name eucalyptus vapor rub on my nose and hoped for the best. Thankfully, I eventually got some rest and the cold seemed to subside. But with everything happening these days, you can’t be too careful.
The common cold is a term used to describe a mild upper respiratory illness. The common cold is caused by various respiratory viruses, most often a rhinovirus. Symptoms may include nasal stuffiness and discharge, sneezing, cough, sore throat and low-grade fever initially. Adults may experience colds an average of two to four times annually, while young children may experience the condition six to eight times per year.
According to an Elsevier journal article, colds account for 40 percent of all time lost from jobs among employed people (23 million days of work per year) and about 30 percent of absenteeism from schools (26 million school days per year). And the actual cost of caring for patients with colds in US physicians' offices is estimated to be $1.5 billion annually. What’s more, Americans spend 2.9 billion dollars on over‐the‐counter drugs and another 400 million dollars on prescription medicines for symptomatic relief.
There is no cure for the common cold. So instead most over-the-counter medications like antihistamines and decongestants help relieve the symptoms. But some studies have found that natural remedies like vitamin C and zinc may be associated with decreasing the duration(days) and incidence of the common cold. For example, one large trial recorded a significant reduction in the duration of colds among participants administered a single vitamin C dose of 8 g on the onset of cold symptoms. And one study found that zinc administered within 24 hours of onset of symptoms reduces the duration of common cold symptoms in healthy people.
I am not advocating any particular solution, I repeat I am not telling you to use any of these symptom remedies, just presenting natural alternatives that may be useful for treating your sniffles. For me, over-the-counter medicines are acceptable to use but it is nice to have natural remedies like zinc that may shorten how long I’m sick before my cold has a chance to really attack my body.
