Cold & Flu Treatment, Causes, Types, Symptoms, Medication And Facts

Colds are usually pretty simple. They show up, cause their share of irritation, and run their course in less than a week. Although it’s somewhat uncommon, complications of a serious nature can set in when you get a cold. These complications can include: an ear infection, sinusitis or bronchitis.

If the following symptoms accompany or appear in the wake of a cold, you should monitor them very carefully.

Serious complications
The doctor doesn’t normally need to be involved in treating a cold at all. But if you suddenly develop a fever in excess of 101°F a doctor should be contacted immediately. This could well be a symptom of a serious flu and your initial cold symptoms could simply have been mistaken for a cold when the flu was actually what you had all along.

If you have asthma you should be especially careful about cold symptoms. Symptoms of a cold can provoke an asthma attack in certain instances or make the symptoms of your asthma somewhat worse. If you feel a tightness in the chest and your asthma symptoms are growing steadily worse, call your doctor or get medical attention as soon as possible.

People who suffer from emphysema can have their cold symptoms linger long after a simple upper respiratory infection would have left their system.

Sinusitis (a sinus infection)
Typically, a cold can inflame the mucous membranes in your respiratory areas. Sinusitis is an inflammation of the mucous membranes. Sinusitis works in a way similar to cold in that inflammation provokes the sinuses to produce more mucus. This in turn, can block up the sinuses and you’ll start to feel pressure in your nose, perhaps even pain. Pain is a reasonably sure sign that your sinuses had been affected by your cold. But a lingering cold can also indicate a sinus infection. Headaches and pain above the teeth, as well as a lingering cough and a greenish-yellowish nasal drainage are also signs that your sinuses are infected.

Bronchitis (a chest cold)
If your lungs are inflamed and producing excessive amounts of mucus you have bronchitis.

The more common type of bronchitis is acute bronchitis. It’s usually caused by a viral infection such as the flu or a cold. Some people simply called acute bronchitis a chest cold, which is okay. The mucus produced by bronchitis may be quite thick, yellow and contain traces of blood. Medical treatment beyond that given for a cold is usually not required and recovery can take a week or two. Persistent symptoms accompanied by tightness or shortness of breath should be taken more seriously and medical attention and advice should be solicited.

Because the flu presents with such a wide variety of symptoms determining just what the flu is can prove to be a bit of a challenge. If you’re worried about contracting swine flu (H1N1) or any other variety of flu it’s best to know exactly what you’re dealing with.

Influenza
Influenza or the flu is a disease caused by a number of different related viruses that typically affects the respiratory as well as other areas and functions of the body. It is characterized by being exceptionally contagious and seasonally prevalent. In the winter time and through the spring this virus enters the body through the respiratory tract and manifests itself by causing a myriad of different symptoms.

Respiratory tract viral infections encompass both the common cold and influenza. What typically distinguishes the flu from a cold are a fever and other symptoms that incapacitate the person suffering from the disease–including lethargy and aches and pains.

The flu is also much more likely to lead to complications that can have long-lasting and potentially life-threatening results. Pneumonia is not an uncommon result of the flu.

Colds and flu are alike in that their viruses and cannot be treated with antibiotics designed to kill bacteria. As mentioned above there are antiviral medications that have proven to be effective against the flu; these are of no avail in fighting a cold of any kind.

Is stomach flu the flu?
What is commonly referred to as stomach flu is more correctly called gastroenteritis, another exceptionally prevalent viral infection. We may think that we have stomach flu when we are actually suffering from a bacterial infection, food poisoning or a host of other things that can upset our digestive systems.

Spreading the flu
Spreading the flu is easy to do, because there are so many ways to do so. Person-to-person contact, airborne droplets and secretions can rapidly spread the flu out among any number of different groups of people. Nursing homes and day care facilities, college dormitories and educational institutions of all kinds routinely suffer outbreaks of the flu.

More specifically, all you need to do to get the flu is inhale some droplets from the air on which the flu virus is riding, share an eating or drinking utensil with someone who is infected already, or even shake hands with someone who has shaken hands with someone else who may have stifled a sneeze a number of minutes ago. That goes a long way toward explaining why washing one’s hands frequently and considering the use of a hand sanitizer is recommended so very often for combating the flu.

How Many Kinds of Flu Viruses Are There?
The answer to that question might be more all the time. Scientists generally divide the many flu viruses up into three different types: A, B, and C. with a frequency that rivals some of the livelier science-fiction stories flu viruses mutate on an almost continual basis. That means that no one is ever completely or permanently immune to this disease.

Feel like reading the good news about the flu? Then you’ve come to the right place. If the right place is your very own home. Because that’s where the fight against flu can begin. Years and years of informal testing have proven that many home remedies can be very effective in fighting the flu.

Before we get started we should warn you that not all home remedies are appropriate if you’re flu symptoms are particularly serious. If your fever reads over 102°F for more than 24 hours contact your doctor.

Home remedies for the flu can be matched quite closely to the symptoms that they address. Here are some examples:

CONGESTION
Prepare a hub of hot steamy water in the kitchen or the bathroom, add fresh ginger. Put a towel over your head so that you capture the steam rising up from the water then lean over the steam. This remedy may prove even more effective with the addition of some over-the-counter ointment like Vicks. Adding a few eucalyptus drops to the water may provide a similar effect. Herbalists tell us that eucalyptus is a common remedy for opening up the bronchial tubes and easing labored breathing.

Drink plenty of liquids. The common recommendation of eight eight-ounce glasses of water on a daily basis for better health is important to adhere to when you have the flu. Drinking more fluids won’t make you more congested as a rule, it will help you get rid of the congestion that you have.

Another liquid approach to battling congestion involves taking a warm shower. Once again steam will serve to ease your congestion and help move the mucus out of your nose and chest. Dry yourself off carefully to avoid any sort of chills or fluctuations in temperature, which might add to your misery.

STUFFED UP NOSE
Instead of investing in over-the-counter decongestants to remedy your stuffed up nose, the time honored saline rinse may prove equally effective, if not more so. A saline rinse irrigates your nasal passages with salt water. It also can flush virus particles from your nasal passages as well.
A ceramic pot called a neti pot is also available at most drugstores. Neti pots utilize gravity to force the saline solution into one nostril and out of the other.

SCRATCHY IRRITATED THROAT
Simple over-the-counter cough syrup can provide effective relief for a scratchy irritated throat. If you want to stay strictly away a from even over the counter medications, a spoonful of honey may also relieve sore throat.

Cough drops or hard candy can also calm throat irritations.

Yes it’s true, chicken soup can help with symptoms of the flu. Hot soup is a powerful trigger for mucus production, whether made from the chicken or not. Adding spices such as curry, garlic or pepper to hot soup can thin mucus that has accumulated in the throat and other air passages.

Actual research on the tiny hairs that line respiratory passages called cilia has shown that they work better immediately after administering hot chicken soup. This is not to suggest that hot chicken soup should ever make its way directly into your respiratory and nasal passages. Drinking it from a cup works just fine!

The question “is it a cold or is it the flu,” may not matter all that much to you if you’re feeling particularly miserable. But it is an important question to answer. Here’s some pointer’s that will help you do just that.

A cold is in almost every case a milder illness then the flu. Colds generally last no more than a few days. It’s quite common to start feeling better two days. a flu can profoundly affect your health for days extending into weeks. Unfortunately, the flu can bring on health problems that can prove to be extremely serious or even fatal.

Common cold symptoms
Common cold symptoms are plentiful and mild as a rule. The classic runny nose, nasal congestion and cough are symptoms. It’s not unheard of for a fever to accompany a cold especially in children.

Nasal congestion typically starts out rather watery and as the cold germs are defeated becomes thicker, possibly yellow or darker. These latter symptoms are generally welcomed by cold sufferers as a sign that they’re cold is on its way out.

Symptoms that accompany a cold tend to make one contagious to others for the first three days after they appear. Resting at home in bed is probably the best thing for you to do for yourself and for others.

Cold symptoms that linger for a week or longer may indicate a bacterial or sinus infection. Only then should you consider treating your symptoms with antibiotics. And those antibiotics would need to be prescribed by your doctor.

Flu symptoms
One thing that distinguishes flu symptoms from cold symptoms is that the gradual buildup that can be characteristic of colds contrasts markedly with the sudden onset of flu symptoms. Similar symptoms include a sore throat, headache, congestion and coughing. Symptoms that can further distinguish the flu from a cold include a fever, and in the case of H1N1, the swine flu, diarrhea and vomiting.

The flu can run its course in less than a week. However, it’s not unusual for its effects to linger for another two weeks. Pneumonia can set in and contribute to heart or lung problems. Shortness of breath while you are more symptomatic with the flu is a serious complication that should be addressed immediately, particularly if you suspect you have the swine flu .Pneumonia can occur in all cases of the flu as something called a rebound symptom. These are symptoms that come back after abating for a time.

How else can I know that I have the flu?
Although cold and flu symptoms are similar, it is exceptionally rare for a cold to generate a fever over 101°F. This kind of fever can last for three or four days and occasionally run even higher in children and adolescents.

If you have any of the following symptoms you should contact emergency medical assistance at your earliest opportunity.

• Vertigo or dizziness
• Confusion or memory loss
• Acute chest pain
• Acute headache pain
• Excessive vomiting
• Shortness of breath

Children’s symptoms that should prompt a similar emergency response include:
• A bluish skin color
• Labored or rapid breathing
• Signs of your ability or stress that persist beyond normal
• A fever accompanied by a rash
• Refusing to drink fluids
• Pronounced listlessness
• Any of these symptoms that suddenly take a turn for the worse

So just what does cause the flu? Most people have a general idea, but a lot of misconceptions are still in the air about this disease. The more you know about the flu and how it’s caused, the less likely you’ll probably be to experience the flu firsthand.

Do germs cause the flu?
More specifically flu is caused by a virus, even more specifically by over a hundred different kinds of viruses. Scientists and researchers categorize those viruses into types A, B, and C.

There are actually a few differences among the types that are worth noting. Most of the large-scale flu epidemics are the responsibility of the type A and type B flu viruses. The Type C flu virus is less likely to mutate and is less likely to cause the serious symptoms that characterize virulent influenza epidemics such as the one back in 1918 that killed 50 million people. The virus responsible for that pandemic was a Type A flu virus similar to the current swine flu virus of subtype H1N1.

The type A flu virus is can actually occur in species other than human. These include chickens, ducks, horses, pigs and even whales. Thus far, type B flu viruses are confined to humans.

Spreading the Flu
We already know quite a bit about how the flu spreads. And it’s one of the more highly contagious diseases known to humankind. The most common methods involve sneezing and coughing. Flu viruses are resilient and can survive on droplets propelled through the air long enough to make their way into your lungs nose or throat.

Flu viruses also can continue to exist on surfaces such as telephones, remote controls and keyboards long enough to get picked up by you hands and subsequently make their way into your body by way of the nose, the eyes or the mouth.

Sharing items such as eating utensils or handkerchiefs can also serve to spread the flu. Intimate contact between two human beings is another fairly obvious way that the flu virus can spread. Since Type B flu is also prevalent in animals, showing affection to your pet may also result in your coming down with a case of influenza.

Risk factors for flu are also seasonal, with the winter months being the most common time that outbreaks of flu occur. Explanations for that include:

People tend to stay indoors in close proximity with each other during the winter months. This provides the virus more opportunities to move from one person to the next. Inside air is less humid than outside air, especially in the winter. The flu virus actually likes things kind of dry.

It doesn’t circulate nearly as much on the inside of the house as it might in the outdoors. Droplets containing the flu virus can remain suspended in the stale air waiting to infect someone.

How Contagious are People that Have the Flu?
How contagious you are can actually vary by old you are. Adults are typically contagious for up to seven days after first showing symptoms of the flu. You can infect someone with the flu up to 24 hours before you show any symptoms at all. Younger children are capable of spreading the flu by way of secretions well into the second week after they first show symptoms of the flu.