If you traveled during the holidays, shopped or attended family gatherings or parties, there is an excellent chance you came into contact either with a cold or the influenza virus. Doctors say that is why January is a banner month for patient visits.
At the Canton Community Clinic in Canton, Ohio, the waiting room generally holds several patients complaining of respiratory problems or long-lasting colds.
“We have a big influx after Christmas,” said Dr. H. John Gashash, a full-time physician at the clinic. “People complain about coughing, frequent bronchitis. I worry about the patients who take over-the-counter cold medications, especially those taking (prescription) blood-pressure medicine. Some of the over-the-counter medicines warn about it, but not all.”
Is the old adage “Starve a fever, feed a cold” valid? Or is it “Starve a cold, feed a fever?”
Either way, Gashash urges patients running fevers to take in more liquids to remain adequately hydrated.
“And you lose a lot of calories when you have a fever, too, so you need to try to eat but especially drink,” he said.
For those who never have understood the mechanics of a cold, Dr. Thomas W. Hiland, who practices general internal medicine, translated it into layman’s terms.
“I’ve had a lot of people with lots of nasty stuff since January began,” he said. “But I have not had anyone I thought had influenza.
“I think that a lot of people don’t understand exactly what an upper respiratory thing is. A cold usually starts in the head region with inflammation of the nose and sinuses. That sends drainage down the back of the throat. So you get inflammation in your throat. That stuff can drain into your lungs, and that’s what you end up coughing back up. ... If you start out with pneumonia, though, that starts in the lungs first,” he said.
Hiland also said he is “undecided” on the idea that green or yellow discharge from the nose is a definite indicator of an infection.
“I get nosebleeds when I have a really bad cold and that changes the color. So I don’t know if there is a correlation to color,” he said. “But the sputum you get from the lungs is different. If it is really darkly colored or really yellow, that I get worried about. Streaky and light, I worry about less.”
Concurring with Gashash, Hiland warns patients with high blood pressure to consult him or a pharmacist before taking over-the-counter cold medications.
“I had a patient in the office the other day, and his blood pressure went sky-high. He had been using Afrin nasal spray,” said Hiland, who practices at Aultman Hospital and Mercy Medical Center. “You have to watch out for that and Sudafed and other products like that. Some people can get away with it. Obviously, they can’t have decongestants in them. But they don’t flush out of your system immediately.”
And don’t disregard the remedies your mother may have employed.
When their own infant recently suffered a cold, Hiland and his wife used a vaporizer to keep the air moist, relieving symptoms. They also used Vicks VapoRub on the baby’s chest. Hiland’s theory is that the salve acts as a mild topical anesthetic, numbing the child’s irritated nasal passages.
Is it a cold or the flu?
The ultimate governmental health authority, the Centers for Disease control and Prevention in Atlanta, Ga., advises that both conditions are virus based, though each is different.
Fever, body aches, extreme fatigue and a dry cough are influenza indicators. The flu can escalate into bacterial infections or pneumonia, even req, uiring hospitalization.
A rapid-culture test using a nasal swab can produce results within a few hours confirming or denying the presence of the flu virus.
Colds present milder symptoms. Sufferers generally don’t feel as much discomfort and usually have a runny or stuffy nose.
How to dodge the viruses
1. Wash your hands. A good rule of thumb -- no pun intended -- is to wash as long as it takes you to sing two verses of “Happy Birthday.”
2. Ask for wet wipes or hand sanitizers at every restaurant you frequent. If they can’t provide them, carry a few with you. Remember, the last person who held the menu may have been contagious.
3. Protect your toddlers. Some supermarkets have wet wipes available to wash shopping cart handles not only for your protection but for the little one you place in the seat. Again, if they don’t, carry your own.
4. Avoid play areas that have a huge bin of plastic balls children can wade through. Runny noses and unwashed hands may have touched many of them.
5. Keep your hands out of your mouth, nose and eyes. The paper just dropped on your desk could be carrying germs easily transferred to highly receptive mucous membranes when you touch those areas of your face.
6. Be aware of the things you touch routinely during the day. Hand railings, doorknobs, even department store stock could be a source of the virus depending on who was there before you. Clean hands are your best defense.
Canton Repository
author: Diana Rossetti