Understanding the Common Cold

Today, I will talk about the common cold, the symptoms, the causes and home remedies.

The Common Cold is caused by a variety of viruses including the flu or influenza. The symptoms of the common cold are ranging from mild cough, congestion, running nose without fever to having high fever, body ache/pain, headache, sore throat, tiredness, fatigue, nausea, abdominal pain, joints pain and sometimes loose stools. Some symptoms can start out very mild but can worsen over a few days. Some start out very severe and slowly improve after 3 or 4 days.

There are a lot of viruses that caused the symptoms of common cold. Some of the very common viruses are rhinovirus, adenovirus, parainfluenza, seasonal coronavirus, metapneumovirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), etc. Each virus has a few of its own unique symptoms, but they all have the very common symptoms of cough, congestion, running nose, sore throat, fever, malaise, headache, muscle ache and pain.

There are things you can do at home to help with these symptoms and feel better sooner. At the onset of symptoms, take acetaminophen (Tylenol) 1000 mg 3 times daily or ibuprofen (Motrin/Advil) 600 mg 3 times daily for anyone weight 65 Kilograms/145 pounds or more for fever, body ache/pain, headache or sore throat. Please check with your doctor or medical provider to see what medication you can take for the symptoms. Drinking plenty of fluid except milk or lactose which can makes the mucous or phlegm thicken and harder to get it out. Also take antihistamine such as cetirizine (Zyrtec), loratadine (Claritin), levocetirizine (Xyzal) or fexofenadine (Allegra) for nasal congestion and running nose. If the congestion is severe and you are having difficulty sleeping at night, you may want to take low dose diphenhydramine (Benadryl) 12.5 mg to 25 mg before bedtime. Talk with your doctor or provider in regard to taking any over the counter mediations before taking any of these medications. Rest for a day or two when symptoms are severe. Cough medications are typically not helpful and not routinely recommended. Cough medications are selective for individual who has severe cough and unable to sleep at night or waking up at night.

A word of caution, not all cough, congestion, running nose with fever, headache, sore throat, body ache and pain, malaise is caused by viruses. There are other bacteria and physiological change which can cause similar symptoms so check with your doctor or medical provider if your symptoms are persistent, worsening or steady for longer than 5 days. If you have headache which worsen with bending down, fever lasting more than 4 days, chest pain, short of breath or difficulty breathing, seek medical care right away.

Nub nuav kuv yuav lug thaam txug kev mob khaub thuas (Common Cold), thaam txug cov kev mob, cov kaab ua mob hab kev khu nyob tom tsev.

Mob khaub thuas yog tawm ntawm cov kaab mob hu ua (viruses). Cov kaab mob nuav yuav ua rua yug muaj nqu (noos), lug ntswg, txhaws ntswg, mob taub hau, mob ib ce, mob qaa, mob plaab, mob tej qej txhaa, xeev sab had thoj plaab los muaj. Tej thaum yuav ua rua yug nkeeg nkeeg tsi muaj zug hab. Muaj ib txha mob mas pib tsi mob heev tabsis mob nyaav zuj zug moog. Ib txha mob ces mob heev heev thaum pib ces zoo zuj zug tom qaab le 3 los 4 nub ntawm.

Cov kaab mob es ua mob khaub thuas nuav yog hu ua vais lav (virus). Cov kaab mob nuav muaj ntau yaam xws le, kaab mob COVID-19, rhinovirus, influenza, adenovirus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) moog rua ntau yaam. Ib yaam kaab mob muaj qhov mob ib nyuas txawv zog hab tabsis txhua tug kaab mob yeej mob yuav laug zoo ib yaam los yog.

Yog yug mob khaub thuas ces yuav tau su le 1 los 2 nub hab haus dlej kuam ntau ntau. Tsi txho haus nyuj mig ntau ntau vim tas cov kaab mob muab cov suab thaaj hu ua lev thuaj (Lactose) ua ib co noog qeev nplaum nplaum. Noj tshua pas las (acetaminophen (Tylenol)) 1000 mg ib nub 3 zag los ibuprofen (Motrin/Advil) 600 mg ib nub 3 zag paab yog koj muaj 145 phaus los yog 65 kg tsov sau. Yog koj muaj ntsaav sab, muaj kab mob sab, mob plawv los noj lwm yaam tsuaj nua ces ntsug koj tug kws kuaj mob thaam saib koj noj puas tau cov tshuaj nua. Noj cov tshuaj mob allergy xws le Zyrtec, Claritin los Allegra paab rua qhov lug ntswg hab txhaws ntswg. Thaam ntsu koj tug kws khu mob saib koj noj puas tau tej tshua nuav koj le maam noj txhaj le tsi muaj mob hab. Has txug cov tshuaj nqu (noos) ces yeej tsi paab heev. Tabsis yog tag nqu heev heev es pw tsi taug hab pheej sawm heev thaum pw ces sib los tau.

Yog tas koj tug mob tsi zoo zog tom qaab leg 5 nub los yog mob heev tuaj xws le mob hauv sab, ua paa tsi nto, muaj kub muaj no, ib ce tsau tsau tsi qaab lug noj mov ces yuav tau moog kuaj saib muaj dlaab tsi tswm sim.

Disclaimer:

These are medical information only and not substitute for medical advises from your doctors or medical providers. Please seek advises from your medical doctor/provider if you have any illness even you think it is just the common cold or simple illness.