Do you really understand colds?

When it comes to colds, everyone knows about it. It is easy to catch a cold due to climate changes, poor health, cold weather, and rain. I believe everyone has dealt with colds. So much so that when it comes to colds, everyone can become an authority and talk endlessly about their personal opinions on colds.

However, do you really understand colds?

01. What exactly is a cold?

What exactly is a cold? You must distinguish it clearly.

Colds are generally divided into two categories: the common cold and influenza . The causes of the two are different, and the consequences are also different. The common cold is caused by upper respiratory tract infection, and the symptoms are often mild, while influenza is clearly caused by influenza viruses, and the symptoms are more severe. In terms of the time of onset, the common cold occurs all year round, while influenza often appears in winter and spring and tends to be popular. Of course, there are many differences in specific manifestations. The following picture simply summarizes the differences between colds and influenza. I hope you can master it. It is very necessary to make a scientific initial judgment on the cold.

After we have mastered the initial diagnosis of colds, we can do triage like a hospital. If it is a common cold, then general medication can actually solve most of the problems, not to mention that the cold itself is a self-limiting disease (it will often recover on its own without treatment). If it is not very serious, there is no need to go to the hospital. On the other hand, if it is influenza, we need to observe closely, cut off the infection, and pay special attention. If it is serious, we need to go to the hospital for treatment in time.

02. What should we do when children have a cold?

Whenever the seasons change, accompanied by sudden changes in temperature, colds are often prevalent, especially among children. Because their immune functions are still in the growth stage and their overall immunity is low, they become one of the groups most seriously affected by colds.

When facing a child's cold, many parents will unconsciously substitute their own experience, and then make judgments based on their own experience. However, this kind of "individual experience" sometimes has many problems. For example, some people prefer to use the concepts of wind-cold and wind-heat to describe colds. As an outsider of traditional Chinese medicine, I have no comment. However, sometimes, giving children some medicines that may not treat colds or delaying treatment can lead to serious consequences.

What if children catch a cold? Some people will say that no matter how serious the case is, they can just go to the hospital. However, this is not always appropriate. First, many places are currently short of medical resources, especially pediatrics. Major media outlets often report similar news.

Therefore, going to the hospital and waiting and queuing may not only delay the treatment of the disease, but is also a considerable burden for parents. Moreover, hospitals are often places where infectious diseases are more concentrated, which may not be a good thing for children with low immunity.

So you just rely on your own experience to make your own judgment?

It does work in many cases. For example, when we were young and medical conditions were insufficient, many colds could be cured with the medicines available at home. However, there are always parents who misjudge and may ignore serious cold symptoms, resulting in delayed treatment and causing more serious problems.

At this time, parents may be confused. This is not okay, and that is not right. What should they do?

03. How to choose cold medicine?

When facing a cold, the first thing most of us think of is to take medicine (those who drink more hot water should go to face the wall). Although many people joke that "take medicine for a week and don't take medicine for seven days", it must be said that cold medicine itself is effective in reducing cold symptoms and promoting physical recovery.

So how do you choose a cold medicine? Faced with the dazzling array of cold medicines on the market, many people will certainly be very confused. Today someone says that medicine A is good, and tomorrow someone recommends medicine B. As for the various descriptions such as "dispelling wind and cold, relieving exterior symptoms and clearing away heat", it is even more confusing.

In fact, cold medicine is not complicated. We need to simplify and find the true essence of cold medicine. There are not many core ingredients in cold medicine. Generally speaking, they can be divided into the following categories. You can choose according to the symptoms of the cold:

Antipyretic and analgesic: acetaminophen;

Antihistamine ingredients: Chlorpheniramine maleate;

Antiviral ingredient: Amantadine;

Increase excitement: Caffeine;

Cough suppressant ingredient: dextromethorphan;

Decongestant ingredient: Pseudoephedrine.

It is especially important to note that, because children are weaker and their organs are not fully developed, not all ingredients in medicines that can relieve cold symptoms are suitable for children. For example, the ingredients in italics above are either restricted to children at an age of 1 (such as drugs containing amantadine, which should be used with caution in children under 1 year old), or the drug ingredients have greater side effects on children. Therefore, no matter what cold medicine you take, you don’t need to look at the product name, but the ingredients.

However, if the child's symptoms are more serious, such as a persistent high fever, then you must go to the hospital. At this time, other drugs may be needed to play a role, such as the classic antiviral oseltamivir.

04. How to prevent colds?

Of course, choosing medicine is actually a last resort. In most cases, prevention should be the priority to protect the child's health to the greatest extent.

How to prevent colds? The first is to improve the child's physical fitness and enhance immunity, such as letting the child eat a balanced diet and not being picky eaters, so that the physical fitness can be better and the resistance to colds can be enhanced. Sufficient sleep and some exercise are also beneficial to the child's immunity.

Secondly, we must pay attention to daily precautions, such as adding or removing clothes in time as the weather changes, and developing the good habit of washing hands frequently.

The third is to avoid common sources of infection, especially when the flu is prevalent, and avoid crowded places as much as possible. If you can't avoid it, you can let your child wear a mask.

05. Beware of some misunderstandings

Of course, finally, we still have to mention some misunderstandings about colds.

1. Vaccination: Try to get

There is a kind of anti-intellectualism in society today, that is, many parents do not like to vaccinate their children (of course, there are also some objective factors that affect people's confidence in vaccines). However, as one of the great progress of human medicine and health, vaccines have been proven to be effective by enough evidence, and not getting vaccinated has serious consequences, such as the United States.

2. Use antibiotics as little as possible

Antibiotics are another major discovery brought about by modern science and technology. Originally, they were an important weapon to fight diseases. However, modern people abuse antibiotics. One of the serious consequences of the abuse of antibiotics is the increase in antibiotic resistance, which results in the emergence of more difficult-to-cure microbial infectious diseases. Overuse of antibiotics is inappropriate, and parents are advised not to give their children antibiotics easily.