Colds and colds, how to attack them?

With the cold days and in the winter months it's time to start training again and the preseason ... and few of us get rid of a cold or unexpected flu and end up in the doctor, in the pharmacy or online looking for some remedy .

We wait half a year for the good weather to arrive so that the triathlon season begins, and almost without realizing it, the summer ends, the competitions end and the shorter days return ... and the cold.

And although this year the cold seems to be late, we can practically open the cold season, and in a short time will begin to speak on the news of the famous flu vaccine.

With the cold days and in the winter months it's time to start training again and the preseason ... and few of us get rid of a cold or unexpected flu and end up in the doctor, in the pharmacy or online looking for some remedy .

If we start looking, we find thousands of medicines, supplements, home remedies ... that claim to cure or shorten the duration of this type of diseases. But are all these products that we find daily in the winter season on the internet, magazines and televisions really useful to attack these viruses? Y Is flu like a cold?

Let's start by clarifying that these are different diseases: The flu It is always caused by the Influenza Virus (of which there are several types that we will not detail here), while the colds they suppose a much wider entity that can cause many more types of virus (between 100 and 200 different), depending on the area and tissues where they settle or attack (nose, eyes, throat ...).

The next thing to remember or clarify is that neither the cold nor the flu have a cure.

So, so clear and so easy. The whole series of medicines anticatarrales that appear in the television ads in the winter months are intended to relieve symptoms (nasal congestion, pain, etc.) but do not shorten the days of illness or "cure" us.

And nowadays, it is questioned whether these drugs really help symptom in something beyond the placebo effect (there are many controversial studies on the effect of phenylephrine or pseudoephedrine in recent years). Only the analgesics if we have a fever, but not for the rest of the symptoms.

Another option is the Natural medicine, among which we can find as the most recommended Vitamin C, propolis, Echinacea, garlic, Zinc, Vitamin E ...

All are known to have properties that help the immune system to better perform its function and prevent the onset of viral processes. But once we have become ill, it is also controversial how much they really help and how much dose to take for this effect to be real. What is clear is that they are natural enhancers of the immune system, and that when it comes to prevention, is something important.

And of course, NUNCA MUST BE AUTOMATED WITH ANTIBIOTICS when we are facing a cold or the flu. Antibiotics are useful drugs for bacterial infections, but not for viral ones, so in addition to not getting any healing effect, they create "resistances" to them and stop being useful medicines to fight bacterial infections (and this is a bigger problem than what you can think).

The most effective? Rest (giving the body the time it needs to recover), hygiene (hand washing is often basic to avoid contagion and to avoid complications) and drinking lots of water / liquid (helps to eliminate mucosal viscosity and toxins faster). And little more than that.

So when deciding what to do if we have already become ill, we must not lose sight of the fact that all cold/flu medications have undesirable side effects... do not be wary of the doctor who recommends "water and cold" for a flu or a cold. rest” and nothing else… surely he is the one who is worrying about you the most.

Dr. Mª Angeles Sanchez (@missfisio)
Further information: institutoinnova.net

Photo: Holadoctor