How to treat yourself with common Cold, Flu, Viral and Fever

Trust me I have gone through this several many time and I have good experience of trying multiple class of drug to treat this.

A common cold is pretty common thing to happen ha ha ha, As an insight It is a group of symptoms in the upper respiratory tract caused by a large number of different viruses  may be more than 200. Though seasonal flu mostly caused by either influenza A or B viruses. But here in this post I am not covering influenza which is completely a different aspect of disease and so treatment. But I would like just mention that influenza virus is curable by a prescription drug Tamiflu. Common dude come back to the point...ok, ok.  Cold and flu is related with throat infection and sore throat also, So let me first clear the difference in these all terminologies.

What's the Difference Between a Cold, Strep Throat, and Tonsillitis?

1. A sore throat is often the first sign of a cold. However, a sore throat from a cold often gets better or goes away after the first day or two. Other cold symptoms such as a runny nose and congestion may follow the sore throat. 
2. Strep throat, which is an infection due to streptococcus bacteria, is another cause of sore throats and tonsillitis. With strep throat, the sore throat is often more severe and persists. 
3. Tonsillitis is a painful inflammation or infection of the tonsils, the tissue masses located at the back of the throat.

What is the treatment?

Few basic things, if you have cold and flu symptoms from more than 3-4 days then don't read this further and just consult a physician. Now there are two possible state of the symptoms, one is before getting consistent fever and other is after getting consistent fever. If you do not have consistent fever or if you have fever less than 100 Fahrenheit then possibly use of anti-inflammatory drug and precautions should be good enough to get cured but if you have fever more than or equal to 100 Fahrenheit and consistent then you should also take anti-infective. 

How to choose Anti-Inflammatory?

The best one I have seen to be performing is acetaminophen(or paracetamol) which as analgesic and anti-pyretic (ant fever) and works like wonder. But this is not enough because usually based on cough, cold, congestion, you have to choose the anti-inflammatory very wisely. Following are basic rules:

1. only fever - paracetamol is good enough
2. only cold, running nose - cetirizine is good enough
3. cold and mild fever - paracetamol + cetirizine
4. cold, chest congestion, fever - Cheston cold (by cipla) is too good which contains paracetamol + cetirizine + phenylephrine 
5. fever, cold, chest congestion, headache - Okacet cold (which contains caffeine also to induce the sleep), or Sinarest which is like too good drug for common usage.
6. fever, body ache, headache - paracetamol + ibuprofen (marketed as combiflam)
7. throat pain, fever - combiflam

In short Sinarest or Cheston cold is a pretty good but if you don't have much of cold and chest congestion then only paracetamol is enough. In case of throat infection which has induced the fever and cold, then paracetamol is enough but must do the gargling and take some logenze(like Tusq-D) for throat relief. In case of kids also Cinarest syrup is pretty good. Sometime if fever is not getting down you can try Paracetamol and Mefenamic acid which works much better mechanism to get the fever down. 

How to choose antibiotic?

As a suggested use of Anti-infective you can try Amoxicilin as a mild antibiotic, but for me Azythromycin  worked like wonder. But if you have taken these before you can try something more powerful as 3rd generation antibiotic like Cefpodoxime. 

Augmentin

The same kind of drug can be given to kids also as a syrup but the best one I have seen to be performing is "amoxicillin + clavulanic acid" whoseTrade names include Augmentin (by GlaxoSmithKline), Finemox CV (by Finecure Pharmaceuticals), Clavamox (by Pfizer), CLAMP (by Dr. Reddy's Laboratories), Advent (by cipla). Even an adult can try the tablet form of Augmentin as antibiotic but of course for kids you have to use syrup.

Before taking this medication, tell your doctor if you are allergic to any drugs (especially penicillin).  Also tell your doctor if you have kidney disease or a history of intestinal problems. 

As a moderate cases I'll prefer to use Azythromycin, if you have higher level of infection then take 500mg tablets (only 3 tablets are enough as a course of anti-biotic), or else take 250mg tablets (only 6 tablets are enough). If you are taking 500mg then one tablet should be good enough, if you are taking 250mg then take 2 times in a day, so in both the cases, let it run for 3 days. And slowly try to observe that which anti-biotic suits you when, it can be quite personal. For me Azythromycin works better, but for my daughter when any infection happens,  "amoxicillin + clavulanic acid" works better. Your you should keep consulting the same doctor always so that your doctors keeps the track of which suits you better. And slowly you should always try to build a better immune system so that anti-biotic is not required. Take good amount of Vitamin C, D, B. Try to do good amount of exercise daily to increase you metabolism which essentially helps a lot in building immune system. 

And finally the food, what to take what not to take?

Take food with lots of vitamin C, and fruits, and liquid stuff. And don't take pickle, cold things (like banana, cold water, cold rice etc.), try taking warm water only. You can eat anything you want but avoid cold things, try easy digestible, 

Disclaimer: This post for your information only and not intended to replace your relationship with your treating physician.

Tips and Tricks - Home Remedies

I am sharing some home remedies that I have heard over the years from my aunts, friends, colleagues, and neighbors. The contributors of each of these remedies swore by their effectiveness and the degree of their conviction would put any amount of scientific data to shame. I am noting down my experience on the effectiveness of the ones that I have tried.

1. Rubbing sandalwood oil on chicken pox scars makes them go away completely. Contributor specified that it is only effective for new scars. Does not work on old scars. (My experience: Seems to work :))

2. A pinch of rock salt (kala namak) and a spoonful of ajwain boiled together in a cup of water relieves gas and bloating. (My experience: Really works for me :) )

3. One amla (Indian gooseberry) a day builds immunity and protects against colds and coughs. (My experience: I recall my mother giving us one amla murrabba (gooseberry preserved in sugar syrup) every day in winters. Don’t recall the effectiveness but this one makes sense because amla is a known rich source of Vitamin C, which is known to protect against common cold :))

4. A paste of ground red gram (masoor daal) and egg yolk applied regularly keeps skin soft and glowing and reduces acne scars. (My experience: Used for about 6 months. Seems to work :) )

5. Dried and powdered orange peels make an excellent face pack that keeps skin soft, glowing and free from all skin problems. (My experience: My roommate used this one regularly and it seemed to work very well for her :) )

6. Eating drumsticks and Bitter gourd (karela) builds immunity and can protect you from an impending infection. (My experience: Once tried eating drumsticks daily to avoid going down with seasonal flu. Did not work :( Maybe very long term use is required )

7. Putting few drops of mustard oil regularly in your nostrils provides relief from allergic rhinitis. (My experience: Have not tried regularly enough to comment, but it makes sense to me because the oil would probably form a layer and maybe that can control dust allergy :) )

8. A paste of fuller’s earth (multani mitti) applied daily on the face reduces acne. (My experience: Did not work at all. Made my skin dry, itchy and the pimples looked red and much worse. But I know a dozen people who say it worked for them, so I guess it depends on your skin type :) )

9. If you want to get rid of a zit/ pimple fast, crush some black pepper and apply on top of the pimple. (My experience: Itches and burns like hell. Had to wash off immediately before it could possibly work. I don’t recommend trying this one :) )

How to deal with Throat Infection

I live in Bangalore and Bangalore is little prone to Allergy and Infection. I keep a lot care of myself but throat infection keeps happening with me. So I am gonna share my experience of treating with throat infection.

There are multiple types of Throat infections such as Viral Infection, Pharyngitis, Tonsillitis, Strep throat but the most common is Viral, Strep and Pharyngitis. Different type of infections can be caused by different viruses and bacterias.

Symptoms are throat infections are :

1. Sore throat/Throat pain

2. Mild fever

3. Difficulty in swallowing

4. Headache

5. Body ache

Treatment:

The most important thing is first to do is Gargling. Gargling can be done with warm water and put a pinch of salt, but if your throat is highly infected better to use "Betadine" liquid, put some 3-4ml in 300ml water. If you don't have Betadine, you can use Dispirine tablet also. In fact in my cases my throat was once badly infected, then I put 2 Dispirine tablet in warm water and let is dissolve properly and I did gargling 2-3 times and magically throat inflammation came down pretty fast.

Apart from gargling, You can try these medicines :

1. Some Anti-Inflammatory : Nimesulide (but this banned now), so try Paracetamol + Ibuprofen (comes as Combiflam), only Ibuprofen wasn't effective in case of regular sore throat or higher level of infection.

2. Some Anti-Infective: Like Azytrhomycin or Amoxicilin or Cefpodoxime(cephalosporin). Azythromycin is moderately good one to use, but in case Azythromycin is not working use Cefpodoxime.

3. Any Antacid : Like Rantac (after meal) or Omez (Before meal) - Actually If you take antibiotic or Anti-Inflammatory it can cause Gastritis, so Antacid is necessary otherwise it's not required.

Apart from drugs, you should consume more Vitamin C rich foods like Orange, mausmbi, Lemon, Grape, Juice, Guava which will help to strengthen your immunity system that will help in recovering you fast. But if you have got fever also eat good amount of Apple and Pomegranate, that helps in your building energy reservoir. 

Wish you all the best :)

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Disclaimer: This post for your information only and not intended to replace your relationship with your treating physician.