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Common cold
How to deal with repeated colds due to a cold body constitution?
For patients suffering from repeated colds due to a cold constitution, it is crucial to pay extra attention to their diet, avoiding overly hard, overly stimulating, or overly cold foods. One beneficial dietary practice is to consume more warm-natured foods and drink more ginger water, as ginger water has the effect of expelling cold, especially helpful for those with a cold constitution, providing significant relief and improvement. Drinking mugwort leaf water can also be beneficial. It is also essential to avoid excessive fatigue.
Is a cold with fever easy to get over?
Heat cold is also just a type of cold, and it is also quite common in clinical settings. Typically, such patients often occur in the summer, and a slight chill or getting caught in the rain can trigger the symptoms of a cold. The general clinical symptoms of a heat cold include nasal congestion, runny nose, sneezing, and often yellow nasal discharge. Patients may also have varying degrees of fever, and during a fever, they might feel chills throughout the body, headaches, dizziness, etc. Most heat colds are caused by viral infections. Therefore, appropriate antiviral drugs and heat-clearing and detoxifying medications are given to treat the symptoms. Heat colds generally get better within about a week, especially in young people, some of whom may recover from heat cold symptoms even without medication.
Is catching a cold from excessive internal heat the same as a wind-heat cold?
Colds caused by excessive internal heat are common in everyday life. They are mostly caused by wind-heat type colds, and part of them are what we often refer to as "cold wrapped in heat", meaning one has caught a wind-cold type cold while also showing symptoms of excessive internal heat. Therefore, it is necessary to consult a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) doctor in person for diagnosis. Based on one's condition, the diagnosis is made through the four examinations of inspection, listening and smelling, inquiry, and palpation to differentiate the syndromes and decide on the treatment. Colds caused by excessive internal heat generally require the use of herbs that clear heat and purge fire, combined with herbs that expel wind and release the exterior for treatment to achieve recovery. (The use of medicines should be under the guidance of a doctor.)
What to eat during a cold in the lactation period?
If you have symptoms of a cold during the breastfeeding period, it is important to distinguish between different types. Colds can be categorized into types such as wind-heat cold and wind-cold cold. For wind-heat colds, symptoms usually include sore throat, pain, or dry and itchy throat. In such cases, it is advisable to take some medicine that clears heat and detoxifies, or medicine that provides cooling relief from exterior symptoms. You can also drink some herbal teas to alleviate the symptoms. When taking medicine, it is crucial to do so under the guidance of a doctor and to use medicine that specifically addresses your symptoms. This is especially important during the breastfeeding period, as indiscriminate use of medicine could potentially impact the baby's growth and development. For wind-cold colds, it is suggested to take some heat-clearing granules to treat and alleviate symptoms. It's also important to keep warm, avoid exposure to cold and drafts, and you might drink some brown sugar ginger tea to eliminate inner cold and alleviate symptoms. Additionally, soaking your feet in warm water at night can promote blood circulation and relieve fatigue from the day.
Is cold with yellow phlegm caused by a wind-cold cold or a heat cold?
Cold with yellow phlegm is generally classified as a wind-heat cold in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Colds are categorized based on the different pathogenic factors involved: wind-cold colds and wind-heat colds. A wind-cold cold is primarily caused by exposure to pathogenic wind-cold, characterized mainly by coughing up white phlegm, feeling chilly but not hot, and a reluctance to drink water. On the other hand, a wind-heat cold follows exposure to external wind-heat pathogens. Its symptoms include feeling hot instead of cold, coughing, yellow phlegm, yellow nasal discharge, sweating, irritability, and constipation. Therefore, the presence of yellow phlegm typically indicates a wind-heat cold. There are many medicinal treatments for wind-heat colds, particularly those that clear heat and detoxify the body, all of which can be used to treat a wind-heat cold.
What should a pregnant woman do if she has a cold and fever?
It is common for pregnant women to experience colds and fevers during pregnancy, as it is unlikely that the 40-week pregnancy period will go smoothly without issues. Cold and fever are common symptoms during this time and how to handle them mainly depends on the severity of the condition: Firstly, for a common cold, if there is only mild fever with a temperature below 38.5°C, or symptoms like nasal congestion, nasal pain, or sore throat, it is generally not recommended to take any medication, as colds are self-limiting diseases, primarily recovering through the body's immune system. Secondly, if the cold symptoms are very severe, exhibiting high fever with a temperature above 38.5°C, or symptoms like thick phlegm, this may indicate the possibility of influenza or signs of pneumonia. In such cases, it is important to conduct a blood test and to use antibiotics for treatment.
Can children take a bath when they have a cold?
Children with colds can take baths, but care should be strengthened during the bath to avoid catching cold, thus preventing the symptoms of the cold from worsening. Since a cold in children is an infectious disease, bathing can keep the child's skin clean and make the child feel comfortable. Appropriate water temperature is beneficial for promoting blood circulation in babies and speeding up metabolism, which is conducive to the recovery of the baby's condition. However, if warming is not promptly ensured during the bath, or if the water temperature is too low or too high, it can cause repeated or even worsened symptoms of the cold in babies. Therefore, parents must pay attention to some nursing details during the bath.
Is the sore throat caused by a cold-cold or a cold-heat cold?
Sore throat is generally caused by wind-heat cold, while wind-cold cold is caused by exposure to wind and cold, clinically manifested by mild fever, nasal congestion, runny nose, cough, and no sore throat. Wind-heat cold is caused by exposure to wind-heat, typically presenting with severe fever, chills, dry mouth, sore throat, nasal congestion, cough, and yellow phlegm. However, sore throat can also be caused by cold enclosing heat. During a cold, it is important to pay attention to a light diet and avoid eating overly greasy or spicy food.
Can you take cold medicine if you have nephrotic syndrome and catch a cold?
People with nephrotic syndrome have particularly weak immune systems, making them especially prone to infections and colds. Once a cold occurs in someone with nephrotic syndrome, the patient often experiences headaches, whole-body muscle soreness, sore throat, nasal congestion, runny nose, and sneezing. In other words, patients with nephrotic syndrome feel very uncomfortable when they catch a cold. If kidney function is normal, it is still possible to take cold medicine. Of course, before using cold medicine, it is essential to follow the doctor's advice for medication treatment. Moreover, after catching a cold with nephrotic syndrome, in addition to taking medication, it is important to rest, consume fresh vegetables and fruits, drink plenty of water, and maintain a light diet. Additionally, it is important to rest, avoid overwork, and if there is a concurrent bacterial infection, sensitive antibiotics should be used for anti-infection treatment, to avoid the recurrence or aggravation of nephrotic syndrome due to infections or colds.
How many days will it take for the baby to recover from a cold?
Generally speaking, if a baby has a cold caused by a common viral infection and receives symptomatic treatment, the symptoms can usually be controlled within three to five days. If it is a severe cold or influenza, the symptoms can be more severe and may include repeated fever, runny nose, and sneezing, lasting longer, about seven days, or even up to ten days. If there is a bacterial infection following the cold, the duration may be even longer and would require specific analysis based on the actual situation.