The common cold
The first sign that you've caught a cold is a slight tickling in the throat. I think I've caught a cold.
In a strange case of convergence (or are cases of convergence by definition normal?) my copy of The New Yorker arrived today with an article about the mysterious common cold. Very interesting stuff.
Among the facts I'm sure to memorize and use at the next cocktail party I attend: "An American observational study of an audience later found, in ordinary circumstances, one in three adults picks his nose every hour."
What have doctors learned about curing the common cold?
Take ibuprofen and an older antihistamine. The ibuprofen works on the cough, the antihistamine reduces stuffy and runny noses.
Zinc? Just tastes bad. Antibiotics? Useless. Vitamin C? Doesn't do much, though high doses may have a minor effect, but an antihistamine is better. Echinacea? No conclusive testing. Drinking lots of fluids? No proven effect.
Colds are transmitted through touch, primarily through the hands. So washing your hands often helps, but when cold viruses are on every surface, even doctors admit it's pretty hopeless. Yet even this is not conclusive. Some studies have shown that perhaps some other mechanism is responsible.
Oddly, the cold has nothing to do with temperature. Being physically cold does not increase your chances of catching a cold. This has been studied again and again. Yet colds are seasonal. No matter what part of the world and what the temperature patterns are, cold season tends to run from early fall through mid spring, with spikes at the beginning and end.
All I know is this. I'm going to be miserable for the next week or so.
In a strange case of convergence (or are cases of convergence by definition normal?) my copy of The New Yorker arrived today with an article about the mysterious common cold. Very interesting stuff.
Among the facts I'm sure to memorize and use at the next cocktail party I attend: "An American observational study of an audience later found, in ordinary circumstances, one in three adults picks his nose every hour."
What have doctors learned about curing the common cold?
Take ibuprofen and an older antihistamine. The ibuprofen works on the cough, the antihistamine reduces stuffy and runny noses.
Zinc? Just tastes bad. Antibiotics? Useless. Vitamin C? Doesn't do much, though high doses may have a minor effect, but an antihistamine is better. Echinacea? No conclusive testing. Drinking lots of fluids? No proven effect.
Colds are transmitted through touch, primarily through the hands. So washing your hands often helps, but when cold viruses are on every surface, even doctors admit it's pretty hopeless. Yet even this is not conclusive. Some studies have shown that perhaps some other mechanism is responsible.
Oddly, the cold has nothing to do with temperature. Being physically cold does not increase your chances of catching a cold. This has been studied again and again. Yet colds are seasonal. No matter what part of the world and what the temperature patterns are, cold season tends to run from early fall through mid spring, with spikes at the beginning and end.
All I know is this. I'm going to be miserable for the next week or so.