Cold attitude
Someone from the experts will say that the cause of catarrhal diseases is exclusively in psychosomatic medicine. Remember, we were frightened since childhood: "You will freeze - you will get sick", that is, a program has been put in you, the organism follows it. In this approach there is some truth. If, for example, you constantly worry that if you drink cold water - it will necessarily hurt your throat, it really hurts. But the same psychosomatic distribution of colds can not be explained. Because the habit, commonly called cold, has other causes. Cooling or sudden changes in body temperature, for example. A human-capable thermoregulatory organism immediately responds to information received from outside on the effects of cold or heat - and the blood vessels respond with adequate constriction or expansion, respectively.
Under the influence of a low temperature, the blood filling of the nasal mucosa reflexively changes. Nasal breathing is disturbed, which, in turn, leads to disruption of gas exchange in the lungs. As a result, the amount of hemoglobin and erythrocytes in the blood decreases, lymphodermia decreases, the secretory and motor functions of the gastrointestinal tract and the liver function are inhibited. Consequently, immunity decreases. And weakened immunity is just the very reason that viruses need so much to settle down and multiply in your body. Therefore, our advice: obey your mother and do not risk in vain - do not walk without a hat, do not sit under the window with a freshly washed head, try not to soak your feet and resign yourself to the fact that autumn is not a season for a deep decollete.
Current issues
According to some reports, no more than 15 percent of people who took advertised drugs from the flu against the background of last year's "swine" epidemic, really hurt them. The rest survived different variants of ARVI. Do not panic before the time, even if it flows from the nose, and your eyes become inflamed and watery. It is possible to diagnose influenza only in the laboratory, by examining the patient's tests. The standard of laboratory diagnostics is the cultivation of the virus in a special protein medium. However, it is reasonable to spend time at least on symptomatic treatment. Therefore, in most cases, a diagnosis of acute respiratory viral infection is made. By the way, by indirect signs, you can tell the flu from a simple cold yourself. The cold develops gradually, and usually begins with respiratory symptoms: a strong cold, a "wet" cough, sneezing, itching, and choking in the throat. Influenza also brings down right away: high fever, headaches, aches in muscles and joints are signs of a strong intoxication of the body. In this case, cold symptoms - a runny nose and a cough - may not be at all. Cough occurs later and, as a rule, "dry". Influenza is an acute tracheitis with the effects of intoxication of varying intensity, hence the dry cough. At the beginning of the flu, there is no sore throat and runny nose, as this virus multiplies deeply in the nasopharynx and trachea.
Grafted skills
You should understand that from the SARS and just colds, there are no vaccinations. Vaccinated against influenza, and from a certain strain of it, not more often than once a year. Within about 14 days from the moment of vaccination, a specific short-term antiviral immunity is formed for 6-12 months. Therefore, as experts say, vaccination should be made in advance - not less than a month before the anticipated epidemic start, but not more than 4 months - to work. It should not be vaccinated at the beginning, much less at the height of the spread of the disease. If all the forces of your body go to fight the flu, then who will fight with ARVI?
And a few important conditions for routine vaccination:
- in occasion of expediency of an inoculation personally for you it is necessary to consult necessarily the doctor;
- the vaccine must be licensed, authorized and fresh, never consent to vaccination, if the package indicates that the drug has expired;
- It is impossible to inoculate with any malaise and fever;
- within two weeks after vaccination, try not to overcool, do not give yourself increased loads, and if you have signs of malaise, be sure to consult a doctor - your body is struggling, help him.
Until the beginning of time
It's better to resist a cold before she grabs you by the throat and nose. Some methods of prevention are fairly simple and well known, and therefore, it seems that they do not work. They are. This is confirmed by specialists. It's just that we sometimes forget to take the right measures in time. Ineffectiveness of prevention in almost 100% of cases is due to irregularity. My hands several times during the day and always before every meal - this will literally clean them from a certain number of harmful viruses. Drink more water. In winter and autumn, we rarely feel thirsty, the body is gradually dehydrated (this is helped a lot by central heating batteries and permanently closed windows), and it is much easier for viruses to settle on dry nasopharyngeal mucosa. Ceces of the throat with a solution of chamomile, sage, miramistine or sea water as a prophylaxis every other day. This not only has an antiseptic effect, but also mechanically rinses, cleanses the mucous membrane.
- Rinse your nose
This procedure allows solving two problems at once: wash the microbes caught in the nose and prevent the mucous membrane from drying out (and, consequently, weakening of the local immunity). Special means based on sea water in pharmacies are now in abundance. But it is quite fit and saline (you can buy a large vial in the pharmacy, until the new year is enough) and even just salted boiled water (a teaspoon of salt for a glass of water). Love the garlic. You do not need it, you can cut it finely, arrange it in vases and place them around the apartment. Air will be cleared of viruses. Temper the throat. Drink water, starting with a cool, comfortable temperature for you, gradually lowering it (every 3-5 days) to ice. Your mucous tunic adapts to the cold. But in no case do not start such a tempering during a period of malaise, when you have pershit or your throat hurts. Wear a mask, as doctors recommend, but remember that it should be changed about every 2 hours! Otherwise, it becomes an accumulator of malicious viruses. To maintain immunity, you can also take immunomodulators throughout the epidemic season. But if you are afraid of such a direct invasion of your body, try more harmless options.
Fish fat. When everyone around sneezes and coughs, it will strengthen your immune system thanks to the contents of vitamins A and D. Take it for 1-2 weeks with the same break. Now it is sold in capsules, so its unique taste can be overlooked.
- Probiotics
Although the legislators (thanks to them for this) and raise the issue of banning advertising "therapeutic action" of food products, but 70% of our immunity, as the advertisement rightly says, is really in the gut. Sour-milk products should be included in the daily diet: 1 or 2 glasses a day. However, the question of their medicinal properties is a marketing move. For prophylaxis of colds, probiotic preparations can be used in the form of dietary supplements, and they should be drunk only for the doctor's prescription. If you are already sick and have been prescribed antibiotics to treat complications, then be careful. Living bacteria of the probiotic, which is a preventive agent, affect the antibiotic, reducing its antibacterial, that is, therapeutic activity. Homeopathic remedies. They do not give any side effects. And some of them - with all our traditionally skeptical attitude towards plant balls - really reliably protect against both flu and colds.
If all of our recommendations did not help you to protect yourself:
- Do not be heroic: stay at home. Do not risk your health and healthy atmosphere in the team. Give up physical exertion - you literally need to lie around so that the body does not waste energy on anything, except fighting the disease.
- Often ventilate the room in which you are. Fresh air is fatal for viruses.
- More drink - tea, water, fruit drinks, but not coffee and alcohol. The liquid must purify the body and fill it with vitamins.
- Do not practice self-medication. With a cold, you can use vasoconstrictive drops in your nose (2-4 drops 2-3 times a day) for 5 days. If you use them longer, your nose just will not let you breathe on your own. The ear can be warmed with warm turundas (gauze tampons) with 3% boric acid solution for 1 hour (for example, before going to bed). All other appointments must come from a doctor.
- Do not shoot down the temperature. For an adult, a body temperature of 38-38.5 ° C with a viral infection is natural, and it can not be forced down to four days. But your condition must be observed by a doctor. In the body, mechanisms aimed at fighting the virus are launched. And the elevated temperature stimulates these processes. Anti-inflammatory and antipyretic drugs (such is their chemical composition) not only reduce the temperature, but also inhibit the synthesis of the necessary antiviral substances in the body. As a result, the disease becomes protracted. In addition, high fever calls a person to natural behavior: to be at rest, to lie, and these are the necessary conditions for the victory over the virus.