How to cure a cold in a day: proven methods

If you feel chills and mild malaise, which is usually how a cold begins, you need to take emergency measures - unless you plan to get sick and sit for a couple of days with a fever, and then walk around for another week without parting with a handkerchief.

To cure a cold in one day, it is best to spend it at home and not go anywhere. But we should use this day with maximum benefit for our health and devote it to fighting the onset of a cold, as well as ARI and ARVI. Not only pharmaceutical drugs will help us with this, but also tried and tested home remedies: linden blossom decoction, tea with raspberries, hot milk with honey, onion, garlic and mustard. We will start with it...

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Treating a Cold in One Day: Warm Up and Sweat

If you are cold, the first thing you need to do is warm up. A hot foot bath with mustard will warm up frozen feet perfectly - what we simply call "steaming your feet". Dissolve a spoon or two of mustard powder in a basin of hot water (not lower than +40-42°C) and keep your feet there for 15 minutes, adding hot water as needed. After that, you need to dry your feet thoroughly, put on woolen socks and lie down under a warm blanket. Instead of a hot foot bath, you can simply pour mustard powder into your socks and go to bed like that. And if you don't have any dry mustard at hand, rub your feet with vodka and put on warm socks.

Warm up your cold hands under a stream of hot water: for about five minutes, increasing the temperature from pleasantly warm to hot (+42-43°C). Then dry your hands and put on something warm with long sleeves. To enhance the effect, you can put on warm mittens on your hands and spend the next 60 minutes wrapped in a woolen blanket.

In order to sweat, and therefore get rid of toxins and try to cure a cold in a day, the body needs more fluid than usual. Therefore, we will drink - exclusively hot: tea with raspberry jam, tea with lemon and honey, a decoction of linden blossom, thyme, chamomile or elder flowers with mint. It is easy to prepare decoctions of medicinal plants: take 2 tablespoons of dry flowers or herbs per glass of boiling water, brew with boiling water, cover with a lid and let it brew for 15-20 minutes. Herbal teas for colds are drunk 0.5 liters per day. And the total daily volume of liquid for symptoms of a cold or acute respiratory viral infection should be at least two liters.

"Just in case" you measured your temperature and saw that the thermometer column went up - do not panic. If the body temperature does not exceed +38°C, then doctors do not advise bringing it down, because an increase in temperature is evidence that the person's immunity has begun to fight the disease. And we can and should help him cure a cold in one day, for example, by drinking hot tea with ginger root, which strengthens the body's immune system and prevents the infection from developing. To prepare ginger tea, peel a 2 cm long piece of root, chop finely, put it in a cup with tea leaves, pour 200-250 ml of boiling water and let it brew for 15 minutes. You can add a slice of lemon and a teaspoon of natural honey to this healing drink.

By the way, after you sweat, be sure to wipe your skin with a well-wrung-out hot towel to remove the released toxins, and change into dry clothes.

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How to quickly cure a runny nose when you have a cold?

If a cold has made itself known by a stuffy nose, you need to take the initiative and use generations-tested methods to combat the first symptoms of a runny nose.

Among the many folk remedies for treating a runny nose during a cold, there are quite a few that are very effective – especially at the initial stage of the disease.

It is recommended to lubricate the nose with Kalanchoe juice - 2-3 times a day (or put 2 drops of juice in each nostril). Table salt is often used, which is mixed with butter. This homemade ointment (a third of a teaspoon of butter is mixed with the same amount of salt and slightly heated) is used to lubricate the nose from the outside. And to rinse the nose, which moisturizes the mucous membrane and facilitates nasal breathing, a teaspoon of salt is dissolved in 0.5 glasses of warm water. Rinsing is carried out as follows: one nostril is closed with a finger, and the other is used to draw a salt solution into the nose (the same is done with the second nostril).

An old folk remedy for a runny nose during a cold is a common onion.

It is enough to cut an onion in half and breathe in the phytoncides that are released from the cut. Onion phytoncides have bactericidal properties and are capable of neutralizing even the diphtheria bacillus and the tuberculosis pathogen Koch's bacillus. So they will easily cope with a runny nose: you need to hold cotton swabs soaked in onion juice in your nostrils several times a day for 10 minutes.

An effective remedy for a runny nose during a cold is to put any warm oil (for example, olive, sea buckthorn, menthol) or an oil solution of retinol acetate (vitamin A) into your nose. The "Zvezdochka" balm should also help if you apply it to the bridge of your nose and the wings of your nose before going to bed.

Of the pharmacy nasal remedies for nasal congestion, the following have proven themselves to be effective: drops "Galazolin", "Naphthyzinum", "Nazol", "Nazivin" and sprays "Sanorin", "Otrivin", "Vibrocil", "Delufen" and others.

How to cure a cough due to a cold in a day?

When a cough is the first sign that you are about to catch a cold, you need to start by rubbing your back and chest with ointments that contain essential oils and have a disinfectant, distracting and irritating effect.

You can rub the chest area at night with a mixture of castor oil (2 tablespoons) and turpentine (1 tablespoon) or a ready-made pharmacy turpentine ointment. This remedy is rubbed into the skin of the chest (except the heart area) and the soles of the feet, and warmly wrapped up. With two or three rubs, you can cure a cough from a cold in almost a day. But you should keep in mind that such procedures cannot be carried out at elevated temperatures.

Badger fat has proven itself to be an indispensable remedy for coughs (and not only). Due to its composition, badger fat has a general strengthening, anti-inflammatory and even immunostimulating effect on the human body. Rub this fat on your back and chest area at night. And in folk medicine, this recipe is very popular: mix 100 g of badger fat, honey and cocoa powder with 50 g of butter and 50 g of crushed aloe leaves. Add 5 g of mumiyo and propolis, as well as 50 g of medical alcohol. Mix all the ingredients until smooth.

To treat a cough due to a cold, dilute 1 teaspoon of this mixture in a glass of water and rub it into your back, chest and calf muscles at night. And for internal use - as a powerful tonic - dissolve 1 tablespoon of the mixture in a glass of hot milk and drink in small sips (before meals).

Instead of tea to treat a cough during a cold, you need to drink decoctions of medicinal herbs: oregano, coltsfoot, elecampane, sweet clover, thyme, peppermint. Take a handful of herbs per glass of boiling water and brew like tea, which is ready to drink after 15 minutes of infusion - a glass three times a day. Special chest collections for coughs are sold in pharmacies. For example, "Chest Collection No. 1" contains marshmallow root, coltsfoot leaves and oregano herb; and "Chest Collection No. 2" - coltsfoot leaves, plantain leaves and licorice root. These herbal preparations are available in filter bags and are very easy to brew.

A good remedy for a bad cough is fresh black radish juice, which has anti-inflammatory and expectorant properties. The radish should be washed, peeled and finely chopped. Then mix with granulated sugar in a 1:1 ratio and put in a jar, tightly closing the lid. After 4-5 hours, the radish will give healing juice, which should be taken - 1 tablespoon at least three times a day.

One of the effective methods of treating cough is steam inhalation. For example, with eucalyptus, mint, juniper or pine oil. Put a few drops of oil in a bowl of boiling water, sit down, tilt your head over the bowl, cover yourself with a towel and breathe in the steam. These simple home procedures have an antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, expectorant and bronchodilator effect.

Aerosol inhalations, which are carried out using pocket inhalers, are also useful. Most often, the mixtures include essential oils (menthol, anise, eucalyptus, peach), as well as natural honey and propolis (alcohol solution). Here is a recipe for honey inhalation with propolis: dissolve 1-2 teaspoons of honey in 0.5 cups of boiled water and drop 6-8 drops of propolis. Water can be replaced with a 0.2% solution of furacilin. The duration of the procedure is 5 minutes.

If we talk about pharmaceutical cough remedies, then such drugs as "Glauvent", "Libexin" or "Tusuprex" inhibit the cough reflex, but do not depress breathing. And "Tusuprex" has not only an antitussive effect, but also a weak expectorant. Doctors recommend taking these drugs three times a day, one tablet at a time.

The group of drugs that have an enveloping, expectorant and mucolytic (phlegm-thinning) effect include Acetylcysteine, Bromhexine, Ambroxol (synonym Lazolvan), etc. Remember that many drugs have a side effect, and often more than one. It is for this reason that drugs for the treatment of cough during a cold are recommended to be taken after consultation with a doctor.

How to cure a sore throat in a day when you have a cold?

Gargling is the first emergency method for sore throat and pain in the throat due to a cold. Decoctions of sage, chamomile, St. John's wort and wild pansy have long been considered the most effective for gargling. It is not difficult to prepare them: pour 1 tablespoon of herbs with 1 glass of boiling water, put on the fire, bring to a boil and immediately remove from the stove. The decoction should be infused in a closed container for 15-20 minutes. You need to gargle often and with a warm decoction, this will relieve inflammation of the mucous membrane and help cure a cold in a day.

It is very useful to gargle a sore throat with this solution: dissolve a teaspoon of table salt and soda in 200 ml of warm boiled water, add 8-10 drops of iodine. And also with this solution: take 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice per glass of warm water.

It is not easy to cure a cold in a day, but honey and lemon always come to our aid. At the first hint of a sore throat, cut a lemon circle, put a teaspoon of honey on top – and into your mouth! And chew! And then swallow. The “procedure” can be repeated every hour.

Do you trust pharmacy products more? You are welcome! The pharmacy has a large selection of all kinds of throat lozenges, for example, Strepsils and Coldact Lorpils, which are based on a chemical substance such as the antiseptic amylmetacresol. And Strepsils Plus lozenges also contain a painkiller - lidocaine. Septefril sublingual tablets contain the strongest antiseptic substance decamethoxin, which is used to treat purulent and fungal skin lesions, as well as for treating hands and the operating area in surgery.

And in "Faringosept", which relieves sore throat and discomfort when swallowing, the main active ingredient is the drug ambazon with a strong bacteriostatic effect. Doctors prescribe ambazon for the treatment of acute infectious and inflammatory diseases of the oral cavity and pharynx (tonsillitis, stomatitis, pharyngitis, etc.).

Treating a Cold in One Day with Medication

At the first symptoms of a cold, people often take advertised medications. For example, "Arbidol", which is considered an antiviral agent that increases immunity. It contains the active substance umifenovir, as well as the inorganic pigment titanium dioxide (E 171) and the yellow food coloring "sunset" - E 110. The latter has a negative effect on the human body, so it is banned in the United States and some European countries. It should also be noted that the World Health Organization (WHO) does not consider the drug "Arbidol" (made in Russia) as a promising antiviral drug, and the American Food and Drug Administration (Food and Drug Administration) refused to register it in the United States as a drug.

The rapid action of such drugs as Coldrex Hotrem or Teraflu, used to treat a cold in one day, cannot but please. Many have tried their effectiveness, but not everyone knows that the therapeutic effect of cold powders is due to the presence in their composition of the maximum single dose of paracetamol - a popular antipyretic and analgesic drug throughout the world. With prolonged use and in large doses, paracetamol can cause allergic reactions, as well as a toxic effect on the liver and kidneys.

In addition to paracetamol, cold powders of various brands contain phenylephrine hydrochloride, which constricts the blood vessels of the nasal mucosa. So do not be surprised if after 3-4 days of taking cold powder you feel a burning, dryness or tingling in your nose. This is the effect of phenylephrine. And its side effects include: thrombocytopenia, leukopenia, skin rash, angioedema, increased blood pressure and palpitations.

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