Treatment of colds

A cold is a viral illness that affects people of all ages, causing frequent use of drugs. Treatment of the common cold requires caution, because it is mainly caused by viruses, and antibiotics can not cope with them. What methods of treatment should I use for colds?

Read also: Proper treatment of influenza

Epidemiology and clinical presentation of the common cold

The common cold is caused by various respiratory tract viruses, most often rhinoviruses. Adults have an average of two to four episodes a year, and young children can have as many as six to eight episodes. Colds are characterized by pain in the throat, malaise, subfebrile temperature at the onset of the disease.

These symptoms are manifested for several days and are accompanied by nasal congestion, runny nose and cough from 24 to 48 hours after the onset of the first symptoms. The second set of symptoms requires in most cases the treatment of patients to the doctor for help. Discharge from the nose appear at the peak of the disease, they can become very dense and purulent and can be mistakenly diagnosed as a bacterial infection of the sinuses of the nose.

[1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7]

Treatment of the common cold: the main tasks of medicines

Both over-the-counter and prescription drugs perform one task for a cold. Treatment is aimed at alleviating the symptoms (eg, cough, nasal congestion, runny nose). If a person has achieved this task without side effects, then he is treated correctly.

Traditional pharmacological therapy

Since there are no effective antiviral drugs for treating colds, treatment should be aimed at alleviating the symptoms of the common cold. The most commonly used treatments include over-the-counter, antihistamines, decongestants, antitussives and expectorants. These agents can be used alone or in combination.

Preparations for cough

Dextromethorphan may be useful for adult patients with a cough, but its effectiveness is not proven for children and adolescents. In addition, this medicine works well for dry cough, but it can cause allergy symptoms in people with asthma, it is also not recommended for pregnancy and lactation.

Codeine is a substance that also suppresses the symptoms of a cough with a cold. It is part of the drugs known to us, for example, pentalgin. As studies have shown, codeine is not always effective when coughing caused by a cold. But it well quenches the pain in the airways.

With a wet cough, expectorants are used to dilute sputum.

These can include agents such as acetestin, acetylcysteine (ACTS), muromiks, mucobene, fluimutsil, mukonex, mucaltin, exomiuc, ambroben, flavamed, lazolvan, chalixol.

From dry cough apply the following antitussives in the form of syrup and tablets for the treatment of dry cough

• Alex Plus
• Falimint
• Bronchicum cough syrup
• Bronchitis Vramed (broncholitin, bronchitis, bronchocin)
• Bronhicum
• Broncholin

Colds also use nasal drugs that are shown to alleviate nasal symptoms and that can be used for adolescents and adults.

Decoingstants

These are the most popular and commonly used cure for colds for colds. They reduce edema of the nasal mucosa and hyperemia, because they possess vasoconstrictive action. Most often use nasal sprays or drops, which contain the substance oxymetazoline. These are such drops and sprays as:

• Nazivin
• Nazol
• Sanorinchik
• Knoxprey

For the effect of narrowing the vessels and alleviating the symptoms of the common cold, preparations with naphazoline in the composition: Sanorin, Naphthysine, drops with eucalyptus are also used.

Representatives of nasal preparations for cold with xylometazoline in the composition - Otrivin, Ximelin, Rhinorus, galazolin and so on.

All these preparations very well help with the common cold in the early days of the common cold, in its initial stage. After three minutes, the effect comes, but it keeps it in different ways.

Preparations with oxymetazoline operate for 12 hours, with Nafazolin and tetrizolin - up to six hours, vasoconstrictors with Xylometazoline work for six to eight hours.

Before using these drugs, you need to take into account the age of the patient (for example, some of the drugs are contraindicated for children under two years old). Therefore, when treating with nasal drugs for colds, follow the advice of a doctor.

[8], [9]

Antihistamines

... As well as combinations of antihistamines / decongestants can slightly improve the symptoms of colds in adults, however, the possible side effects must necessarily be weighed. Antihistamines for colds are not the main means of treatment. But they can ease the symptoms of colds and improve the condition of the patient, for example, to remove the swelling of the nasal mucosa and throat, to reduce sneezing and coughing, to alleviate the general condition of the patient. These are drugs such as chloropyramine, clemastine, diphenhydramine, cyproheptadine, mebhydroline and other means.

[10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16]

Antibiotics for colds

With a cold, antibiotics are not shown, because it is caused by viruses, not bacteria, which are affected by antibiotics. Antibiotics are indicated when the common cold gives complications, such as, for example, bronchitis or pneumonia.

Despite the fact that the common cold is a viral disease, antibiotics are often prescribed to patients, even with bacterial complications (for example, pneumonia, bacterial sinusitis). Studies of antibiotics for the treatment of colds are aimed at preventing secondary bacterial complications and side effects.

Systematic reviews have shown that they are ineffective in reducing the duration of symptoms and their severity due to the risk of adverse effects on the gastrointestinal tract, the cost of treatment and the increase in resistance of bacteria to antibiotics (resistance).

[17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22]

Alternative therapies for colds

To improve symptoms or to reduce the duration of the disease, additional alternative therapies are used (for example, echinacea, vitamin C and zinc ). They are not very effective for treating cold symptoms, however, they can be useful for activating the immune system and eliminating the adverse side effects of the common cold. Vitamin C for prevention can slightly reduce the duration and severity of colds among the general population and reduce the incidence of disease in people exposed to physical and environmental stress.

[23], [24], [25], [26], [27]

Vitamin C in the treatment of colds

The Cochrane review showed that taking 200 mg or more of vitamin C per day does not significantly reduce the severity of cold symptoms and their duration.

Data on the preventive use of vitamin C are more impressive. Thirty studies involving 9676 patients with a cold showed a statistically significant decrease in the duration of the disease with vitamin C. This is a decrease of 8 percent in adults and 13.5 percent in children. Similarly, 15 studies involving 7045 colds showed a decrease in the severity of cold symptoms when taking vitamin C even before the onset of the cold season.

As a conclusion, vitamin C does not reduce the incidence of colds in the general population. However, a subgroup of six studies involving runners, skiers and soldiers participating in preventative exercises showed a 50 percent reduction in the risk of developing colds with their preventive intake of vitamin C (32 to 62 percent).

Zinc in the treatment of colds

The use of zinc inhibits the growth of viruses, and RCT suggests that zinc can shorten the duration of cold symptoms. However, this has not been confirmed in subsequent studies.

In particular, four of the eight follow-up studies showed no benefit for patients with colds from using zinc was not, and the remaining four showed that zinc contributes to a faster recovery for colds. Because of these conflicting research results, zinc for colds can only be shown on the advice of the treating physician, taking into account the individual characteristics of the patient.

Treating a cold requires strength and energy, so, as practice shows, it is better to spend these forces on prevention and tempering. This will be a huge plus for human health at any age.