Head cold, also called the common cold, usually becomes active during the cooler months. Every year, thousands of kids miss school because of the common cold, and many adults have to stay home from work as well. When the common cold strikes, the infected person typically feels sick for roughly a week experiencing mild symptoms.
For persons with a weakened immune system, contracting the cold can lead to serious medical complications, such as pneumonia or bronchiolitis in children. Treating your head cold is the fastest way to get over your illness and back into your everyday routine. Do you know how to treat your head cold? Keep reading to find out how you can get relief from the common cold.
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Cold Symptoms
Many of the cold symptoms originate in the, hence, head cold, but persons can experience other symptoms that do not form in the head. Signs of the common cold typically appear 1 to 3 days following exposure to the cold virus and can linger for 7-10 days. According to Healthline, common symptoms of a cold usually include:
- Coughing
- Ill feeling
- Low-grade fever
- Mild body aches
- Mild headache
- Stuffy or runny nose
- Sore throat
- Sneezing
Common Cold Remedies
The common cold cannot be cured, but there are ways to treat or ease the symptoms of the illness and provide some level of comfort. It takes a couple of days for the symptoms to improve, but there are some measures that you can take to make you somewhat comfortable as you cope with feeling ill. Here’s what you can do:
- Rest your body and give it time to heal. The more rest you get, the faster you’ll recover.
- Get enough fluids in your body and prevent dehydration and relieve congestion. Water, clear broth soups, fruit juices, and warm lemon water with honey are great options.
- To soothe your sore throat, you can try gargling with salt water (1/2 teaspoon salt and 8 ounces of water), sucking on a lozenge, eating ice chips, using a throat spray, or drinking hot tea or soup broth.
- Use an over-the-counter saline spray or nasal drop to break up mucus clogging the nasal passage to combat stuffiness.
- Use a humidifier or vaporizer at night while sleeping to ease congestion by placing a vaporizer or humidifier in your space.
- Take over-the-counter (OTC) pain reliever, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), to tackle aches.
- Try OTC cold and cough medications, such as decongestants, antihistamines to offer symptom relief.
- If cold symptoms persist beyond10 days or worsen, see your doctor.
Strive to take care of yourself and prevent the common cold from happening in the first place. Seek treatment once you’ve discovered that you are ill with the cold. Rest, hydrate and ensure that your environment won’t prolong or worsen your cold.
