"Misconceptions about taking cold medicine", do you know?

If there is one disease that people are most familiar with, colds are definitely on the list. Adults get colds 2 to 4 times a year, while preschoolers may get them 6 to 8 times a year. For example, I am 35 years old this year, so I have experienced nearly 100 colds.

This disease, which is caused by a virus that infects the upper respiratory tract, is a self-healing disease in terms of its course. In our clinical practice, a cold is a bit like "It's good that you came early. If you had been a little late, you would have gotten well on your own". Many people often tell me that it takes 7 days for a cold to heal itself without medication. If you take medicine, you will be cured after a week. Then why do we still need to take cold medicine...

"Is it necessary to take cold medicine if I have a cold?"

A "small cold" with insignificant symptoms often goes away. When you feel sore or have a fever, many people often fall into a dilemma: Do I carry on with the wave, drink more hot water for 7 days? Or take some medicine to fight the virus?

I think, in the face of the "cold", the hard-core faction belongs to the "can, but not necessary" series.

First of all, many diseases can be mistaken for a cold... Because all infectious diseases can be simply understood as diseases caused by viruses, bacteria, and other disease-causing microorganisms invading the body. The early symptoms of this disease are extremely similar to some of the symptoms of a cold.

When the body is infected by viruses or bacteria, the autoimmune system will react and may show symptoms such as high fever, pain, vomiting, poor mental health, seizures, or even coma. In particular, some infectious diseases (even HIV) may have early symptoms similar to the flu. So when you come across a "cold", if you insist on carrying it hard, you may have a big problem.

Secondly, even if you are suffering from a "cold", in some cases, it is necessary to treat it in time.

In the eyes of the public, there are two main types of colds: "common cold" and "influenza", both of which are caused by viruses.

The symptoms of the common cold are sneezing, runny nose, and nasal congestion, sometimes accompanied by sore throat, fever or muscle pain, etc. The fever is not high and lasts only 1 to 2 days, and complications are rarely seen.

The first symptom of influenza is frightening and described as "systemic toxicity": significant fever, malaise, generalized aches and pains; high fever, even 39 to 40 degrees Celsius, lasting 3 to 5 days; and combined otitis media, pneumonia, myocarditis, meningitis or encephalitis.

In brief.

After many people get a common cold, they think I should be fine if I take more VC supplements and drink more hot water. But in fact, VC supplementation has a very limited effect on colds. There is no way to reduce the incidence, dura, on, and severity of the common cold in the general population. And if the common cold hits a lot of important things, such as exams and travel, it will be more difficult to carry it.

What if it's the flu? Influenza is more severe than the common cold, and once diagnosed, you need to get on antiviral treatment as soon as possible. Those at risk who are in poor health can be in serious trouble if they are not treated in time.

How many of the "misconceptions about taking cold medicine" have you been hit with?

Many people have experienced one thing: cold medicine mix and match to eat. First eat a little Chinese medicine, after feeling the little effect, and then eat two grains of potent medicine to pressure a pressure. Mixing and matching cold medicine is too harmful to the body.

In addition, do not use milk to take cold medicine.

Milk contains protein, amino acids, as well as calcium, phosphorus, iron, and many other vitamins, these substances are easy to react with cold medicine, generating insoluble salts, resulting in cold medicine being difficult to be absorbed by the body, but also affect the effectiveness of the medicine, so cold medicine is best served with warm water.

Finally, do not overdose.

The instructions of cold medicine will have dose instructions if the great dose of their own not only can not achieve the effect of the medication but also bring gastric mucosa damage. Especially, the ingredients of western medicine are mostly chemicals, which require detoxification of the liver after taking them.

How to use the correct medicine? First of all, you have to know the ingredients of cold medicine and use them accordingly to be safer.

Cold medicines often contain the following ingredients.

O for fever, sore throat: acetaminophen, ibuprofen

O treatment of nasal congestion: pseudoephedrine, phenylephrine hydrochloride containing

O for nasal discharge, sand neezing: antihistamines such as chlorpheniramine (paracetamol), loratadine

O Treatment of cough: dextromethorphan

O antiviral: amantadine

Therefore, when using cold medicines, more attention also needs to be d to.

1. Pseudoephedrine is effective in relieving nasal congestion, but it should not be used continuously for more than 7 days. And the ingredients of pseudoephedrine can be extracted to make toxic ingredients, or IOC expressly prohibited stimulant ingredients, long-term use in large quantities may produce palpitations, tachycardia, headache, insomnia and other adverse reactions. This drug is very much restricted in the purchase of mainstream e-commerce platforms have been removed from the shelves containing such components of over-the-counter drugs.

2, chlorpheniramine to relieve nasal discharge, sneezing effect is good, but can cause drowsiness, so driving, driving a plane without taking the drug

3, dextromethorphan cough effect is good, with no addictive side effects

4, the most commonly used antipyretic analgesic is acetaminophen, ibuprofen, but an overdose of acetaminophen can lead to liver damage

If there is only a headache, then just use acetaminophen, if there is s headache, nasal congestion, or cough, then use the relapsing agent. Don't use more medication or repeat medication.