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Colds and flu
Some people mistakenly refer to the common cold as influenza or flu. Both are viruses hence neither are treatable with antibiotics. Below are listed the common symptoms of each to help you to distinguish between which virus you might have so you can treat your virus accordingly.
Common Cold
| Flu
| You may feel hot or cold but your temperature may be normal or only slightly raised
| A high temperature up to 39ºc (103ºF) with sensation of feeling cold
| Feeling weak
| Prostration (Extreme exhaustion and fatigue)
| Lack of appetite
| Loss of appetite
| Runny nose
| Nasal catarrh and sneezing
| Sore throat, headache and a stuffy feeling in the front of the head
| Muscular aches and pains
| A cough which may be dry and tickly
| Cough
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| Headache
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| Sweating
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Treatment in the home
For a cold
- Keep the temperature down- you/the patient may feel cold but it may actually be raised
- Do not wrap in extra clothes/blankets or sit in an excessively warm room/in front of a hot fire, but allow the body to lose some of the excessive heat being generated.
- Babies should be kept in a comfortably warm room and wear as little clothing as possible
- Tepid sponging may cool and soothe children
- Keep drinking, especially cool drinks
- Steam inhalation may help a stuffy nose. Add a teaspoon of vapour rub to a pint of steaming water in a bowl. Trap the steam with a towel over the patient’s head and the bowl. Inhale for ten minutes 3 times a day
- Do not smoke
- A walk in the fresh air may help relieve symptoms
- Rest
- For children and babies troubled by a cough when laid down at night- lay babies on their side. An older child may be more comfortable if sat upright with an extra pillow. If cough is very bad rub a little vapour rub on the chest. Do not suppress the cough with cough mixture, the cough that comes with a cold is caused by the nose running down the back of the throat, and by coughing it helps to keep the discharge off the chest.
- For children over 1 year old, two drops of “Ephedine” nose drops in each nostril before the child goes to bed will also help. Drops should never be used for more than 4 days in succession however.
- Take painkillers in recommended doses. Never give children under 12 aspirin.
Age 1-4
| One teaspoon of paracetamol mixture once every four hours up to four times in a 24 hour period
| Age 5-7
| Two teaspoons of paracetamol mixture once every four hours up to four times in a 24 hour period
| Age 8-12
| One paracetamol tablet once every four hours up to four times in a 24 hour period
| Age 12+
| Two tablets of soluble aspirin or paracetamol once every four hours up to four times in a 24 hour period
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For flu
- Go to bed
- Drink extra fluids
- Take paracetamol in recommended doses (see table above). Never give children under 12 aspirin.
- Hot lemon and honey drinks may help ease coughing
- Do not struggle to work.
When to go to the doctor’s
For a cold
- Green or yellow phlegm is being coughed up
- A raised temperature persists for more than three days
- Earache or a runny ear develops
- A stiff neck develops that cannot be bent forwards
- For children
- If the temperature cannot be reduced by removing clothes, tepid sponging and extra fluids
- If the child becomes drowsy and unresponsive
- If the child vomits more than twice
- If crying is inconsolable
- If there is difficulty in breathing or noisy breathing
For flu. As for a cold plus…
If the patient is in a high-risk group i.e.
- All those aged 65 year and over;
- Those with
- a Chronic Respiratory Disease
- Asthma that requires continuous or repeated use of inhaled or systemic steroids or with previous exacerbations requiring hospital admission
- Chronic heart disease
- Chronic renal disease
- Chronic liver disease
- Diabetes requiring insulin or oral hypoglycaemic drugs
- Immunosuppression
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