Unpleasant and inconvenient: A cold always comes at the wrong time. It is triggered by viruses that are thrown around during coughing and sneezing. This is the so-called droplet infection. Tight body contact can also cause infection, as well as touching door handles, handrails in the bus, or other contaminated surfaces when followed by a grip on the mouth, nose, or eye.
A rule of thumb is that viruses are easier when the immune system is weakened - for example due to lack of sleep, too little exercise, but also by staying in overheated and poorly ventilated rooms.
What follows after the infection depends strongly on the pathogen. Experts distinguish more than a hundred types of cold viruses, explains family doctor Hans-Michael Mühlenfeld from Bremen. "There are viruses that like to stick to the nose, others in the pharynx or more on the bronchi, so the symptoms differ."
Cold, flu, bacterial infection?
Although one often speaks of a "flu infection", flu and cold viruses have nothing to do with each other. These are different types of viruses that lead to different diseases. While in a cold, about the body temperature, if only slightly increases, a real flu starts suddenly with a high fever. Even otherwise, the symptoms of the real flu are much more pronounced than with a flu infection.
If the symptoms of a common cold get worse over time and if fever develops, it is often due to an additional bacterial infection. The danger of such a secondary infection is especially great when colds ignore the warning signs of their body and do not spare themselves.
If you can not or do not want to take a break because of your job and your family despite your cold, you often end up in the pharmacy instead of the doctor. "If patients come with the expectation that the common cold disappears immediately after a single administration of the drug, this is one of the most difficult counseling situations ever," says Andreas Kiefer, pharmacist in Koblenz and president of the Federal Chamber of Pharmacists. "But she is extremely common."
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Basically, there is still no means found that shortens the time of the common cold. Instead, it is only possible to treat the symptoms - for example, by administering painkillers a headache, relieve coughing irritation with lozenges or with a nasal spray to make breathing easier. Otherwise, the body needs rest.
"Many underestimate what insanity the immune system costs the body," says the pharmacist. The exhaustion that many people feel is a result of the immune system. Those who do too much cold-drug-doping from the pharmacy should expect to be outnumbered for longer than planned. Then the body does not get the pathogens under control.
The first one to two days are the worst
Normally, a cold takes about one to two weeks. Worst of all are the first two to three days, says Mühlenfeld. If you still have fever or complications after this period, you should contact a family doctor - first preferably by phone. The telephone contact protects the practice staff and other patients from infection.
"I can always remember situations where sometimes 30 to 40 patients call each day and describe the same symptoms," says the doctor. This provides information about which type of virus is currently in circulation.
To prevent this from happening, you can avoid it - especially by washing your hands regularly, thoroughly airing and enough exercise. The clothes should be so warm that the middle of the body does not cool down. Many also consider vitamin supplements helpful - according to Kiefer a rather unnecessary investment. With a balanced home-cooked food would be enough nutrients.
Depending on your lifestyle, the German Nutrition Society recommends about 95 to 155 milligrams of vitamin C per day for adults. These are already stuck in an apple, a paprika or a glass of fresh orange juice. For this reason, experts consider it superfluous to take vitamin C as a dietary supplement.
It makes sense, however, to increase the medicine chest in good time. Mühlenfeld recommends analgesic and antipyretic agents, nose drops and lozenges. Sage tea for drinking and inhaling and peppermint oil can help depending on your preference. On the other hand, the pharmacist advises against the combination of different active ingredients - this could lead to inadvertent overdoses or interactions.
Anyone who is unsure, brings the previously used medicines simply in the pharmacy. On the other hand, it is insignificant whether colds are used for the relief of medicinal plants, home remedies or medicines. Because everything can not cure - only alleviate. Mühlenfeld: "It all makes it a bit easier to survive the time until you're well again."
