There’s so much involved in a cold it’s hard to say. For example:
How healthy are you?
What are you taking regularly (vitamins etc)?
But also
Do you happen to have antibodies for the colds that are currently around?
And one that always gets me, are you exposed to a greater amount or a totally different type of sick people?
Do you get exposed to these people and then are stuck in a room with them for hours?
Is your immune system already down when you got exposed (just a little)? Does that even make a difference?
There’s no way to really tell. I didn’t get a cold for six years and then last year I came down with four throughout the year. As far as I could tell the only change in my behavior was I exercised MORE (I was biking to work a couple of days a week suddenly). I doubt that did it!
I do love when people in my office use antiBACTERIAL stuff when someone comes down with a cold.
When H1N1 was all boo-scary, we were supposed to ask our various offices cleaning staff if they were making an extra effort to clean high-contact surfaces with an antibacterial cleaner. :rolleyes:
The effectiveness or otherwise of any particular remedies notwithstanding, it seems entirely plausible that, when do have a way of killing or maiming the pathogens, in most cases it will work more effectively (or, at least, be more effective in mitigating symptoms) if it is administered before the critters have had time to multiply too much.
The other day I felt that I was coming down with something (shivering in 78 degree (f) heat) i turned off the AC and ceiling fan in my PC room and put on a snuggie. Five hours later I was finally sweating but I was no longer sick.
No, the immune system does a lot more than inflammation. Antibodies, a variety of specialized cells.
Now, I don’t know if Tamiflu actually attacks the virus or if Vitamin C actually boosts the immune system. However, those are two very different things. A drug that boosted the immune system would be something that, say, encouraged it to build antibodies faster. A drug that attacked the virus would be something that hit the virus directly; something that interfered with its reproduction, say. A non-viral example would be penicillin, which poisons certain types of microorganisms.
As I was ill with an illness, here’s what I did that shortened it to 2 days while my family is still ill one week later. I woke up with a sore throat. I got up and drank two glasses of cold milk and brushed my teeth. While brushing my teeth, I massaged the area that was sore with my finger. I don’t recommend that, but it works for me. I waited a few minutes before rinsing my mouth and using mouth wash. Later, my sore throat did worse, but it was further down my throat and I had a slight fever. As it cold outside, I went out and breathed in the cold air. Cold air seems to help with my congestion to where it seems to be almost gone until I go back inside. I went back in, took some Motrin and went to sleep. Throughout the day, I drank either cold milk, Gatorade or water. I ate a bit more than usual, which I always do when I’m ill, but nothing extra in terms of vitamins. Being able to do this and staying hydrated I think was a major factor in overcoming this illness. I woke up the next day with some congestion as the infection had moved down to my chest, but aside from some coughing, my physical activity wasn’t restricted. As for my family, completely taken down. Fever, chills and lots of coughing.
I’m aware that low to moderate doses of supplemental vitamin C don’t seem to make a difference. When I’ve used it, it has always been very large amounts (at least 8 grams twice a day*). I also tried other things at the same time, so there’s no way of knowing. But when I do nothing, the cold almost always gets much worse.
*I found that such large amounts upset my digestion.
Interferon is used to activate the immune system, primarily to increase immune system activity against viruses. Interestingly, the (apparently common) side effects of such a boost mimics that of flu - increased body temperature, feeling ill, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, convulsion, dizziness, hair thinning, and depression. It seems to me that much of the discomfort of illnesses like cold and flu (apart from the direct effects) are more related to the immune system ramping up to fight the virus, rather than the virus itself.
The russians use low-dose interferon sprays to fight colds - there is no clear evidence of efficacy for this. Interferon is used for other viral diseases (such as Hepatitis B/C), but the development of better-tolerated anti-retrovirals has reduced the use of interferon - a development for which I am truly grateful (I am being treated for Hepatitis B using an antiviral - I really did not want Interferon).
What seems to work for me to fight off an impending cold is the old, tried-and-true remedies - drink lots of fluids (usually with Vitamin C) and get lots of rest. I focus more on not getting the viruses in my system in the first place - wash my hands frequently and keep my damned hands out of my face. Oh, I also avoid children.
I used to get colds that would last sometimes the better part of a week. Now that I’ve started praying to Cecil to cure me, they almost always go away completely in three or four days.
My stance on placebo effect is, if it actually causes a change, I’ll take it. Taking Vitamin C at the first sign of a cold is a placebo effect, but it makes my colds shorter? I’ll take it!
There is, of course the fact that one picks up less viruses as one gets older, and that the symptoms one experiences are milder as your immune system is likely to have been exposed to similar viruses and be more able to fight them off.
The average toddler has 8-12 upper respiratory tract infections a year, the average 60 year old has maybe 1 or 2.
Some of the “I’m fighting it off” may actually be that- your immune system recognises that the invader is similar to a previous one and is able to mount a quicker, more effective attack than previously. Unless you travel frequently or are exposed to new environments on a regular basis you will probably not encounter many entirely new viruses-most will be variants of something you have had before.
Being sensible when you are sick (rest, fluids, antiseptic gargles, analgesia, good hygiene and avoiding infecting others) is not a bad thing, but there is NO good evidence basis for multi-vits or zinc, and one of the most recent trials on anti-oxidant vitamins suggested that they could actually shorten one’s life.
I’ve spent the last 2 months in a paediatric ER explaining to parents that their kid who is “always sick” is a perfectly normal toddler who is picking up germs like he is supposed to, and that at some point he will become immune to the majority of the common viruses in his community and will then be well. In the meantime I offer reassurance, analgesia for pain and lots of fluids- there is no magic bullet to make a URTI disappear.
