Question about the common cold

So I’m sitting here enduring the symptoms of a cold when I realized something. Every time I have a cold, I go through four distinct phases.

Phase 1: The back of my throat feels . . . odd. Not sore (yet), but kind of like I have something stuck back there. Kind of. This phase usually lasts half a day to a full day.

Phase 2: Full-blown sore throat. This phase lasts roughly the same amount of time as phase 1.

Phase 3 (possible TMI): No more sore throat, thankfully. I’m not so thanlful for the runny nose and sneezing, though. And we’re not talking little sneezes. No siree Bob. We’re talking sneezes that require a tissue just to prevent my hands (or whatever else happens to be in front of my nose) from being covered with mucus (which is only marginally more viscous than water at this point), and then a separate tissue to blow my nose afterward. And the act of blowing my nose triggers yet another sneeze. Of course, when I’m not sneezing, I sniffling just to keep my nose from running all over the front of my shirt. How the mucus keeps coming out is a mystery, though, as my sinuses seem to be pretty much airtight.

This phase of constant sniffling punctuated by rapid-fire sneezing usually lasts two to three days.

Phase 4 (More possible TMI): Coughing. Lots of coughing. Also, lots of blowing my nose, but without the sneezing. <TMI>My mucus returns to its normal viscosity during this phase</TMI> This phase lasts about two days.
Now, these phases are not completely separated from one another, but they are still quite distinct. Plus, they almost always come in that order. So here’s my question. Do other people experience the same (or similar) phases to their colds? More importantly, is there a reason for this ordering of symptoms? A result of how my immune system operates or something?

Yep, I get the same thing. Can’t say why though…

You have my sympathies, Joe Random. :frowning: I’m enduring the very same thing right now. And yes, pretty much the same phases as yours, just shorter durations. I have no idea why. Maybe QtM will be by soon to enlighten us.

It’s no fun at all, but it could always be worse, I guess. At least it’s just a cold and not something serious, like the flu.

Now I’m envious :stuck_out_tongue: In reality, the phases vary in length quite a bit. Now that I look back at my post, I notice that the times I gave are more like upper limits than averages. I guess being sick brings out the pessimist in me.

And as an aside, I hate it when people tell me “You’re not sick, you just have a cold.” As if its being a common ailment makes it any less annoying. Hell, I had to call into work today because my blocked sinuses would only allow me three and a half hours of sleep last night. Now, I could operate on three and a half hours if I were otherwise healthy. But with this cold kicking my ass? No way.

I hope so. I’m actually quite curious as to if it’s a result of how the virus functions, how the immune system deals with the virus, a combination of the two, or something else I haven’t even thought of.

I’m also wondering how, when you have so many different strains of the virus (which are different enough to sneak in past my immune system), they can all have the same symptoms.

No kidding! I rarely get sick, so when a cold gets hold of me, it’s in and out pretty quick, but really beats the hell out of me.

And people say “it’s just a cold.” Just a cold, my ass.

I get those symptoms as well, but with the added fun of bronchitis thrown in there. Except for last year, the first time in 20 years when a cold did not turn into bronchitis. Now this year, I didn’t get any cold symptoms, but I have had bronchitis for just over a week now. No fever either. I’ve been getting as much rest as possible, drinking lots of water, and taking echinacea and herbal tea. I seem to be almost over it now. Oh yeah, I also had very loose bowel movements for almost a week. Probably one of the most bizarre virus things I have ever had. And other people in this area have had the same kind of thing going on.

Next time you feel that discomfort in the back of your throat, don’t wait! Try holding your nose completely shut for at least twenty minutes. Breath through your mouth.
Some type of device can be used; clothes pin etc.
What you are doing is accelerating the process your body is trying to accomplish by plugging up the sinus passages and therefore elevating temperature. This elevation of temp is what your body uses to kill the germs that cause the cold.
You may have to blow your nose when finished and you may have to repeat this several times upon the first signs of discomfort.
This actually works!

When your throat feels that typical “funniness”, slam 1500 mg of vitamin C ASAP, and repeat 4 & 8 hours later. And ensure you stay warm; that’s cozy warm, not just sorta warm.

My technique won’t stop all colds, but for me at least it nips about 3/4ths of them in the bud. Most times I never get past stage 1 or maybe stage 1.25. Bfore I adopted the technique,every time I felt stage 1 I was doomed to 24-72 hours of violent nose-blowing.

According to this site, taking vitamin C does not affect whether or not one gets a cold, and only has a very mild effect in reducing symptoms (comparable to the effects of a placebo).

I’m not saying that your technique doesn’t work for you, just that it is probably working for reasons other than what you think.

Hmmm, I wonder if Qadgop the Mercotan does vanity searches for his name? I’d really like the input of a doctor; both on the reason(s) that symptoms come in stages, and on what current medical views on vitamin C vs. colds are.