If You Get Sick, Here’s What to Do

The common cold, predicts Wichita (Kan.) physician Brenda Schewe, will be the downfall of mankind. She doesn’t mean that literally, of course. But just think about doing everything you do and getting the kids to all their appointments on time while you’re fighting the sniffles, chills and a sore throat.

Suddenly you see what Schewe means.

And because cold and flu season is here, it’s time to review what you know about preventing and treating them.

PREVENTION

The goal is to keep your immune system strong, so you can ward off viruses.

How? Eat right. Get enough sleep. Drink enough fluids.

Wash your hands. Take at least 20 seconds, or long enough to sing the ABCs, says Schewe, director of the internal medicine clinic at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita.

New word of the day: fomites (foe-mites). They’re inanimate objects that carry viruses (think phones, the balls in the play pit at the fast-food restaurant, the elevator buttons at work). Touch them, then your eyes or nose, and you’ve just infected yourself.

Wash your hands.

Get a flu shot, says Wichita Clinic pharmacy manager Greg Rockers. It’s not 100 percent guaranteed, but it will significantly lessen your chances of getting influenza (and putting yourself five days behind in holiday preparations).

Matt Murray, co-owner of GreenAcres Natural Foods Market in Wichita, says many customers swear by a daily spoonful of elderberry extract.

He prefers echinacea, olive leaf and oregano and says teachers and health care workers who are around lots of sneezing and coughing might want an echinacea combination product called Anti-V to get their immune systems in shape.

“And, of course, nothing beats a healthy lifestyle,” he says. “That means low sugar, rest, not too much stress_I never get sick unless I’m stressed.”

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TREATMENT

First things first: Antibiotics won’t help. Colds and flu are caused by viruses, not bacteria.

If you get sick, cough or sneeze into your elbow. Don’t share your drinking glass, and practice other good hygiene habits.

Rockers suggests “all those things that your grandmother told you”: Get plenty of rest, drink fluids, treat the symptoms if that makes you feel better. (Schewe says, “You can take something and get better in two weeks or not take something and get better in 14 days.”)

Murray recommends larger doses of the things you’d take to prevent viral illnesses. A homeopathic remedy called Oscillococcinum might help with body aches and other symptoms, and probiotics, found in some yogurts and other foods, encourage intestinal health, which Murray calls “the front line of the immune system.”

For fever, use aspirin, ibuprofen or acetaminophen, Schewe says. For a runny nose, use an antihistamine. For congestion, try a decongestant. Rockers says old-fashioned Sudafed or its generic equivalent, both available behind the pharmacy counter, are the best decongestants.

If you have a dry, hacking cough, try a cough suppressant with DM in the label, Rockers says, though “your body’s coughing for a reason, and a lot of times, it’s best to cough.”

If you have honest-to-goodness influenza_and you’ll know, because of its sudden onset — you can try an antiviral such as Tamiflu, Schewe says. You have to start it within the first 24 to 48 hours, and even then it will only shorten the duration, not make you better right away.

Finally, there’s no real reason to call your doctor unless you’ve been sick more than a week and aren’t showing any signs of improvement or unless you get symptoms that indicate you have a secondary infection_your nasal discharge turns to green, or you have a persistent headache or stiff neck, shortness of breath, those sorts of things.

Patients “think we’ve got some kind of magic, but we don’t,” Schewe says. “It’s just a virus_and they win.”

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WHICH IS IT?

Cold symptoms: Runny nose, sore throat, slight fever, gradual onset, mild fatigue, occasional headache.

Flu symptoms: Runny nose, achiness, high fever (102 to 104 degrees), sudden onset, extreme fatigue, headache.

___FOR THE LITTLE ONES

Drug makers have pulled cold medicines for babies and toddlers off the market, and a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel has recommended that over-the-counter cough and cold products for children under the age of 6 be banned, because they have not been proven to work and can cause injuries.

What’s a parent to do?

Acetaminophen or ibuprofen, in children’s strengths, can be given for fever, aches and pains. Don’t give aspirin to children.

Here are some non-medicinal ideas:

_ Bulb syringe, for runny, stuffy noses.

_ Saline nasal drops.

_ A steamy bathroom, for croupy coughs or chest congestion.

_ A cool mist humidifier in the bedroom at night.

_ Menthol or eucalyptus vapors, such as Vicks VapoRub.

_ Chicken noodle soup.

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(c) 2007, The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.).

Visit the Eagle on the World Wide Web at http://www.wichitaeagle.com/

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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