Anyone who has a cold does not have to treat it immediately with medication. Antibiotics are only medically necessary if the patient gets a bacterial superinfection after a cold that has not been cured. Because antibiotics are ineffective against conventional cold viruses. These only help against bacteria. A few old home remedies usually help to relieve the common cold.
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What are colds and how do they develop?
Colds (flu-like infections) occur more frequently in autumn and winter and are usually caused by rhinoviruses, which encounter an already weakened immune system. They get to the mucous membranes, for example, through sneezing, coughing (droplet infection), shaking hands or infected door handles.
The first signs of a cold are a sore throat and a slight sore throat. Soon there will be a cold, headache, cough, hoarseness, slight fever and lethargy. In more severe cases, the patient has a higher fever and body aches. If he doesn’t fight his cold as quickly as possible with old home remedies, sinus infections can still occur and flu added. Cold medicines from the pharmacy such as cough syrup help to relieve the annoying urge to cough. You can also get a cold bath ( e.g. Tetesept cold bath ) and nasal rinsing as ready-to-use preparations.
What home remedies are there for a cold?
Basically, if you have a cold, sleeping a lot and drinking a lot helps. During sleep, your immune system works at full speed. Special cold teas ensure you have enough liquid to sweat out
Cold helper ginger
Ginger supports the intestinal flora positively. The digestion process is accelerated and the work of the gastrointestinal tract is made easier.
need and relieve cold symptoms. Lime blossom tea is sweaty. Onion tea has an expectorant effect and kills viruses and bacteria. For a general boost to your immune system, use ginger tea as ginger has antibacterial properties. Homemade chicken soup
is also highly effective. Chicken soup contains a protein (cysteine) that causes the throat and nasal mucous membranes to quickly decongest. Also, be sure to get plenty of vitamin C. That’s what you’ll find in lemon, kiwifruit, and sea buckthorn juice. However, if the lemon is too sour for you or you have stomach problems, you can also replace it with oranges. Zinc also helps you to get rid of the annoying cold faster.
Cold baths with spruce needles, eucalyptus or thyme oil increase blood circulation and warm you up from the inside – good if you have chills. They also relieve body aches. The essential oils are inhaled and have an expectorant effect, so that your blocked nose is quickly cleared and you can cough up more easily. If you don’t like alternating showers in the morning, you can take a steam bath. They have an even more intense immune-boosting effect than alternating showers, as the temperature difference between warm and cold is even greater.
Gargling with chamomile or sage in the form of warm tea reduces inflammation and soothes a sore throat. It is sufficient if you gargle intensively several times a day for 5 to 10 minutes. Cold leg wraps are good if you have a mild fever and/or headache. They lower the elevated temperature. To make a calf wrap, soak two towels in cold water with a third of vinegar in them. You wring out the towels and wrap them around your calves. Then wrap another, this time dry, cloth around it.
When the wraps are warm, take them off again. You apply your calf wraps until the fever or headache has subsided. However, if your feet get cold, you should take them off as soon as possible.
By the way: You can also use the cold wraps on children.
A sore throat caused by a cold is relieved with hot potato compresses. To do this, simply boil 4 to 6 medium-sized potatoes until tender, wrap in kitchen paper and mash lightly to form a flat compress. Then lay the layer of potatoes, which is no longer too hot, on your neck while lying down and wrap them with towels. Quark wraps also help with a sore throat. They are made with damp, cold towels that are coated with a thin layer of curd.
10-minute inhalations with a towel and your head over the bowl of hot water infused with eucalyptus, thyme, or peppermint oil will clear your stuffy nose, relieve that nasty cough, and moisturize your irritated mucous membranes. However, children should not inhale essential oils. Nasal rinses with saline also have an expectorant effect.
Fast-acting home remedies
Which home remedies for colds work the fastest?
If you take zinc ( e.g. zinc citrate with 50mg zinc, vegan tablets
) as soon as you notice the first cold symptoms, you can shorten the duration of your illness by one day. This is what scientists found in a clinical study published by the Cochrane Collaboration in 2013. It doesn’t matter what form you take of the essential mineral, which comes in lozenges, syrup and regular tablets.
However, if you prefer lozenges, you should take it at a dose of at least 50 mg per day. Zinc boosts the immune system and accelerates recovery from the common cold by apparently inhibiting the replication of rhinoviruses. However, the mineral has no influence on the severity of the symptoms. By the way: You can also take zinc prophylactically.
Inhalations with chamomile and nasal rinsing with saline solution, which is carried out 3 times a day, provide quick relief for a runny or blocked nose. Coughing fits that disturb your sleep can be relieved by inhaling sage and drinking cold teas. Cough with fever and chest pain is treated with 15-minute potato compresses on the chest and chest rubs with eucalyptus oil.
