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A viral infection that heals by itself — antibiotics do not help here, patience and self-care do.
Also known as: common cold · runny nose · chill
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
A viral infection of the upper airways — over 200 different viruses can cause it, which is why it keeps coming back. Typical course: scratchy throat, then a runny nose, then cough, over about a week with improvement from day three or four. Antibiotics do not help, being useless against viruses. What helps is unspectacular but right: rest, drinking enough, humid air, decongestants if needed. See a doctor if a high fever lasts more than three days, if symptoms worsen again after improving, if breathing becomes difficult, or if there is no improvement after two weeks.
A bowl of hot, not boiling water, a towel over the head, breathe calmly for 10 minutes, two to three times a day. A warm shower with the door closed does the same.
Nine grams of salt to a litre of boiled and cooled water, rinse once or twice daily with a pot or nasal douche.
There is no medicine against the viruses themselves. What exists eases: decongestant sprays open the nose and belong to a week at most, otherwise the lining comes to depend on them. Zinc within twenty-four hours can shorten the course by about a day.
Adults have two to four colds a year on average, children of nursery age up to eight to ten. The course lasts about a week; the cough can stay for three weeks without anything being wrong.
Chop an onion small and warm it briefly to hand temperature — in a dry pan or over steam, not fried.
Crush or finely chop a clove and let it sit for ten minutes before it goes into a salad, onto bread or into the finished dish.
Squeeze half a lemon, boil the water and let it cool to about sixty degrees — it should be warm enough to drink, not steaming.
A scratchy throat for one to two days, then a runny nose and sneezing, from day three to four the cough, which stays longest. After seven to ten days most of it is over, the cough may linger three weeks.
The colour comes from defence cells and changes in almost every course after a few days. It is not a sign that an antibiotic would be needed.
High fever for over three days, breathlessness, pain on breathing, a stiff neck, a clear worsening after an initial improvement, or a course over ten days without any improvement.
Drinking, alertness and breathing say more than the thermometer: fast breathing, drawing in between the ribs, clearly fewer wet nappies, a child that cannot be roused.
An ordinary cold needs no blood values. The value helps where the question of an antibiotic arises: with the viral form it stays low.
Belongs alongside when infections are unusually frequent or unusually severe — then it is no longer about the single cold.
Fever, sweating and faster breathing clearly raise the need. Drinking enough keeps the mucus thin and the circulation steady — in children and older people it is the most important point of all.
With low levels airway infections occur somewhat more often; correcting a deficiency makes sense, a high single dose during the infection does not act on it.
Needed by the defence cells. For lozenges at the start of a cold there are hints of a slightly shortened duration; at a high dose over months zinc lowers copper.
Antibodies and defence cells are protein. After several days with little appetite it is worth at least keeping the protein up — soup with egg, quark, yoghurt, lentils.
As a lozenge started within 24 hours of the first tickle, 75 mg a day for at most a week: then the cold shortens by about a day in studies. Started later it does not work, and over months that amount disturbs copper uptake.
Probably the best-known misunderstanding here: taken continuously it shortens colds by about 8 per cent — half a day in adults. Started once it begins, the studies show nothing at all. In marathon runners and soldiers in the cold the effect was distinctly larger.
Small studies reported a shortening of 2–4 days; a larger, independent study in influenza found no difference. Raw berries contain cyanogenic compounds and must be heated.
Studied for decades and contested for just as long. The large, well-made studies found no difference from placebo — smaller ones did. With a daisy-family allergy it belongs left out.
Clearly worthwhile and well studied when deficient; fewer data for the wider uses. Fat-soluble — check blood levels at high doses.
Colds cluster not only in winter but after peaks of strain — the week after the exam, after the move, after the project. The fall in tension is the moment the defences give way.
The active form takes part in the defence cells themselves. In the pooled studies slightly fewer respiratory infections occurred with daily dosing — the effect comes almost entirely from people with a low starting value.
Too little sleep measurably lowers the defences: people sleeping under six hours catch colds distinctly more often in experiments than those sleeping seven or more. That is one of the best-supported points in this matter — and the least often mentioned.
Studied at 75 mg zinc a day, started within the first 24 hours; the cold then shortens by about a day. Started on the third day it changes nothing. Taken over weeks it disturbs copper uptake.
200 mg daily over months shorten colds by about 8 % in adults — considerably more in people under heavy physical strain. Taken only at the start of a cold, studies show no effect.
Warm fluid loosens mucus and eases sore throat for 30–60 minutes. Drinking more than usual does not speed healing — it is relief, not treatment.
Started within 24 hours it shortens the duration by about a day — started later, hardly at all.
Better studied than most cough syrups for night cough — not in the first year of life.
Eucalyptus and related oils clear the nose — not on small children’s faces.
Elderflower tea is the classic sweat-inducing remedy at the start of an infection.
The milder eucalyptus — suitable for inhaling in adults and older children.
Ginger tea with spring onion is the classic home remedy at the start of a cold.