There are over 200 viruses that can cause the common cold, infection of the upper respiratory tract. The well-known symptoms include head congestion, sore throat, coughing, headache, fever, restlessness, sneezing, watery eyes, and aches and pains.

Most colds clear up on their own in a week to ten days, but occasionally a cold can lead to a more serious illness, such as bronchitis, pneumonia, or flu. It is estimated that healthy adults get an average of two colds per year.

Children generally get many more because their immune systems are immature, and because they have not yet developed immunity to many of the viruses that use colds. If an adult gets colds often, it may be a sign that his or her immune system is not working properly.

Eucalyptus oil is helpful for relieving congestion.
Put 5 drops in a hot bath, or put 6 drops in a cup of boiling water and inhale the steam.

Fenugreek and Thyme from Nature's Sunshine is an herbal formula that helps rid nasal passages of mucus. Take 2 capsules three times daily.

 

For a sore throat, add 3 to 6 drops of pure tea tree oil to warm water and gargle. Repeat this up to three times daily.
Take up to 2 tea tree oil lozenges and allow them to dissolve slowly in your mouth. Repeat this treatment as often as required, alternating it with goldenseal extract.

At the first sign of a cold, use an alcohol-free echinacea and goldenseal combination extract to boost your immune system and keep the virus from multiplying.
For adults, place 1 dropperful in the mouth, hold it for five minutes, then swallow. Do this every three hours for three days.

For children, place 8 to 10 drops in the mouth, hold it for a few minutes (or as long as the child can manage), then swallow.
Do this every two hours for three days. Then take 8 to 10 drops in liquid daily until symptoms are gone.
Besides beating colds, flu, bronchitis, and other upper respiratory infections, echinacea is good for clearing up strep throat.

Caution:
Do not take goldenseal internally on a daily basis for more than one week at a time, do not use it during pregnancy, and use it with caution if you are allergic to ragweed. (Note from Beatrice Rhea: Goldenseal lowers blood sugar.)

RECOMMENDATIONS
Sip hot liquids such as turkey or chicken broth.
Drink Potato Peeling Broth twice a day-make it fresh daily.
You can add a carrot or a stalk of celery to your drink.

Remain as active as possible. Not only is staying in bed for ordinary sniffles unnecessary, but it will probably make you feel worse.
Moving around helps to loosen built-in mucus and fluids. Unless you have a fever, a brisk walk or any other type of moderate exercise should make you feel better. Flush tissues after they have been used. Because they harbor the virus, tissues can pass on the virus or cause you to reinfect yourself.

Wash your hands often. Cold viruses can survive for several hours on hands, tissues, or hard surfaces. A health person can contract the virus by touching a contaminated surface, then touching his or her own mouth or nose. Try not to spread the cold to your family or colleague. Refrain from close contact with loved ones. Even shaking hands is out; hand contact can spread the virus.

Do not give aspirin, or any product containing aspirin to a child with symptoms of any viral infection, including a cold.

CONSIDERATIONS
Since there is no cure for the common cold, the best approach is prevention.
Once a cold has a firm grip on you, it is hard to stop it.

There are many over-the-counter cold medications available. None of them can actually cure a cold, although they may sometimes be helpful for alleviating symptoms.

It is unlikely that a vaccine will ever be developed to prevent the common cold because the viruses responsible have the ability to change in size and shape, and have hundreds of different forms.

The possibility for real cold relief may lie in substances such as interferons, natural proteins that the body produces in response to viral infection. Interferons seem to improve the respiratory tract's ability to ward off viruses. Vitamin C promotes interferon production.

Antibiotics are ineffective against viral infections, but many people still ask their doctors to prescribe them. It is important to understand that penicillin and most other antibiotics work only against bacterial infections, such as strep throat-not viral infections.
Viruses and bacteria may produce similar symptoms, but they are very different kinds of microbes and do not respond to the same treatment. In fact, because antibiotics kill off "good" bacteria together with the bad, antibiotics actually inhibit the body's efforts to defend itself against viral invasion.

You can, in a sense, catch a cold from yourself. When your immune system weakens from factors such as stress and/or a poor diet, viruses can take hold.

A five-week study of seventy-nine young adults deliberately infected with a cold virus revealed that those given the drug naproxen (Naprosyn), which is commonly prescribed for arthritis, suffered almost a third fewer cold symptoms, such as headache and coughing, than those given a placebo.

Medical researchers at Dartmouth College gave a group of thirty-five cold sufferers zinc lozenges, and told these individuals to take a lozenge as often as every two hours. Another thirty-five cold sufferers were given placebos. The zinc-takers'colds subsided in an average of four days, while the control group struggled with their colds for another nine days.

Under experimental conditions, polysaccharides found in the herb echinacea have been shown to enhance the immune response.

Allergies can cause symptoms that mimic those of colds and flu. Allergy testing is recommended.
A child who has frequent colds or bouts with the flu should be checked for thyroid malfunction. When the child is well, perform the thyroid function self-test.

To test yourself, or a child, for underactive thyroid, keep a thermometer by your bed. In the morning, place the thermometer under your arm and hold for 10-15 minutes. A temperature of 97.60 or lower may indicate Hypothyroidism. Take test for 3-4 days, not during ovulation time or menses.
This test is described by Dr. Broda Barnes, M.D. His book is "Hypothyroidism".

Blood test will not show unless thyroid is 50% underactive, medical studies show.
If the child's temperature is low, consult your health care provider.

Congestion, cough, and/or sore throat are signs of a cold, but if these symptoms occur together with fever or fatigue, you may have the flu.
If congestion develops in the chest, it is best to consult a physician, as chest (lung) infections can be serious.
Also contact your health care provider if your fever goes above 102'F for more than three days, if yellow or white spots appear in the throat, if the lymph nodes under the jaw and in the neck become enlarged, and/or if chills and shortness of breath occur.