Common cold and head cold are all caused by viral infections. There are about 200 different kinds of vira which all cause cold symptoms. At the mild end there is the head cold which makes the nasal mucosa swell and the nose become red and sore after frequent blows that disturb the breathing, provokes coughing and, to some extent, possibly a feeling of unease. At the other end, besides the symptoms mentioned above, a cold causes sneezing, runny eyes, headache, possibly a light fever, and not least a runny nose producing snot that will gradually thicken and have a yellowish or greenish colour.
A cold will infect through droplet infection when the infected person talks, sneezes, or coughs, thereby discarding vira in microscopical droplets which will stay in the air and infect persons who inhale them. A cold can also be spread via contact infection as infected persons have lots of cold vira on their hands from blowing or picking their nose or rubbing their eyes in which cold vira are also present. Therefore, plenty of cold vira are also left on banisters, handles in public places, furniture, and not least when shaking hands. Cold vira can be infectious for days on these surfaces. Contact infection is twice as frequent a way of infection as droplet infection. An uncomplicated common cold lasts about a week.
Vitamin C and common cold
In 1970, a book was published by the late professor of chemistry and two-time nobel prize winner Linus Pauling. It contained a thorough review of the scientific studies involving the use of vitamin C against cold that had been publicized right up to the publication of the book. Here, he describes the studies showing that vitamin C is capable of reducing the course of disease, the symptoms, and the sequelae, or even completely terminating the disease. Pauling also very thoroughly describes the studies in which it is concluded that vitamin C has no effect on common cold - a statement that is still prevailing in many health authorities. He examines the shortcomings of the test setups that have led to wrong conclusions with regard to the efficiency of vitamin C as a remedy against cold and demonstrates that these conclusions are incorrect. In most cases, too little vitamin C was used and for too short a period of time.
More than 30 years after the publication of this book, people still suffer from frequent colds which could often be avoided by taking sufficiently large amounts of vitamin C. To the common man, however, it is not a question of believing in one authority or another; it is a question of correctly testing the vitamin C cure. The cure is described in Pauling's book along with a couple of other initiatives.
When the very first symptoms appear and you notice some hoarseness in your throat, you should take 1 - 2 g. of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) - this should not be slow-release tablets. Take a similar dose every hour. After the third dose, the cold symptoms will usually have completely disappeared. If you take vitamin C together with some fruit juice or fruit, you will increase the efficiency of the cure on account of the fruit containing the so-called bioflavonoids. Elderberry juice is ideal as it also has a virostatic effect. Vegetables also contain bioflavonoids.
However, if the viral infection manages to get a good grip on you, it will take longer. Take 1 - 2 g. of vitamin C every hour for 10 hours the first day; then proceed to taking 1 g. every hour the following day.
When your body's upper limit to absorbing vitamin C has been reached, your stools will be thinner. Very high doses can trigger a harmless so-called osmotic diarrhoea. In case of disease or habituation, this limit is elevated and you can tolerate more vitamin C without suffering diarrhoea. Some people use this "diarrhoea limit" as an indication of how much vitamin C they can consume.
The condition of your immune defence is clearly decicive as to the whether you will catch cold or not. Stress and cold are also blamed for being able to provoke a cold - and indeed they can; but that is only if you are also exposed to cold vira. However, people who take about 3 g. of vitamin C every day will only rarely or never catch a cold, get the flu, or suffer a throat infection.
The vitamin C can be supplemented with a zinc supplement which is highly important to the immune defence in fighting off vira, for example. Take 30 - 50 mg. of zinc every evening at bedtime - or take 15 - 30 mg. twice a day between meals.
Vitamin supplements should normally never be taken singularly but together with a balanced supplement of other vitamins and minerals. Only in acute situations as in the case mentioned above should this recommendation be ignored.
Herbs
The immune defence can be strengthened with the herbal preparation Echinacea (tablets or droplets) and vitamin C at the same time. Put 75 droplets of Echinacea in some water and drink it in small sips during the course of an hour; while sipping the mixture it should remain in your mouth for as long as possible before swallowing it as many of the active substances are absorbed through the oral mucosa.
However, not everyone will benefit from taking Echinacea. Instead, you can supplement with a couple of cloves of garlic if the smell is not a problem. If you eat some parsley at the same time it will disguise a lot of the garlic smell. Garlic capsules are another alternative to raw garlic in which the garlic smell is less distinct.
Ginger is also beneficial. Let 2 tbsp. of freshly grated ginger draw in a cup of boiling water. The herbal specialist James Duke recommends also mixing a couple of tsp. of dried watercress into the water.
There are several other herbs with immunostimulatory abilities but the ones mentioned above are the most easily available ones.
A general advice is to reduce the risk of being infected with cold vira by often washing your hands - particularly after having been in touch with places that are typically full of cold vira. It is certainly not very difficult to save a few days lost through illness and handkerchiefs in this way.
