Cold

I hate having the cold. Its a terrible disease that has no cure, because there is so many bacterias and viruses that causes it.

For me a typical cold will start with a sniffle, and a runny nose. Then the runny nose turns into a blocked nose and the mucus will turn green. After that I developed a sore throat and then you start coughing. I then starts to develop a fever and then end up miserable.

I then ran will run out of tissues and have the need to always consume any hot liquid, even hot water is fine during this period because the steam and the warmth helps my nose to be clear. Also since I will blow my nose a lot, my nostril becomes dry and it will starts getting irritated unless I apply some Vaseline to it.

I hate it, and now I am starting to get it.

As I wrote before, there is no cure for the common cold. All that they give you is an anti histamine, panadol, cough syrup, sore throat candy and vitamin C. Sometimes they will prescribe you antibiotics.

Anti histamine is used for allergies, believe it or not, all that runny nose action is actually the body's way to remove the bacteria or virus that decides to make your nose its home. The body's own reaction of over producing antibody leads to runny noses which provides even a better environment for the bacteria/virus. Anti histamines will help the nose to dry up a bit so that the bacteria/virus won't have a nice place to live.

Panadol or paracetamol is a medication so common to most Malaysians. People assume its a cold medicine, but its only a pain killer and one of the best medicine to treat fever. Read the label, it relives PAIN and FEVER due to cold and not the cold itself. Anyhow, since people believe it, the placebo effect should cure them too. Your body will develop a fever because the bacteria/virus cannot live above the normal human body temperature, but too much fever will cause you to have headaches and be delirious, so we need to calm it down.

Cough syrup, as the name implied is made to sooth the throat, loosen the phlegm and reduce the cough. Some cough syrup has antihistamine in them, so you get the extra anti histamine along with the anti histamine tablets that the doctors already prescribe to you. Beware, usually the anti histamines in cough syrups are the drowsy ones.

Sore throat candy, as the name suggested is given to soothe your throat that has been inflamed by bacteria from your nose that drips down to the throat.

Vitamin C is given to fight infection. Its an antioxidants, since the body needs a boost of it to help fight the cold.

If you have green mucus, when you blow your nose, it means you have an infection and doctors will usually prescribe antibiotics so that you will get better faster. At least that is what happens to me

Its sounds like normal disease but outside of Malaysia, a common cold can kill a person if its not treated. People will usually succumb to pneumonia and die!!. Which is why they take it very seriously and treat it well.

If I am not mistaken, a flu differs from a cold, by producing body and joint aches all over.

Anyhow, I am starting to have a cold, since my nose is blocked. Its just a matter of time before it develops to a full blown cold. So I always have anti histamines in hand at all times. You can get it at your local drugstore/chemist for like RM8. The ones I used is Loratadine, to most people including me, it is not drowsy and  you just need a tablet each morning. Sometimes when I am allergic to something (my noses run, my eyes waters) I just pop one in and I will feel better.

However during a full blown cold or if the Loratadine does not work, I take this really cheap ass anti histamines called Chlorpheniramine Maleate which cause only RM1.50 for a tab of it.This is a 1st generation anti histamine which means, its very drowsy. So I took it before bedtime. When I was doing my diploma, the campus clinic always gives this as the cold medicine. You had to take it 3 times a day and its so drowsy, that you just faint after taking it.

I ran out of my Chlorpheniramine and now down to 1 tablet of Loratadine. These two medication are available at most pharmacy. The pharmacist could prescribe you a different anti histamine but does the same thing.

Anyhow, so far I have been slowing the progress of the cold for almost a week now without antibiotics. Although I prefer to have them since my cold will be heal within a week, but I am afraid of being dependent on it (which I think I am) and that I will develop resistant to the antibiotics. Off I go to the pharmacist tomorrow!!