[우리문화신문=유용우 한의사] The most frequent diseases in daily life are cold and body qi. Most of them heal on their own and are easily treated with the help of oriental medicine or Western medicine. Therefore, cold symptoms should be resolved as early as possible, but the most desirable thing is to clear up on your own within 3 days. The next step is to treat it within 3 days with the help of herbal medicine or western medicine. However, when the self-healing ability is insufficient, when the natural healing power is maintained, after 3 days, the burden on the body and the biorhythm are disturbed, so even if it is cured naturally, the aftereffects are greater than those treated with medicine.
Cold symptoms appear 1 to 3 days after exposure to the virus. Symptoms vary depending on how far the cold virus has penetrated the upper respiratory tract, but runny nose, stuffy nose, sore throat, cough, and muscle pain are common. Fever is rare or mild in adults, but fever is common in children. Conjunctivitis may accompany tearing. The severity of symptoms may vary depending on the patient’s age, pre-existing diseases, and immune status. During the course of a cold, the mucus may become thick, yellow or blue even without other complications.
type of cold
In the early stages of a cold, the term “cold” is used rather than a disease name. At this time, depending on the aspect revealed, there are several series of cold symptoms.
① runny nose
Most colds are introduced through the respiratory passage. Among colds in the respiratory passage, confined to the area from the mucous membrane of the nose to the pharynx tonsils (adenoids), when the virus is introduced, the human body actively responds, resulting in a runny nose-like cold. That is, when the inflow of the virus is recognized in the nasal mucosa and adenoids, it increases the secretion of nasal mucus containing immune substances in order to remove it.
The nose controls temperature and humidity, purifies by filtering out germs and viruses, and acts as a radiator to cool the brain. When the nose is subjected to such heavy external burdens (bacteria, viruses, dust, rapid changes in temperature and humidity, allergens), the nasal mucosa is overstimulated and secretes excessive mucus, and these mucus pass to the back of the throat through cilia movement. Before going, the inside of the nose is filled with a lot of mucus, and eventually it drips out, and this is the runny nose.
Sneezing is an active defense action of the human body to make up for it when harmful foreign substances enter the mucous membrane of the nose, and it is difficult to clean up with the daily metabolism and immune action of the nasal mucosa. Therefore, if the symptoms improve after sneezing 3 or 4 times and blowing your nose once, you can see that you have overcome it yourself. However, if you sneeze repeatedly or have a runny nose after a sneeze, it is difficult to clean up on your own.
My nose is itchy, I sneeze, and then clear runny nose flows. If the symptoms are severe, nasal congestion occurs and the runny nose becomes sticky. However, natural treatment is easy for most colds, but patients with rhinitis may have more severe rhinitis.
② Sore throat
When a virus enters through the respiratory passage, the primary gateway for immunity is the adenoid. Mild invasion is resolved by mucus in the nose and the immune response of the amygdala, but if this is not resolved, systemic symptoms begin. Among systemic symptoms, it is a symptom that occurs in the respiratory tract, and when symptoms of edema of the adenoids and throat begin to appear, discomfort and pain in the throat occur.
“My throat hurts, it feels sore, and it hurts when I swallow food. The uvula is red and swollen or the tonsils are swollen. symptoms such as Therefore, it can be said that a sore throat is the beginning of a true cold, and if it does not improve within 3 days, it is necessary to seek help from herbal medicine or western medicine.
③ Thermal cold
Fever is the most common symptom of a cold. It is an immune response to recognize and eliminate the virus that causes a cold when it enters the blood through the respiratory mucosa. This is an active defense action of our body to enhance the body’s immune function.
Fever when you catch a cold is a phenomenon in which the body’s immune function is activated and white blood cells fight the virus. Therefore, the fever process is an expression of the body’s resistance to viruses and bacteria and is a normal physiological response of the body. Therefore, when the body’s defense function is active and the virus is removed, the body balances by releasing excess body heat along with sweat. Therefore, normal defenses occur repeatedly with fever, sweating, and slight chills. Therefore, when you catch a cold, the phenomenon of fever is the body responding well to the virus, so it is necessary to just watch the state where the body temperature rises by about 2 ℃.
However, when the immunity is weak or the pattern of the virus is abnormal, the fever persists or rises above the level, causing an imbalance in the body’s metabolic function. .
“The whole body has a fever, sometimes it is cold, sometimes it is hot.”, “With high fever, cold hands and feet and a sore throat. My lips are dry and my appetite is low, so I don’t eat food. Complains of abdominal pain, and in severe cases, vomiting or diarrhea.” symptoms such as At this time, when the effective action against the introduced virus is finished, sweat is produced to stabilize the heat raised again. Therefore, if you sweat, you can easily treat it, but if you don’t sweat, you will be able to cure yourself.
④ Body cold
When a cold virus enters the respiratory mucosa and spreads throughout the body and when it enters the skin, the body becomes sensitive. In other words, the whole body has an extreme defensive posture against external intrusion. At this time, the pain is revealed while riding the rhythm of the body’s metabolic hyperactivity and sluggish metabolism. In particular, as the body becomes sensitive, symptoms that seem to hurt when touched begin, resulting in headaches or pain in joints and muscles throughout the body.
In some cases, only body aches are revealed, and symptoms such as sweating and rising fever occur in parallel. This is also a phenomenon that occurs while the body’s immune system is actively defending itself. However, if the degree of body aches is severe, it is desirable to do light activities because overall blood circulation is impaired and lethargic due to atrophy of blood vessels and muscles.
⑤ cough cold
Coughing is one of the important defenses of our body, and it prevents harmful substances such as gas and bacteria or various foreign substances from entering the airway through the reflex action of coughing. In addition, it acts to keep the airway clean at all times by allowing inhaled foreign substances or airway secretions to be discharged out of the airway. Coughing is most often caused reflexively by stimulation of the airway, including the larynx, and can also occur by irritation of the airway by inhalation of external substances such as smoke, dust, and foreign substances, and stimulation by internal secretions such as phlegm, mucus, and stomach acid. can
There are two types of coughing when you have a cold. One is a cough without sputum, which occurs when the throat is itchy and stinging in a sore throat. The other is that the virus invades the bronchial tubes and increases the amount of mucus in the bronchial mucosa, resulting in sputum.
Coughing spasmodically, with or without phlegm. It usually appears when a runny nose cold goes on for a long time, but there are also cases where you cough right away. Therefore, when coughing accompanied by phlegm progresses, the bronchial mucosa becomes swollen and breathing becomes rough. Therefore, active drug treatment is required when sputum cough and shortness of breath appear.
⑥ Cystitis cold
The influx of cold viruses is done through the skin and mucous membranes of our body. As one of the inflows through the mucous membrane, it enters the bladder through the urethra and causes a cold. There are no systemic symptoms such as fever and chills, but frequent urination, pain when urinating, a sense of urgency to urinate, etc., and a faint slight fever appear. There is no big difference from a common cold, but cystitis cold is not recognized as a cold, so treatment is often neglected and converted into a chronic condition. Therefore, if you have frequent acute cystitis, you should suspect that this may be a cold.