Sluggish cold treatment. A cold does not go away for a long time: what to do and how to treat a protracted illness

Causes

According to immunologists, the dynamics of the course of the disease is largely determined by the body's resistance to viral pathogens. Often, ARVI is provoked by several types of infectious agents, which contributes to a more severe and protracted course of the disease.

As a rule, a sluggish cold occurs due to damage to the respiratory system by mycoplasma and chlamydia, which can be transmitted not only sexually, but also by airborne droplets.

A lingering cold can also be triggered by factors such as:

• bad habits;
• malnutrition;
• transfer of the disease "on the legs";
• increased dryness of the air in the room;
• non-observance of the wakefulness and sleep regime;
• psycho-emotional exhaustion;
• secondary immunodeficiency;
• unsanitary living conditions.

Before starting the treatment of a sluggish disease, it is worth seeking help from a specialist. Appropriate therapy can be prescribed only after virological examination and accurate clarification of the etiology of the disease.

Possible complications

The word "cold" is rarely associated with serious postinfluenza complications. However, a sluggish disease in most cases is accompanied by the occurrence of secondary diseases. Some of them become chronic, and some provoke serious systemic failures. The most common complications after ARVI include:

• acute otitis media;
• acute bronchitis;
• acute sinusitis;
• pneumonia;
• myocarditis;
• meningoencephalitis.

Especially dangerous complications are those that affect the brain and heart. Untimely access to a doctor in such cases can lead to death. That is why if a cold lasts more than 7 days, you should definitely consult with a specialist.

Anti-cold drugs

Many pharmacological agents are used to destroy pathogens inside the mucous membranes of the ENT organs. However, not all of them have a sufficient spectrum of action to eliminate several strains of viruses at once. If the cold persists, what should I do? The most effective cough medicines in demand include:

• "Imupret" is an immunomodulator of plant origin, which contains at least 7 extracts of medicinal herbs. It has antiphlogistic, decongestant, immunostimulating and antiviral effects. The medicine enhances phagocytosis and cell repair during the development of infection;
• Tonsipret is a homeopathic remedy that contains herbal ingredients such as American lakonos extract, paprika and guaiac wood. It has a pronounced analgesic and antiviral effect. Can be used to treat acute and chronic diseasessuch as pharyngitis, laryngitis and purulent inflammation of the tonsils;
• Sinupret is an anti-inflammatory agent with a wound healing effect. Relieves inflammation from the paranasal sinuses, which prevents the development of sinusitis. It is used in antiviral therapy to eliminate diseases of the airways, accompanied by overproduction of viscous mucus in the bronchi, trachea, nasopharynx, etc.

Strengthening immunity

How to treat a prolonged cold? To eliminate unpleasant symptoms and suppress viruses of various strains, experts advise using immunostimulating medicines. They will contribute to an increase in the reactivity of the body and its resistance to ARVI pathogens. In the short term, synthetic and herbal preparations can be used to enhance the immune defense. The most effective of them are:

• "Esberitox" is a plant-based preparation, which contains echinacea extract, thuja leaves and baptisia dye. Promotes an increase in specific and nonspecific immunity, which helps the body to eliminate not only viral, but also bacterial pathogens of a sluggish cold;
• "Neovir" is a synthetic drug related to the number of interferon inducers. It has a pronounced immunostimulating, antiphlogistic and antitumor effect. Indirectly activates cytotoxic lymphocytes, macrophages and NK-killers, which contribute to the destruction of viral pathogens of ARVI, in particular chlamydia;
• "Viferon" is a complex drug that contains recombinant interferon. Solution for injection has antiproliferative, decongestant and immunostimulating effects. Increases the phagocytic activity of protective cells, in particular T-helpers and lymphocytes. Thanks to this, the drug prevents the multiplication of viruses, which contributes to recovery.

Alternative treatments

To speed up the process of eliminating a sluggish disease, you need to use an integrated approach.

How to cure a lingering cold? To do this, experts advise adhering to the following rules:

Conclusion

Prolonged colds in most cases are caused by exposure to several types of viruses. To eliminate pathogenic flora, immunostimulants are used and antiviral agents... The former increase the reactivity of the body, and the latter eliminate infectious agents.

It is very easy to catch a virus, or a cold, in simple terms, in the offseason. According to statistics, a person suffers SARS up to three times a year.

In most cases, immunity does not fail - 3-4 days of bed rest, abundant hot drinks and simple medications are enough to get back on your feet.

But sometimes a cold and fever does not go away for a very long time - a person is sick for a week, a second, sometimes a whole month. Why does this happen and what needs to be done so that a cold finally goes away?

Prolonged cold - causes

There are many reasons why a cold persists for a long time, often several. Weakened immunity is the most common and basic explanation for why this happens. If it is normal, then with adequate treatment it will not be difficult to get rid of the disease. The following factors can reduce the body's defenses:

• Recently transferred infectious disease;
• Malnutrition, diet, abundant but unbalanced diet;
• Addiction to alcohol and cigarettes;
• Lack of sleep and overwork;
• Depression, nervous shakes;
• Poor environmental situation, climate change or weather conditions.

Sometimes a cold continues and does not go away for a week, or even a month due to an atypical pathogen or a group of pathogenic viruses. If there is only one pathogen, then it is easier and faster to treat the disease.

But to cope with nonspecific viruses, when there are several of them, is much more difficult. The cold may seem to recede, but at the slightest activity of the patient, it will immediately return. Sluggish diseases are usually observed if they are caused by chlamydia or mycoplasma.

This explanation of why it can last for several weeks was found not so long ago. Previously, it was not assumed that bacteria of this type, which usually cause genital infections, can be spread by airborne droplets too.

If the patient lives in poor social conditions, in an area with a critical ecological situation, in a room with dry air, this also disposes to a lingering cold. The wrong medication is another reason why colds don't go away. Or the patient himself did not want to treat the disease to the end with the prescribed medicines.

If those drugs were prescribed to which the pathogen has no sensitivity, the symptoms can be smoothed out, but the disease will not go away and will stretch. Often, patients do not want to do what the doctor has recommended to them:

1. Do not adhere to bed rest.
2. The dosage and medication schedule are violated.
3. Start to treat colds folk remedies instead of prescribed drugs.

It is not necessary to do this on purpose, sometimes a person is not allowed to work or finance the necessary treatment.

It must be said right away: a lingering cold can never be cured if you try to cope with it on your own and do not go to a doctor. Some desperate patients start recklessly taking strong antibiotics in the hope of clearing up the infection. But this is fundamentally a misconception. The causative agents of ARVI are not sensitive to any antibiotics.

That is why, first of all, the doctor will prescribe a full examination and send the patient for tests - to start effective treatment, you need to identify the causative agent of the infection. Antibiotics can only further harm an already suppressed immune system.

It often turns out that ARVI becomes chronic due to concomitant infectious diseases or allergies. Both pathologies need to be treated, but they can be detected and diagnosed again only with the help of high-quality diagnostics and analyzes.

You need to treat a lingering cold according to the following scheme:

• Restore and maintain immunity. To do this, you need to take multivitamin complexes, courses of admission are carried out 1-2 times a year, some can be taken constantly. Vitamins of group B and D activate the immune system, therefore they are required in the composition of vitamin preparations. Nutrition also plays a role, the diet should contain fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meat and fish, but it is impossible to get the required amount of vitamins from the products alone, you cannot do without additives;
• Get enough sleep. Lack of sleep is unacceptable with a lingering cold. It is necessary to postpone all affairs and fully rest at night so that the body has time to recover. Otherwise, he will not be able to fight the infection at full strength. A healthy adult should rest at least 7 hours a day, a patient needs two hours more. Before going to bed, the bedroom needs to be ventilated so that the air in the room is cool;
• Drink plenty of fluids. For any cold, no matter how long it lasts, you need to drink plenty of fluids. At a temperature, water will prevent dehydration of the body, and in case of a viral infection, it will liquefy a thick secretion in the bronchi. If a person drinks a lot of fluids, he sweats more, pathogenic microorganisms are excreted along with sweat and urine faster. But it should not be coffee and packaged juice, but pure water, herbal teas and decoctions, fruit drinks from berries;
• Maintaining hygiene is very important. It is very important to wash your hands with soap and water every time you return home from the street, but even while on sick leave, you need to do this several times a day, since viruses can settle on any surfaces and remain vital for several more hours. Touching the face with unwashed hands, the patient re-infects himself and delays the recovery.

Of course, taking medications should also be carried out - strictly in the dosage and according to the schedule indicated by the doctor.

A common cold that is not treated in time can lead to serious consequences. First of all, those chronic diseases that the patient already had will be exacerbated. The most serious complications are brain damage - meningoencephalitis, or heart muscle - myocarditis.

These pathologies can be fatal, but fortunately, they are rare today. More common complications of a lingering cold are:

1. Bronchitis. It manifests itself as a strong and persistent cough with a discharge of yellow-green sputum. If the patient has already had a history of chronic sinusitis or bronchitis, then ARVI of a long course will be the impetus for their exacerbation.
2. Otitis. At the same time, the pains in the ear are shooting, very strong, disturbing mainly at night and simply exhausting the person. If the eardrum breaks, pus may leak from the ear.
3. Sinusitis. At the same time, the sinuses become inflamed, the patient suffers from severe headaches, nasal congestion, often temperature, which can last up to 10 days.
4. Pneumonia or pneumonia. Symptoms of this pathology are paroxysmal cough with wheezing and wheezing in the chest, severe fever, shortness of breath. Pneumonia can only be treated in a hospital setting, previously the disease was considered fatal.

A banal cold, ignored at the initial stage, can ultimately lead to much more serious and temporary, and financial costs for treatment than it could be, and cause serious damage to the entire body.

When the warm summer and hot sun are replaced by the time of yellowed leaves and lingering rains, for many of our fellow citizens it usually brings with it problems in the form of colds. Elevated temperature, stuffy nose, sore throat and chills put the person to bed for several days. It is very unpleasant, but much more unpleasant when the symptoms of a cold do not leave the patient for weeks, or even months.

Why colds are lingering

There are several reasons why colds can pass in a sluggish form. According to doctors, the dynamics of the disease largely depends on the state of the patient's immunity. If the body's defenses are significantly weakened, then it is much more difficult for him to cope with a cold. Bad habits that have been transferred earlier can lead to a decrease in immunity. infectious diseases, sleep disturbance, malnutrition, stress and overwork. Even a long stay under the scorching rays of the sun can weaken the body's protective barrier.

Among the reasons leading to protracted viral infections, doctors also call the "specificity" of the pathogen. So, if the malaise is caused not by some one virus, but by their various combinations, then it is much more difficult for the body to cope with such an ailment. Often, colds caused by mycoplasma and chlamydia take on a sluggish form. Although, until recently, medicine did not know that such pathogens can be transmitted by airborne droplets.

Also, unfavorable environmental conditions, unsanitary conditions in the room and even too dry air in the apartment can lead to a protracted process.

How to treat a sluggish cold

Often cope on your own with prolonged colds a person is beyond the power and medical advice in this case cannot be avoided. As a rule, a specialist prescribes a virological examination for the patient. And only after it is possible to determine the causative agent of the disease, the doctor prescribes correct treatment.

Very often, trying to defeat the disease as quickly as possible, patients, at their discretion, begin to swallow handfuls of antibiotics, antipyretic and immunomodulatory agents. However, such treatment in most cases only aggravates the situation.

What is the danger of a sluggish long cold

Despite the fact that a sluggish cold often goes away in a slightly "erased" form, its consequences are quite severe. Inflammation of the paranasal sinuses, pneumonia and bronchitis, exacerbation of chronic diseases of various organs - this is not a complete list of complications in sluggish infections. Therefore, if the symptoms of a viral infection persist within five days, you should not hesitate to visit a doctor.

Visitor question:

For more than two weeks the whole family has been suffering from a cold: we wake up with a sore throat, a sore throat in the daytime, a period of severe runny nose and nasal congestion have passed, someone's temperature rises a couple of times to 37.6. But there is nothing so urgent, and weak remedies (antigrippin, throat pills, gargling, medicinal herbs) do not help and do not cure - they only temporarily relieve symptoms.
The whole family decided to sweat a lot in order to expel the infection from the body, drank hot linden broth with honey, sweat be healthy - but there’s no point. The disease continues. Explicit ARI or ARVI. Sometimes it fades, and suddenly it starts to bother you again. How to stop such a sluggish process of catching a cold? I do not know what to do? Rely on immunity?
I'm already thinking about antibiotics.

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In the off-season, no one is safe from catching the common cold. According to statistics, each person suffers this disease up to three times during the year. Usually we need to lie down at home for several days, taking the simplest preparations for getting up. In some cases, a lingering cold appears without a fever, the causes of which are unknown to many.

Why is such a cold dangerous?

Without timely treatment, a common cold can last for 2 weeks or more. This is dangerously unpleasant consequences, including an exacerbation of chronic diseases that the patient already had. The most common complications that are dangerous for a prolonged cold are:

• Bronchitis. It occurs against the background of a strong and long-lasting cough with sputum discharge. If a person has already had bronchitis or sinusitis in a chronic form, prolonged ARVI will contribute to an exacerbation.
• Otitis. Shooting and severe pain in the ear sometimes occur against the background of a cold that does not go away for more than 6-7 days. Soreness usually manifests itself at night and greatly exhausting the person.
• Pneumonia. The so-called pneumonia is accompanied by a paroxysmal cough with wheezing, severe shortness of breath and even fever.

These are just some of the illnesses that a cold that lasts 5 days or more leads to.

What should be the therapy?

When a cold lasts a long time, but there is no temperature, then you are doing something wrong. Probably, it was necessary at the very beginning of the disease to take emergency measures and, and you lost time. Consult a doctor, he will refer you for examination and tests that will help determine the causative agent of the infection.

What to do if the cold lasts longer? Start by restoring your immune defenses and try to maintain them. Take a multivitamin up to twice a year. Particularly useful are ascorbic acid, vitamins of group B and D. They activate the immune defense, thanks to which the healing process is accelerated. The correct diet plays an important role. It should include vegetables with fruits, fish and lean meats.

Try to get enough sleep. Lack of sleep is extremely unacceptable, otherwise pills for lingering colds simply will not work with the proper effectiveness. Put everything aside and get a good night's rest to help your body regenerate. Healthy adults are advised to sleep more than 7 hours a day, while sick adults need 2 hours more. In addition, good sleep ensures the production of hormone in the body for the hormone and why patients need it so much, read in a separate article.

Drink plenty of fluids, especially if your cold lasts 2 weeks and you don't know what to do. Water prevents dehydration of your body and softens thick bronchial secretions if it develops viral infection... When a large amount of liquid is consumed, the patient sweats more actively, and pathogenic microorganisms begin to be excreted in the urine and sweat.

What drugs should I use?

Let's find out how to treat a prolonged cold without fever or if it is increased. Note that not all medications equally effective, but among the most effective and proven are:

• Imupret. This herbal immunomodulator contains several extracts of herbal ingredients. The drug has decongestant, antiphlogistic, antiviral and immunostimulating effects. The drug enhances phagocytosis and cell repair against the background of the development of a lingering cold.
• Tonsipret. This homeopathic remedy is based on herbal ingredients, including red pepper, American laconos and guaiac wood. The tool has a powerful antiviral and analgesic effect. Tonsipret can be used not only as a medicine for lingering colds in adults, but also to eliminate chronic and acute diseases: laryngitis, pharyngitis, purulent inflammation of the tonsils.
• Sinupret. Anti-inflammatory drug with a good wound healing effect. it relieves inflammation in the paranasal sinuses, preventing the development of sinusitis. Use this remedy to treat a cold that does not go away for 2 weeks or longer.

Are antibiotics effective?

Do antibiotics help with prolonged colds and should they be taken at all? The use of these drugs does not guarantee victory over the virus, but you can finally undermine the immune system. In some cases, when people do not know how to treat a prolonged cold, they start taking antibiotics without consulting a doctor. This is a big mistake, since it is against the background of these drugs that the healing process is greatly delayed.

You shouldn't shoot the sparrows with a cannon. Instead of recklessly taking strong antibiotics, go to your doctor and get the necessary tests. They will help to clarify the picture of the course of the disease, and you can choose the right medicine for a lingering cold.