Symptoms of a cold and fever both make the body feel uneasy. Surprisingly, these two diseases can get worse even though you’ve taken medication. Wait a minute. Before blaming drugs that don’t work, maybe some of your habits are the mastermind.
Let the pain just like that
Colds and fevers seem like trivial illnesses that are often ignored. Maybe you also tend to delay taking medication because you think the symptoms are not too severe.
Even so, the more you let your cold and fever symptoms get worse. Ignoring disease is the same as allowing viruses and germs to spread in the body. As a result, your immune system will decrease and the chances of transmission will increase.
The sooner you treat cold and fever symptoms, the sooner you can return to health. Over-the-counter pain relievers such as paracetamol and ibuprofen can help relieve symptoms.
Take antibiotics
Both colds and fevers are most often caused by viral infections. So if you have been taking antibiotics all this time, you are doing the wrong thing. Antibiotics are drugs to treat bacterial infections, not viruses. Taking antibiotics will only make the symptoms of colds and fever worse because the virus that causes it has not been eradicated.
Take high doses of vitamin C
Vitamin C can help strengthen the immune system and fight minor infections such as colds.
However, recent research notes that taking high doses of vitamin C is not proven to quickly relieve cold or fever symptoms. Consumption of high doses of vitamin C has the potential to cause diarrhea. In some cases, it can even increase the risk of iron poisoning.
Taking many drugs at once without a doctor’s prescription
Taking many drugs at once without a doctor’s advice does not speed up healing colds and fevers, but makes them worse. Because there will be a risk of interaction between drugs that might cancel the effect of each drug.
If you are taking decongestant medications containing pseudoephedrine, phenylephrine, or oxymetazoline, watch out for side effects that can worsen the disease.
Therefore, be sure to take cold and fever medicine only as directed by your doctor. Ask your doctor if this medicine can be taken at the same time as other medicines, especially if you have other co-morbidities.
Overuse of nasal spray
Nasal sprays containing saline can help relieve symptoms of colds and fevers. However, if it is too excessive, this treatment gives the opposite effect.
If you use a decongestant spray for at least three to four days, your nasal membranes will swell even more. So, use this drug only with a doctor’s prescription according to the recommended dosage.
Not drinking enough
Every time you are sick, your fluid needs increase. The reason is, the liquid is useful to help liquefy the mucus that is blocked in the nose so that trapped viruses can come out through the snot. The less you drink, the more inflamed your cold and fever symptoms will be.
In addition to water, you can meet your fluid needs by drinking diluted juice, hot tea, or soup broth which can help relieve cold and fever symptoms.
Lack of sleep
You need extra sleep when you have a cold and fever. Because sleep can help the body fight infections that make you sick, although it sounds cliché, this method can help speed up recovery from colds and fevers that you are experiencing.
A study shows that sleeping less than 7 hours each night can increase the risk of getting the flu by three times. If the symptoms of a cold and fever make you wake up frequently in the middle of the night, you can work around this by going to bed earlier or taking an adequate nap.
Smoking
If you have a cold or fever but continue to smoke, it’s best to stop immediately. Smoking in a healthy body condition can damage the lungs, especially if it is continued when you have a cold or fever.
When you smoke, the harmful substances in cigarettes will enter the body and slowly damage the lungs. As a result, the lung cells will be more difficult to fight infection so you will often cough. This also applies to those of you who are often exposed to secondhand smoke, which is called passive smoking. The impact will be the same as being an active smoker, you know.
Too stressed
Too much stress can reportedly be the reason why your cold or fever gets worse. This is because stress can affect the immune system by forcing it to work harder. The more stressed you are, the longer colds and fevers last in your body.