How to Get Rid of a Cold Fast

Overview
Colds cost us money and time away from work and school. There's no vaccine that protects against colds, but there are ways to prevent colds. Once you have a cold, it may be possible to shorten it and make yourself more comfortable.

Significance
The common cold hits each of us an average of 3 to 6 times a year. Small children get more colds, and adults get fewer. Colds may account for as many as half of all so-called "acute" human disease. It's been estimated that Americans alone get 1 billion colds each year. Up to 50 percent of all lost work time can be blamed on colds, along with 80 percent of missed school days. What we call a "cold" can be caused by as many as 200 different viruses. About 50 percent of colds are caused by a family of viruses called rhinoviruses.

Time Frame
Once you've been exposed to a cold virus, you may begin to feel symptoms within 1 to 2 days. Just before or just after symptoms start, you begin to "shed" or spread the virus to others. The average, uncomplicated cold lasts 4 to 9 days.

Identification
Sneezing and a runny nose are the hallmarks of the common cold. Other symptoms sometimes include headache, sore throat, nasal stuffiness, and swollen sinuses. These can be symptoms of other, more serious illnesses, too, so it's important to understand some warning symptoms. Get help from a health care professional if you have cold symptoms accompanied by a high fever (worse than 102 degrees F) with or without sweating, achiness, chills and/or extreme tiredness. Colored phlegm (mucus) is another bad sign. Colds start getting better after a few days, so get checked out by a doctor or nurse if your symptoms last for more than 10 days and/or get worse during that time frame. Get medical help if your child with a cold has any of these symptoms or ear pain, long episodes of crying, breathing problems or vomiting. If in doubt, check it out.

Prevention/Solution
No vaccine exists that can protect against colds, because so many viruses can cause colds. We could probably avoid many, if not most colds if we could learn to keep our fingers away from our faces. Shake hands with someone who has a cold, and you may pick up virus particles from his hand. In fact, skin-to-skin transmission is a favorite way for cold viruses to jump between people. Once the virus is on your hands, rubbing your nose or eyes can lead to infection.
No one manages to avoid colds altogether. When you do get one, you want to reduce symptoms and limit the duration of the cold. Zinc supplements may help--or not. The evidence from clinical studies has been erratic during the past few years. One study suggested that zinc gluconate reduced the duration of cold symptoms but that zinc acetate did not; this study was peculiar because the scientists actually caused the colds in the study participants. In another study of natural colds, people receiving zinc did not have less severe symptoms or shorter colds than people who took a placebo. If you start zinc supplements, you'll need to take them at 2- to 4-hour intervals. Don't take them for more than 5 days, as longer use may induce a copper deficiency. Most experts recommend against giving zinc to children with colds, and they say that no one should use zinc nasal sprays, because they have caused some people to lose their sense of smell.

Echinacea is another compound with mixed results for treating colds. Some studies suggest no benefit, while others have shown up to a 30 percent reduction in the severity of symptoms and the duration of colds in people who use this supplement.

You can make yourself more comfortable by drinking lots of water or other fluids; warm ones, like tea, often make a sore throat more bearable. If necessary, try a warm-water-and-salt gargle. Throat sprays or drops may provide some temporary relief, too. Over-the-counter pain relievers that contain aspirin or acetaminophen may help you feel better, but don't give a child aspirin or an aspirin-containing cold reliever. Kids aged 3 to 12 who take aspirin during a viral infection are at risk for a rare complication called Reye's syndrome that affects the brain and liver. A decongestant or cough suppressant may also diminish cold symptoms for a few hours, but sometimes these medications cause dizziness or sleepiness. If you haven't taken one of these medications, give it a test run before you go to work while taking it, for example.

Misconceptions
There is no cure for a cold. Don't believe it if you hear it. Antibiotics don't make colds go away faster. Colds are caused by viruses, and antibiotics are active only against bacteria. If your cold lingers or gets worse, you may have gotten a bacterial infection on top of the cold. This is called bacterial sinusitis, this occurs in about 1 to 5 percent of colds, and antibiotic treatment is appropriate.