06-09-2022, Thursday, Heavy rain in the morning
I rarely get sick and being sick usually means I caught a bad cold which is very serious. I remember in the past the lonely suffering experience of a bad cold for a few days always made me very sad and sometimes even depressed. My daughter explained: “Your sadness is related to the fact that you don’t often get sick and you have a weak tolerance for the feeling of being sick.” I doubt it.
I caught a very bad cold last Thursday, I stayed in bed on Friday and Saturday. Lying in bed, I felt pain from every breath I took: my lungs seemed motionless and could not take into air and my nasal cavity seemed to be pricked by thousands of small needles when I inhaled the air. Lying in bed, I also felt aches everywhere: every muscle on my face was in pain, the muscles all over my body were also hurting, and I had a bad headache, like my head would blowup. Sadly, In the United States, there are no prescription drugs for common colds, but only over-the-counter medicine. I have always been very cautious about taking any non-prescribed medicine. Although I always experienced several symptoms during my common cold, I did not quite understand which kind of medicine can deal with which kind of my symptoms, so “drinking more water and sleeping more is the best way to deal with a cold” is what I follow, plus my own personal remedies: alcohol marinated garlic and honey marinated lemon.
On Friday, apart from my stuffy nose and rough voice, I felt my sore throat was the most uncomfortable. MK suggested: “Ibuprofen can relieve sore throat.” This was the first time I heard that ibuprofen can reduce throat pain caused by a common cold, so I took a 200mg ibuprofen and felt my throat didn’t bother me quickly. On Saturday, I chatted with my son and Zelene about my coughing. Zelene suggested: “Take some vitamin C and rest.” So I started to take vitamin C.
On Saturday night, my daughter asked me with concern: “How many pills of ibuprofen have you taken?”
I said: “I took four pills for my sore throat.”
My daughter said: “If you don’t have a fever but take ibuprofen, it may not help to cure your fever in the future.” I didn’t think of this, so I stopped taking ibuprofen after the fourth pill of 200mg ibuprofen for this common cold.
Later I asked MK: “I take ibuprofen for my sore throat. If I eat too much ibuprofen just for a sore throat, will ibuprofen not help to reduce my fever in the future?”
MK said, “I don’t think so. How much ibuprofen did you take?”
I said, “I took four of them for this cold.”
MK said: “Increasing the dose can more quickly alleviate the discomfort caused by a cold. Taking no more than 8 pills of ibuprofen 200mg a day is fine.” After a pause, MK added: “Considering that inflammation itself is one of the ways for the human immune system to deal with the virus, ibuprofen may weaken the function of the human immune system, but there seems to be no research data on this.”
I stay in bed on Friday and Saturday. I used a whole box of tissues every night because of my runny nose and coughing sputum. I always ate my personal remedies: alcohol marinated garlic and honey marinated lemon, in addition, I took vitamin C and over-the-counter cold medicine ibuprofen. I felt that I recovered fast this time, as on Sunday, the third day of my cold, I was able to walk around Walden Pond.
After living in the United States for more than 30 years, I finally get a sense of the over-the-counter cold medicine. Endless learning is a joyful and fulfill journey
prescribed vs over-counter medicine
I found online: “non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen are more effective than acetaminophen at relieving throat pain. Start at a low dose: 200 mg to 400 mg of ibuprofen every 6 to 8 hours. In studies, ibuprofen was found to reduce acute sore throat pain by 32% to 80% in as quickly as 2 to 4 hours.” “Acetaminophen, rather than ibuprofen, should be your first choice if you have a history of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), ulcers, or kidney disease. In studies, 1000 mg of acetaminophen reduced acute sore throat pain by approximately 50% after 3 hours. Remember: Try not to go above 4000 mg a day, as too much acetaminophen can be toxic to the liver.”
feel cold, catching cold, viruses
I always thought I got a common cold because I didn’t wear enough clothes. MK explained: “Regarding common cold, common cold is virus infection. So, the proliferation of virus in the body causes the common cold. Feeling cold is a factor that is associated with increased risk of getting a common cold.”
Knowing of my suffering from a common cold, my walking buddy for many years commented: “We are surrounded by viruses. When we are tired and weak, the viruses can easily take advantage of our weakness. Wearing clothes according to the weather is important.” MK then added: “Although we are surrounded by many viruses, only a portion of viruses are contagious. Another important key is exposure to a contagious virus. Of course, keeping warm is very important.” I found on WebMD: “There are more than 200 viruses that can give you a cold. The most common is rhinovirus, which accounts for 50%-80% of common colds. Antibiotics don’t work against viruses (only bacteria). Using them to treat a cold not only doesn’t help but they may cause side effects. Medically Reviewed by Minesh Khatri, MD on March 18, 2021.”