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Cold Symptoms Blog

Related terms: Common Cold, Cold, Coryza

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Many Parents Give Kids Cold Medicines When They Shouldn't, Survey Finds

Posted 23 Apr 2013 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, April 23 – More than 40 percent of American parents give over-the-counter cough and cold medicines to kids under age 4 even though they're too young for such products, a new survey finds. In young children, these medicines can cause allergic reactions, increased or uneven heart rate, slow and shallow breathing, confusion or hallucinations, drowsiness or sleeplessness, convulsions, nausea and constipation. Since 2008, labels on cough and cold medicines have warned that they should not be given to children under age 4. The use of cough and cold medicines in children in that age group did not differ by parent gender, race/ethnicity or household income, according to the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. The survey included 498 parents of children aged 3 and under. Children can get five to 10 colds a year, so parents often turn ... Read more

Pernix Therapeutics Receives FDA Approval for Vituz

Posted 28 Feb 2013 by Drugs.com

THE WOODLANDS, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 28, 2013 - Pernix Therapeutics Holdings, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced that its subsidiary, Hawthorn Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a new drug application (NDA) for Vituz Oral Solution (hydrocodone bitartrate and chlorpheniramine maleate). Vituz is indicated for the relief of cough and symptoms associated with upper respiratory allergies or a common cold in adults 18 years of age and older. Cooper Collins, President and CEO of Pernix, said, “Vituz broadens our cough and cold product line and is our first NDA approved by the FDA, since we closed the acquisition of Hawthorn and Cypress at the end of December 2012. We look forward to the launch of this new treatment option for cough and cold symptoms, which is expected prior to the fall of this year.” Indication fo ... Read more

Related support groups: Cough, Cold Symptoms, Chlorpheniramine/Hydrocodone

Cold and Flu Sufferers Should Ease Back Into Fitness Routine

Posted 19 Feb 2013 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Feb. 19 – Although physical activity can help boost your immune system, people who are sick should tone down their workout or skip it altogether, experts advise. "Regular exercise is a great way to reduce stress and sleep better at night. This helps boost your immune system. However, vigorous exercise and extreme conditioning can have a negative impact on your health if you're sick," Joe Berg, a personal trainer and fitness specialist at Loyola Center for Health, said in a Loyola University news release. "When fighting a viral illness, it's best to keep your exercise session short and not as intense. If you have a fever or stomach bug it might be best to hold off," Berg added. For those recovering from an illness, it's best to ease back into a workout routine slowly. Berg recommends starting small with some light aerobics, such as walking and cycling at an easy pace as well as ... Read more

Related support groups: Influenza, Cold Symptoms

Blame Common Colds on Your Chromosome 'Caps?'

Posted 19 Feb 2013 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Feb. 19 – Some people seem to catch a cold every few weeks while others appear immune. Now a preliminary study suggests that the protective "caps" on your chromosomes could partly explain the mystery. The study, reported in the Feb. 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that healthy young adults were more prone to catching a cold when their immune system cells had relatively short telomeres. Telomeres are lengths of DNA that sit at the ends of your chromosomes. Think of them like the plastic caps at the ends of a shoelace: Telomeres help keep your chromosomes – which carry your genes – from fraying and sticking together. As people age, their telomeres gradually get shorter, and research has linked shorter telomere length to older adults' risks of developing and dying from infections, cancer and heart disease. "But there's been very little known ... Read more

Related support groups: Cold Symptoms

Doubling Up on Cold, Flu Remedies May Harm Liver

Posted 30 Jan 2013 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 30 – Taking too much acetaminophen, an active ingredient in many commonly used drugs for fever and pain relief, including Tylenol, can cause liver damage, experts at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warn. People suffering from a cold or the flu may be tempted to take a combination of medicines to treat several symptoms. Used correctly, acetaminophen can be safe and effective. More than 600 prescription and over-the-counter medications contain acetaminophen, however, and doubling up on these remedies can be dangerous, the FDA cautioned. Complicating matters, signs of an acetaminophen overdose may not become apparent for days. "If you're taking more than one medicine at a time, you may be putting yourself at risk for liver damage," Dr. Fathia Gibril, a supervisory medical officer at the FDA, said in an agency news release. Over-the-counter medications are used by 70 ... Read more

Health Tip: If You Have a Cold

Posted 11 Jan 2013 by Drugs.com

-- The common cold is caused by a virus, which means it shouldn't be treated with an antibiotic. But there are things you can do to feel better. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers these suggestions to help calm cold symptoms: Drink a lot of fluids. Get plenty of sleep. Run a cool mist vaporizer or humidifier. Don't smoke, and avoid secondhand smoke and air pollutants. Use an over-the-counter pain reliever. Take an over-the-counter symptom reliever, such as a decongestant or nasal spray. Always carefully read and follow package instructions. Read more

Related support groups: Cold Symptoms

Antibiotics Don't Ease Coughs in Kids With Common Cold: Study

Posted 25 Oct 2012 by Drugs.com

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 24 – Children with a cough associated with the common cold should not be given antibiotics, according to a new study. Although they are not effective in treating this type of cough, researchers in Italy said many children are prescribed antibiotics anyway. Antibiotics are also overprescribed to children in the United States, other experts have said. The findings were presented Monday at the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) annual meeting in Atlanta. "In our experience, antibiotics are often prescribed by the general practitioner to treat cough in children, many times to pacify parents," study lead author Dr. Francesco de Blasio, of the Clinic Center Private Hospital in Naples, Italy, said in an ACCP news release. "However, antibiotics show very little effectiveness at treating cough due to your average head cold." It's not hard to understand why this can ... Read more

Related support groups: Cough, Cold Symptoms

Vitamin D Won't Save You From Common Cold, Latest Study Says

Posted 2 Oct 2012 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Oct. 2 – The latest research on vitamin D supplementation has found that it won't help ward off the common cold in otherwise healthy adults who have normal vitamin D levels. "In the healthy adult population, vitamin D will not prevent or reduce the severity of common colds," said the study's lead author, Dr. David Murdoch, a professor and head of pathology at the University of Otago in Christchurch, New Zealand. "At present, no supplement has been shown to prevent colds," he added. "We need evidence from rigorous studies – like ours – before making claims about any nutritional supplement's potential to prevent colds." Results of the study are published in the Oct. 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Vitamin D helps keep the immune system functioning well, and several observational studies have suggested that people with higher levels of the vitamin ... Read more

That May Not Be a Cold, Could Be Fall Allergies

Posted 25 Sep 2012 by Drugs.com

TUESDAY, Sept. 25 – Many parents complain that as soon as school starts, their child inevitably catches a cold. But, while kids do swap their fair share of germs during the school day, not every runny nose stems from a cold – often, those sneezy symptoms are the result of fall allergies. "When school starts, most parents think a runny nose has to be a cold, but a lot of times it's really hay fever caused by ragweed," said Dr. Joseph Leija, an allergist at Loyola University Health System's Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Leija also conducts the official pollen counts for the Midwest. And, in the Midwest this year, he said, another allergen – mold – is an even bigger problem than it usually is. In fact, mold counts have been so high that air quality alerts have been issued. Normally, mold counts higher than 50,000 trigger air quality warnings, according to Leija. On Sept. 6 the ... Read more

Related support groups: Allergies, Cold Symptoms, Upper Respiratory Tract Infection

Vitamin D May Thwart Kids' Winter Colds

Posted 23 Aug 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, Aug. 23 – Taking vitamin D supplements may lower children's risk of respiratory infections, according to a new study. The study included nearly 250 schoolchildren in Mongolia with low blood levels of vitamin D during winter. Taking a daily vitamin D supplement reduced their risk of respiratory infection by half, the researchers said. People in Mongolia are known to be at high risk for vitamin D deficiency, especially during winter. The low levels of vitamin D among the Mongolian children in the study are relatively common in some groups of Americans, particularly black children who live in northern states, the researchers said. The children in the study were given 300 international units (IU) of vitamin D a day, which was higher than the recommended dose when the study began. The U.S. National Institute of Medicine now recommends a daily dose of 400 IU for children, while ... Read more

Exercise, Meditation Can Beat Back Cold, Flu, Study Finds

Posted 12 Jul 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, July 12 – New research suggests that regular exercise or meditation may be among the best ways to reduce acute respiratory infections. A small study of 149 active and sedentary adults aged 50 years and older compared the preventive effects of moderate exercise and mindful meditation on the severity of respiratory infections, such as cold and flu, during a full winter season in Wisconsin. The researchers found that those participants who started a daily exercise routine had fewer bouts of respiratory infections and missed fewer days of work. The investigators also found that those doing mindfulness meditation, which focuses on paying attention to your body and emotions, were more protected against illness. The study was published in the July/August issue of the Annals of Family Medicine. "The results are remarkable; we saw a 40 to 50 percent reduction in respiratory ... Read more

Related support groups: Cold Symptoms

Parenthood Seems to Protect Against Catching Colds: Study

Posted 6 Jul 2012 by Drugs.com

FRIDAY, July 6 – Parents are about half as likely to catch a cold as people without children, regardless of their preexisting immunity, a new study says. The researchers said that unknown "psychological or behavioral differences between parents and nonparents" might help explain their findings. "We found parenthood predicted a decreased probability of colds among healthy individuals exposed to a cold virus," study leader Rodlescia Sneed of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and co-authors reported. For the study, the researchers examined information on 795 adults from three previous studies. Volunteers in the studies were given nose drops either containing rhinovirus, which causes the common cold, or a flu virus. After being exposed to the virus, about one-third of participants developed a cold. The study found, however, that there was a 52 percent lower rate of colds among ... Read more

Related support groups: Cold Symptoms

American Kids Getting Fewer Prescription Drugs: Study

Posted 18 Jun 2012 by Drugs.com

MONDAY, June 18 – New research shows that the number of prescriptions written for children has dropped by 7 percent in recent years. Between 2002 and 2010, notable decreases occurred in antibiotic, cough/cold, allergy, pain and depression prescriptions, according to the study, which was conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. At the same time, there was a rise in the number of asthma, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and contraceptive prescriptions. "Approximately 263 million prescriptions were dispensed to the pediatric population in 2010 – 7 percent lower than the number of prescriptions dispensed in 2002," the study authors said, adding that the number of prescriptions written for children dropped by 2.4 million each year between 2002 and 2010. During that time, however, the number of prescriptions written for adults increased by 22 percent, according to ... Read more

Babies' Vulnerability to Colds Tied to Immune Response at Birth

Posted 24 May 2012 by Drugs.com

THURSDAY, May 24 – The immune response babies are born with affects their risk for colds in the first year of life, a new study finds. "Viral respiratory infections are common during childhood," first author Dr. Kaharu Sumino, an assistant professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said in a university news release. "Usually they are mild, but there's a wide range of responses – from regular cold symptoms to severe lung infections and even, in rare instances, death," she said. "We wanted to look at whether the innate immune response – the response to viruses that you're born with – has any effect on the risk of getting respiratory infections during the baby's first year." Sumino and colleagues analyzed umbilical cord blood samples taken in the delivery room from 82 babies and then tracked the babies for one year. All of the babies lived in a ... Read more

Related support groups: Cold Symptoms

Does Your Child Have Seasonal Allergies or a Cold?

Posted 14 May 2012 by Drugs.com

SATURDAY, May 12 – It can be difficult during the spring months for parents to determine whether their children have a cold or seasonal allergies, but an expert outlines how to tell the difference. "Runny, stuffy or itchy noses; sneezing; coughing; fatigue; and headaches can all be symptoms of both allergies and colds, but when parents pay close attention to minor details they will be able to tell the difference," Dr. Michelle Lierl, a pediatric allergist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, said in a hospital news release. "Children who have spring or fall allergies have much more itching of their noses; they often have fits of sneezing and usually rub their noses in an upward motion," she explained. "They also complain about an itchy, scratchy throat or itchy eyes, whereas with a cold, they don't." When people have allergies, their nasal discharge is usually clear and ... Read more

Related support groups: Allergies, Allergic Rhinitis, Cold Symptoms, Hay Fever

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