What to do if you catch a cold?

Written by Li Jian Wu
Pulmonology
Updated on May 29, 2025
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You should drink more water and rest more when you have a cold, and avoid staying up late. At the same time, adjust your attitude and properly understand the disease of the common cold; there is no need for too much mental or emotional pressure. You can measure your temperature twice a day and drink more ginger brown sugar water. Meanwhile, take chlorpheniramine maleate tablets to relieve symptoms such as runny nose and nasal congestion. If your temperature rises above 38°C, you can take medications like acetaminophen to reduce fever. (Medication should be taken under the guidance of a doctor.)

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Written by Hu Bai Yu
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What medicine to take for a cold and headache?

During a cold with headache, you can appropriately massage the temples to relieve the symptom of headache. If the headache is severe during a cold, then it is necessary to take some pain relief medication to alleviate the symptoms. Usually, you should pay attention to your diet, opting for light meals and avoiding spicy, greasy, cold, and stimulating foods. Also, it is important to keep the diet light and consume more fresh fruits, vegetables, or porridge to enhance your body's resistance and alleviate symptoms. It is advised that if the cold with headache is severe, and accompanied by fever, it might be a viral cold. You can take some antiviral medications coupled with cold relief drugs for treatment to alleviate the symptoms. During treatment, it is essential to actively cooperate with the doctors' treatment, avoid smoking and drinking, drink plenty of water, and rest adequately.

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Written by Wang Chun Mei
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How to treat a cold caused by air conditioning

Using air conditioning with excessively low temperatures can cause upper respiratory tract infections. Clinically, these patients are often seen in the hot summer months and may exhibit varying degrees of fever, nasal congestion, and runny nose, with some having yellowish nasal discharge. They may also experience sore throat, coughing, and coughing up yellow phlegm. For the treatment of such patients, it is often necessary to administer appropriate heat-clearing and detoxifying medicines. Treatment should be based on the patient's body temperature; if the temperature is excessively high, antipyretic medications should be administered promptly. If the body temperature is relatively low, not exceeding 38.5°C, physical cooling methods can be used along with patent medicines to clear heat and detoxify as symptomatic treatments. These can effectively alleviate the cold symptoms caused by air conditioning.

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Written by Zhang Ying Ying
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What will happen if you take medicine for wind-heat cold when you have a wind-cold cold?

The treatment principle for colds caused by wind-cold is to use pungent and warm herbs to expel the pathogen through sweating and to disperse wind-cold. The medications for wind-heat colds mainly focus on using pungent and cooling herbs to expel the pathogen, and the treatment principles for the two are completely opposite. If medications for wind-heat cold are taken for a wind-cold cold, it might lead to a worsening of the trapped cold, causing mild fever, more severe headache, and body aches, along with nasal congestion and a runny nose with clear discharge. At this point, it is necessary to stop using the medication for wind-heat colds and switch to medications for wind-cold colds, or, if the condition is severe, seek a face-to-face consultation with a doctor.

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Can you exercise when you have a cold?

After catching a cold, it is appropriate to engage in some mild exercise, such as walking or slow-paced walking. It is crucial not to partake in intense physical activities as they can lead to fatigue and a decrease in immunity, potentially worsening bacterial infections. Moreover, intense exercise can cause the sweat pores to expand, further aggravating cold symptoms. After a cold, the body tends to be weaker, so it is advisable to drink more ginger sugar water, rest adequately, and avoid spicy, greasy, and irritating foods. Drinking plenty of water is also important. If there are symptoms of fever, physical methods should be used to reduce the fever.

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Written by Tong Peng
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Can children take a bath when they have a cold?

Children with colds can take baths, but care should be strengthened during the bath to avoid catching cold, thus preventing the symptoms of the cold from worsening. Since a cold in children is an infectious disease, bathing can keep the child's skin clean and make the child feel comfortable. Appropriate water temperature is beneficial for promoting blood circulation in babies and speeding up metabolism, which is conducive to the recovery of the baby's condition. However, if warming is not promptly ensured during the bath, or if the water temperature is too low or too high, it can cause repeated or even worsened symptoms of the cold in babies. Therefore, parents must pay attention to some nursing details during the bath.