Entry bubble Is It a Cold or the Flu?

By: Joanne | September 15, 2009 | Category: Health

a mid adult man sneezing into tissue

Last night I hardly slept because my little one is sick. She was snuffling and snorting, tossing and turning, moaning and groaning and it certainly didn’t help that her darn unicorn was poking its horn into my side.

Ah, the joys of parenthood. My kids are just starting their third week of school and you know what that means – it’s time to catch a cold. It never fails. Send them to the germ factory, I mean elementary school, for a week or so and they’re bound to come home sniffling and coughing.

This year everyone’s on edge about the swine flu, so it’s more important than ever to know what we’re dealing with, and what to do when we get sick. So how do you know if it’s a cold or the flu?

The truth is, it can be hard to tell because the symptoms are so similar. Both commonly cause a runny nose, sore throat, sneezing and coughing, but the flu is generally worse and usually causes exhaustion, high fever and body aches. It can also lead to complications and can be so serious that it leads to thousands and thousands of hospitalizations and deaths each year.

The best we can do is try to prevent colds and flu, take care of ourselves when we do get sick, and seek medical advice when we need it.

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Entry bubble Winter Colds and Flu

By: Joanne | November 18, 2008 | Category: Health

a mid adult man sneezing into tissue

My nose is running, my ears are clogged and I’m coughing. Ah yes, the beginning of another cold and flu season is upon us. Every other week my daughter brings home a new and exciting virus from the germ factory (that’s how I like to refer to the elementary school at this time of year). Bailey brings home the cold and is sick for a few days, then her little sister picks it up and she’s sick for a few days and it seems like my husband and I are constantly battling a virus. Sometimes we get it and sometimes we don’t. Does this sound like your house? I suppose we’re not alone.

It's important to know the difference between colds and flu and try to prevent colds and flu by following the advice of the experts. I eat really well, exercise, drink plenty of fluids and even take a multi-vitamin regularly, just to be sure I’m getting the nutrients I need. I try to get enough rest, but with a full time job and two little kids, sometimes I have trouble getting the rest I need. I’m even an almost compulsive hand washer, and still, I get sick.

So what do I do? I stay warm, I drink plenty of fluids. I especially like nice, warm cups of tea. Green tea, white tea, red tea, herbal teas with honey and lemon are soothing and I drink tea all day long. Our old family remedy for, well anything, was whiskey with honey and lemon, but I don’t find that to be a very good prescription on a work day. I’ll stick with my tea and hope that one of you has a comforting cold remedy for me to try.

| View Comments [6] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: cold   flu   health   illness   joanne   virus  

 

Entry bubble New Label Warnings on Over-the-Counter Children's Medicines

By: Stephanie | November 17, 2008 | Category: Health

A mom giving her baby medicine with a dropperThey are the doctor's words that send chills up a parent's spine.

"Discontinue giving your baby that medicine immediately!"

A routine call to my baby's doctor last week left me more concerned than I was before I called about his lingering cold. Apparently the over-the-counter antihistamine that the pediatrician had prescribed for him was no longer recommended for babies.

The panic I felt was too similar to last year's discovery that my infant son's baby bottles contained the potentially harmful chemical, bisphenol A. And the shock I had several months later when over-the-counter infant cough medicines (including the one prescribed for my little guy) were taken off the market because they were potentially harmful.

I delved into the Internet to learn what I could about the most recent change in the minimum age for certain medications. I found that it was the latest development during an ongoing study by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of over-the-counter children's cough and cold medicine, an annual $2 billion industry.

 

In January, FDA issued a nationwide Public Health Advisory recommending that these products not be used in children under the age of two because of the risk of serious and potentially life-threatening side effects.

Now, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (the nonprofit for over-the-counter medicine companies) has announced that its members are voluntarily modifying their cough and cold medicine labels to state "do not use" in children under four years of age—a move that FDA supports. The companies are also introducing new child-resistant packaging and new measuring devices for the products.

The labels will change in the coming months, says FDA, while the medicines' availability will not be affected.

You can see a list of the products that will sport the new warning labels. You might also be interested in FDA's tips for giving over-the-counter cough and cold medicine to children, and information about giving nonprescription medicine to children in general.

You can also subscribe to FDA's e-mail lists. I signed up for its press releases and consumer health information to hopefully help me know sooner if there's a change in an over-the-counter children's medicine that my little guy's taking.

Have you been affected by a recall or relabeling of a children's medicine?

| View Comments [6] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: children   cold   cough   drug   label   medicine   nonprescription   over the counter   stephanie   warning  

 

Entry bubble Laryngitis: Say What?

By: Nancy | January 17, 2008 | Category: Health

mime covering his mouthWell, with the exception of Sam so far, we seem to be on a health kick this week at Gov Gab headquarters, where I find myself at a loss for words. And as the Gov Gab team can tell you, that's a rare thing.

I'm speechless because I got an upper respiratory infection last week that left me with a spectacular case of laryngitis.

"Call your doctor!" every concerned and exasperated friend here at the office is urging. Call my doctor? Sure, I'll tap Morse code into the mouthpiece of the phone. :) Ok, I'll make an appointment if it doesn't get better in a couple more days. I promise. In the meantime, I'm doing a little medical research on USA.gov.

Laryngitis is an inflammation of your larynx (aka your voice box or the "vocal fold" ) and your vocal cords. It's usually associated with straining your voice from overuse--like too much talking, singing or screaming for your favorite sports team; from inhaling irritants like smoke or other fumes or from a cold or the flu.

MedLine Plus from the National Institutes of Health has a great section on laryngitis. It says to contact your health care provider if you have trouble breathing or swallowing or if you've been dealing with the hoarseness for two weeks or more. I'm just at the one week mark, am eating everything in sight and I'm breathing fine.

Since most cases of laryngitis associated with a cold are viral and not bacterial, antibiotics won't help. What does help is resting your voice, drinking lots of water and soothing things like tea and honey, and using a humidifier to keep the air you're breathing moist. Good timing. The humidifier we ordered for the office I share with some of my fellow Gov Gabbers arrived last week. Our office was pretty dry, so thanks to the humidifier, we're all enjoying being able to breathe better and not having dry skin.

Sure, laryngitis is inconvenient. I'm having to rely a lot more on email and instant messenger to communicate with my coworkers. But it's actually kind of fun too. My lack of a voice has become something of a behavioral science experiment. My hearing is as good as ever, but most people are responding to my voicelessness by either acting out what they want to tell me or by whispering back to me. Have I mentioned that my coworkers are adorable and that I love them? They are, and I do. And a couple have said that, after this week of laryngitis, my miming skills are not half bad.

So now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go pull an invisible rope or something.

| View Comments [7] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: cold   doctor   laryngitis   medline   nancy