In the cold season, few people manage to avoid at least one episode of annoying cold. However, the colds are kept chain, it takes something more than symptomatic drugs and teas. A visit to the specialist doctor will clarify things.
If you cold two or three times a season is too much photo: Archive/Shutterstock
People with a good health usually manage to go through a cold episode. As is the season of respiratory disorders, few are the ones who have not faced such a problem, whether it is a simple virus, a flu, an infection with SARS-COV-2.
If we repeatedly become ill, two to three times in a season, or we can no longer get rid of cough, additional investigations are needed, says pneumologist Beatrice Mahler, within the “Marius Nasta” Institute.
There are two patterns that the doctors have found in the office, situations that cause patients to eventually request a medical consultation, even if the problem does not seem very serious.
“On the one hand we have the category of people who go through a cold, heal but remain with a residual cough, a cough that lasts two or three weeks, sometimes it can be extremely tiring, and they do not come to the doctor, but For cough that does not pass and becomes unpleasant, it also appears at night. And here it is very good that I arrive in the doctor’s office, because the cold was often the beginning of an asthma and the correct diagnosis and treatment helps to remit the symptomatology and to adequate behavior. “explains the pneumologist.
The connection between repeated colds and sleep
Also, the specialist eventually arrive, or should, and people who face two or three episodes of respiratory infections in a season. This fact should be an alarm signal, because, the doctor says, indicates an immunosuppression, that is, a reduction in the body’s ability to defend itself.
“Here I would say that in addition to a medical check -up that must be performed at least in the family doctor, a lifestyle evaluation is needed. Because in the anamnesis I had with patients with such problems who arrived in the office, you usually notice a person who works a lot, or has had the last months with a very high level of work, with stress. Very high, either they lost someone or had a problem at work, and under such conditions, when sleep is disturbed, there is a change in the level of hormones that help us sleep, level of Hormones that if it is low increase my respiratory reactivity and decrease the defense response to infections ”explains the doctor Beatrice Mahler. It is the scientifically proven connection between the low quality of sleep, which induces hormonal changes, and the lack of response of the body it attracts.
“Viruses and bacteria live around us all the time, we breathe air every minute, so the possibility of infections exist. The fact that we do not do illness all the time means that our body has the ability to respond to these pathogens we have around us and this is normal. When the frequency of infections increases, then we need to ask ourselves whether we have a sleep quality, adequate stress management or proper nutrition ”emphasizes the doctor.
Patients with chronic diseases more sensitive to infections in cold days
If we are in full health and we dress properly we will go over the temperatures much lower than the ones we have faced in the rest of the winter. People who have chronic disorders should take additional precautionary measures, because in their case the risk of being affected by very cold air is much higher.
The most exposed to risks are patients with cardio-vascular disorders, with respiratory and diabetes, because, explains the doctor, the defense mechanisms that the body has are diminished, and exposure to low temperatures makes these mechanisms even slower. , low temperature increasing the possibility of infecting the body with viruses and bacteria.
“Another factor that contributes to the triggering of an exacerbation of chronic diseases during this period is the level of pollution. Because usually when the ceiling is down, when the snow is covered by clouds, we have an increase in the level of pollutants. Most likely the wind does not blow and the click ceiling is low, we have a change in atmospheric pressure that makes the breath more difficult, and this change is not felt by a healthy man, but by a sick person is felt. A factor that contributes to increasing the level of pollutants is the heating we make in the house and which can also induce a risk of exacerbation. That is why I would have a tip for people with chronic diseases: when it is winter and the temperature is very low outside, it is very important not to breathe cold air and protect their airways so that the air does not go into the paths direct respiratory; If I warm up in the house with fire in stoves it would be good not to sleep in the room where the fire is in the stove and find a way to heat the house through the boiler, and they do not stand where the central is, because the level of pollutants is a lot The higher the sensitivity of the airways is increased, but not only of the airways, but also of the cardiovascular system ”warns the doctor.
Take their drugs on time and as they were prescribed is another advice for patients with chronic diseases, because if they face an infection will be able to overcome this episode than in case a decompensated disease.
The fastest can be complicated diseases such as chronic obstructive bronchopneumopathy (COPD), but also at risk are patients who are dependent on oxygen therapy and who may have changes in oxygen during this period, patients with heart failure, people who have imbalanced diabetes. . If patients leave the house these cold days, the recommendation is to protect their nose and mouth from cold air either with a mask, or with a scarf, a scarf, etc., but taking care to replace it. They will avoid, by protecting from very cold air, the production of bronchospasm (the muscles of the airways react to the cold, it becomes smaller and the weight in the breath occurs).
