A definition of the common cold( medical name: coryza) seems pretty gratuitous. However, cold also refers to a sensation which can easily be a symptom. The running nose usually first produces a clear liquid, mucus mixed with water and perhaps a few other molecules. After two or three days, the fluid often becomes thick and yellowish, a sign that bacterial infection has followed the cold infection. From the outset, the running nose will have been accompanied by sneezing. Sore throat may actually precede the running nose. Headache is common, especially if the bacterial infection affect the sinuses.
If the infection spread, it can also cause earache and a cough which may be due to bronchitis or pneumonia. A person with a clod often has a slight fever and feels generally tired and unwell. Of course, as everyone knows. It is possible to have a cold without all of these signs and symptoms.
One can also have a “sub-clinical” cold characterized by mild sore throat and general malaise without the obvious symptoms like running nose, but these can precede a great many illnesses.
Universal, incurable given existing knowledge, and a damn nuisance. Cold seem to be more common in autumn and winter because people stay squeezed together in warm trains, offices and cinemas, with less incentive and less opportunity for some life in the open. Anyone who lives in city can expect to have three or four colds a year.
One of upwards of 30 different viruses, mostly of the rhinovirus family, but adenoviruses and other may also be the cause. They are carried in droplets of water sneezed out by sufferers and breathed in by the victims. Cold air, draughts and wet feet do not cause colds, as skiers and yachtsmen can testify, but they may be predisposing factors in the sense that a feeling of overwork or tiredness seems to make you more susceptible to a cold or any other infection.
Ayurveda has recognized five types of cold or Pratishyaya :
(1) Chronic cold, born out of the three Doshas.
(2) Born out of Vata.
(3) Born out of the vitiation of Pitta.
(4) Born out of Kapha.
(5) Born out of disorders of the blood.
In the case of a running nose, smoke from burning turmeric should be inhaled; it will encourage a copious discharge and would shortly provide relief.
Smoke from the root of Amaltas also provides quick relief.
Paste made of nutmeg ( Jaipahla) and cow milk together with 75mg of opium should be applied on the forehead and the nose.
In case the nose is blocked and the patient feels difficulty to eject the phlegm, a powder of equal parts of cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom and seeds of Khrishnajiraka should be sniffed to induce sneezing.
In chronic coryza, the Ayurveda remedies to be taken are :-
Madhuyasthyadi Quath, - 50ml.
(thrice daily.)
Mahalaxmi Vilas - 120mg.
(To be taken with powder
of Mulethi, honey and ghee)
Chitrak Hiratiki( to be taken - 10gm.
in the morning and last thing at
night with warm cow’s milk.
Vyoshadya Churna( To be taken - 3gm.
Twice with warm after meals)
Six gm. of garlic and an equal quantity of gur pounded together may be given at bed time.
In a coryza of recent origin, the standard preparation in Ayurveda is the Laxmivilas Churna 120mg. Shring Bhasma (clax of the horn) 120mg and Narsar 240mg administered thrice in the day with warm water.
Vyoshadi Vati should be sucked as a lozenge thrice to four times a day. Decoction of bran should be taken at bed time in a dose of 50ml.
A person suffering from cold should encouraged to take vegetable, soups with a bitter or sour taste, garlic in moderate quantities and warm water.
