Students find remedies to cold and flu season
Cold weather and sniffles seem to go hand-in-hand this time of year. Doctor visits and medicine are common go-to remedies when cold and flu symptoms appear, but some students have different ways of treating illness.
Katelyn Johnson, a freshman in elementary education, likes to use raw honey and lemon mixed in warm water to relieve sore throat and congestion.
“I have done everything from Alka-Seltzers to DayQuil to everything, and I can’t get anything to break like I can with the lemon and honey,” Johnson said.
Honey and lemon is a popular remedy online and is suggested by many different websites, Johnson said. In addition, the all-natural ingredients are common kitchen supplies that can be used for more than temporary cough relief.
“The lemon and honey is an acquired taste,” Johnson said. “It’s kind of bland and not fantastic, but so is cough syrup, and so it weighs itself out. And also, you’re stuck on a six-hour regimen or four-hour regimen whereas you can go make yourself a cup of lemon and honey as long as you want, all day long if you want to.”
Johnson also said that lemon and honey had a soothing effect that helped relieve the stress that getting sick during a busy time brings.
“To me, it’s sort of like that calming feeling of getting a cup of hot cider or a cup of hot cocoa,” Johnson said.
Mary Bodily, a freshman in animal dairy veterinary science uses a different remedy.
“I drink Airborne with warm water. It helps soothe my throat,” Bodily said. “I’ve always heard that when you’re sick, you need to get lots of vitamin C, and this is an effective way to get a lot of it.”
Many students use a variety of brand name cough syrups, teas, decongestants and cough drops. They down soups, drink lots of water and get plenty of sleep.
Treatments like mineral, vitamin and herb supplements such as zinc, vitamin C, honey and lemon only relieve the symptoms instead of shortening the duration of a cold, said Dr. Jim Davis, director of the Health and Wellness Center.
“Home remedies don’t statistically make a difference in the course of the disease,” Davis said. “It’s important to understand that colds usually run their course and don’t need treatment.”
What does work to help recover from illness, Davis said, is good hand washing, rest, decongestants and good hydration, especially since Utah is a desert.
According to the website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the flu and the common cold are both respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses.
“In general, the flu is worse than the common cold, and symptoms such as fever, body aches, extreme tiredness and dry cough are more common and intense,” according to CDC.gov. “Colds are usually milder than the flu. People with colds are more likely to have a runny or stuffy nose.”
A lot of students come in immediately at the onset of cold or flu symptoms, because it’s frustrating and annoying to feel sick with so much going on, Davis said. Other students don’t want to come in right away, or don’t have time.
Most of the time when students come in to the wellness center with coughs or runny noses, the doctors treat for the symptoms, Davis said.
“After five, six, seven days, we start thinking about antibiotics because there’s a possibility of a viral infection,” he said.
Symptoms like fever, shortness of breath, headaches, coughs and any other symptoms that aren’t relieved by medicines or go away after a few days should be checked out by a doctor because they might mean something more serious, Davis said.
“Waiting it out means taking risks you shouldn’t take,” Davis said. “There’s no cost to visit the health center.”
— lormialor@gmail.com