Symptoms for cold, flu or sinusitis are similar. Stuffy nose, sore throat, repeated sneezing and sometimes headaches are symptoms that indicate a respiratory virus. They are different diseases and, if not treated properly, can lead to more serious health problems.
If you have a cold, the symptoms are sore throat, repeated sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, headache and cough. These should pass within a maximum of 10 days, even without proper treatment.
The flu is a little more complicated, with chills, fatigue or body aches in addition to the cold symptoms. Fever is not present in all patients with influenza.
Symptoms of sinusitis are nasal congestion, pain and swelling around the nose, forehead, or eyes, yellowish or greenish discharge from the nose, bad breath, or tiredness. doctors OLR extension I argue that sinusitis shouldn’t always be associated with a headache.
“Rhino-sinusitis is not primarily a headache. It is an idea in the collective mind that any sinus infection must mean a headache. It does not. We are thinking of a fairly persistent stuffy nose, despite local treatments with decongestants Let’s think of secretions a little nastier, more purulent, possibly in one nostril, a sensation of pressure actually, at the level of the face.
We also think of the secretions that flow from the nose to the throat and end up in the throat and inflame the patient’s throat. And sometimes we can also think of sinusitis when we have some ear blockage on that side, because the Eustachian tube, the canal that connects the nose and the ear, also gets blocked and ear inflammation phenomena also occur. So these are the signs of sinusitis,” said Prof. Dr. Codruț Sarafoleanu, MD ORLfor Antenna3.
Complications of sinusitis
Most often, without antibiotic treatment, sinusitis disappears in a few days with a seawater saline rinse. ENT specialists advise us not to treat this problem at home, following the advice on the Internet, especially if the symptoms are severe. If sinusitis is not treated properly, infectious complications can occur in the eyes, brain or even the meninges.
“Many patients have started coming to the hospital with such complications. If we refer to viruses, we also have other post-viral complications, such as pharyngitis, pharyngo-tonsillitis, with sore throat, not just red throat.
So from a common cold, a common virus, to pneumonia, we have the whole procession of manifestations, of complications. Again, it is an important signal to go to the doctor or at least call the family doctor to get proper treatment, so as not to end up with the complications you mentioned. Of course, our request is for a maximum of 2-4 days of proper treatment done by us at home,” the otolaryngologist said, according to the source cited.
Natural remedies for cough and how we avoid colds in the cold season
Doctor Codruț Sarafoleanu offers us some tips to treat cough. According to him, action should be taken as soon as the first symptoms appear. The main thing is to try not to cough. Some patients may become hoarse due to excessive coughing. The vocal cords can also be irritated by the secretions we cough up. The specialist recommends going to the doctor if hoarseness persists for more than five days.
The best natural treatment for colds it is lemon, a fruit rich in vitamin C. In this period, herbal teas are also recommended, but not hot, but warm. Prof. Dr. Sarafoleanu says he has nothing against natural treatments, as long as they do not cause further harm to the patient.
In conclusion, the otolaryngologist gives us advice to prevent respiratory viruses. The best cure is prevention, but the flu vaccine will protect us in the cold season.
“Sure, maybe you’ll laugh, but at least in very crowded areas, wearing a mask is still a very useful recommendation.
Secondly, when talking about people who know they have symptoms of the virus, perhaps it is good to take a break from work or community meetings for a few days,” concluded Prof. Dr. Codruț Sarafoleanu.
