The common cold. Ugh. Even typing the words leaves me feeling a bit drained. When my son got home from school last Friday, he gave me a hug and said, "Mom, you feel warm." Sure enough ... a few hours later, I was spiking a 101.6 temperature. The next two days, I was practically glued to the couch and was starting to feel like a real slug. And it made me wonder: How much of a damper does the common cold really have to put on your fitness routine?

Fitness expert Chris Freytag recommends doing the "neck check." If your symptoms are limited to the neck or above -- such as a stuffy nose or a sore throat -- you're likely OK to exercise. In fact, gentle exercise may help unclog your sinuses a bit, and the circulation boost will help fight the fatigue symptoms. If you're having symptoms below the neck -- such as chills or stomach problems -- you should probably stick to rest.

Knowing how I felt this weekend, I wasn't about to do anything strenuous. But today, when I was feeling a bit better but still far from 100 percent, I got up and followed a portion of my typical fitness routine. I wasn't able to finish it, but even doing a bit of it made me feel better. If a cold has you down, listen to your body -- if it's calling for rest, give it what it needs. But don't forgo fitness entirely -- even a little bit can make you feel more like your healthy self.

Source

Children may need medication for a variety of reasons -- high fevers, for one. Most of the time, their complaints can be handled through simple home remedies, a little rest, or a bandage and a kiss. But one mom wants to take the TLC a step further. She's created a placebo pill that parents can give to children to make them believe they're feeling better.

The pill is known as Obecalp (placebo spelled backward) and is a simple sugar pill that has the look and feel of medication. Jennifer Buettner, the mom behind Obecalp, created the pill for parents who want to help their kids feel better, but don't want to give them unnecessary medications.

The product is not without critics: "As a parent of three now grown children," said Franklin G. Miller, bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health, "I can't think of a single instance where I'd want to give a placebo." My concern is that by giving a placebo, parents might be teaching children that reaching for a pill bottle is the only way to feel better. We recently learned that over half of Americans are taking prescription drugs, do we really want to encourage the idea that health comes from a bottle?

Buettner says she expected controversy and is prepared for it. Would you ever use a placebo on your child?

Source

Pain Killers are a staple in almost every person's medicine cabinet. Aches or pains? We pop a pill with nary a thought towards what we're putting into our body. But it's important to know what you're putting into your body. Here's a quick run-down of the popular pain killers on the market:

• Aspirin can reduce fever, pain and swelling, and it's also been proven to help prevent blood clots, strokes and heart attacks. However, it's not right for everyone--it can cause Reyes syndrome in teenagers--so talk to your doctor first.
  
• Ibuprofen can reduce fever and mild pains, but in some cases, it has been shown to cause stroke and heart trouble. It's also hard on the stomach.
  
• Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, is good for relieving mild fever and pain, but be sure to adhere to the dosage guidelines, especially when giving it to children.
  

Want more info on pain meds? Click here.

Source

That nasty flu bug that's been circulating around the nation hit our town a week or so ago, and my two-year-old caught it. When my husband handed her to me in the middle of the night, I could tell she was hot. It wasn't until the thermometer started beeping an alarm and showed 104.5 that I realized just how high her fever was.

Taking a young child's temperature is tricky. As unpleasant as it sounds, getting an accurate reading on kids under two or three is easiest with a rectal thermometer. But once they get older, there are literally dozens of models of thermometers to choose from. I've used an ear thermometer, but couldn't get an accurate reading, and now I use a temporal artery thermometer. It works, but it's finicky. The night my daughter came down with the flu, I wrapped her in a blanket and took her out into the cool air to work her fever down until the medication took affect. After that, I couldn't get an accurate reading because her skin was cool, but I knew her fever was still high.

It's times like these that I look forward to the day when I can just stick a thermometer under their tongues and get an answer. What do you use to check your young child's temperature?

Source

Nasty cough, three days of high temperatures, lethargy, refusing to eat -- I swore that the virus causing my two-year-old to suffer last week was the flu. But I had gotten her a flu shot back in October. What gives?

The CDC recently announced that there's a variation of the flu circulating this season that isn't covered by this year's flu vaccine. When vaccines are created, they include the top three most likely viruses to be spread. This year, a fourth bug is circulating that wasn't included in the vaccine. Is that bug the cause of our current woes? I have no idea, and since she's recovering nicely, whatever it was, I'm just glad that it's on its way out.

Does this mean that you shouldn't get a flu shot? Not at all. In fact, if you haven't gotten yours this year, it's not too late. The vaccine will still fight the three targeted viruses, and may even help you fight off this other virus and lower your risk of complications if you do contract it. Read more about this bug and the 11 states that are especially involved here.

Source

You know the old saying: Starve a fever, feed a cold. Or is it Starve a cold, Feed a fever? Either way, it appears that neither is the right answer -- it's never a good idea to starve or overeat during any sort of illness, according to this article from WebMD. What's more, the saying has no scientific evidence to support it and is completely outdated.

That said, when you have a fever, it's a good idea to help your body cope by not filling it with too much food. You probably won't be hungry anyway, but make sure to eat something light to keep your strength up--soup or toast should do the trick. And be sure to get plenty of liquids, no matter what ails you.

Source

We've heard about zinc potentially helping a cold, but have you ever tried booze to stave off that icky feeling? That would be an interesting excuse for having a hotty toddy in the office! The idea here is that putting a little alcohol in your system would hopefully kill the germs responsible for a cold and get rid of the symptoms. But is there any truth to it?

Science tells us that drinking can dehydrate the body, even a little bit. Seeing as how you need fluids to fight a cold, this inebriation could actually increase the symptoms. So even if you feel a bit relieved after downing that Irish coffee, it's not killing the cold.

However, two big studies support the conclusion that a bit of alcohol could definitely help prevent a cold from taking root in the first place. Apparently a person's resistance to getting a cold is increased with moderate drinking. Carnegie Mellon found this out in 1993, but in 2002 researchers in Spain conducted an even larger study and found the same results. Having at least 8 glasses of red wine per week reduced the likelihood of getting a cold by upwards of 60 percent. They "suspect" it has something to do with antioxidants. But hey, that's just one more benefit to drinking wine!

Source

In an interesting report published today, it was found that a fever can temporarily relieve autistic kids of their condition by restoring nerve cell communications in regions of the brain affected by autism.

This sound like a study that will have quite a bit of follow-up. Understanding why a fever's effect on the brain causes for a momentary withdraw of autism symptoms could lead to future treatments for this condition that is either increasing in numbers or is increasing in diagnosis.

This quote says it all: "The results of this study are important because they show us that the autistic brain is plastic, or capable of altering current connections and forming new ones in response to different experiences or conditions."

Source

When the temperatures drop dramatically and the world is covered in a blanket of chilling snow, I often find myself waking up with a scratchy, sore throat. You too? Many people are quick to label a sore throat as strep throat or tonsillitis, but having had both when I was growing up, I know better. Strep throat is pretty severe -- here are the signs:

• It's difficult to swallow -- to the point where you avoid food because it hurts too much
• It's often accompanied by a headache
• It comes with a fever -- often a high one
• Your tonsils look red and raw, and have a white puss on them.
  
• Your lymph nodes are swollen.
  
• You don't have a cough, stuffy nose or other respiratory symptoms.
  

To find our more about strep throat, click here.

Source

I know, I'm springing this quiz on you with no prior warning. You had no time to prepare or study and for that, I apologize. But that's the whole point of this little test, to determine just how off-the-cuff savvy you are about a few health matters. Are you ready? Here goes.

True of False: The term "fat free" means a food contains no fat.

True or False: Feed a cold, starve a fever.

True of False: White sugar and brown sugar have the same nutritional value.

For the correct answers, click below.

Source

When I feeling the warning signs of a cold (sneezing, congestion, a sore throat) by first instinct is to head to the nearest pharmacy and spend a small fortune on over-the-counter medicines that will help me get a good rest during the night and also help me function well the next day. I usually try to avoid reaching for pills, but when sickness overcomes me, I become a big baby and will do anything to feel better. I suspect if I had kids, this would be my first reaction too, to given them OTC meds to make them feel better right away.

But using certain OTC meds isn't the best way to fight a cold, especially for kids, according to this article. What is? Here are some suggestions:

• Fight congestion with a humidifier and nasal drops
• Make sure the patient gets plenty of fluids
• Don't over-wrap a feverish baby -- they won't be able to cool down
• If necessary, give a small amount of acetominophin to babies over 3 months and small amount of Ibuprofen to babies over 6 months to relieve a high fever.
  

How do you handle your child's illness naturally?

Source

"It's the flu," is something we've all said when we're not feeling our best, whether it's the truth or not. The flu is a term that's been assigned to almost any sickness under the sun, but how do we know if we really have it or not? Here are some signs of the flu, courtesy of Everyday Health:

• Fever, often high
  
• Headache
• Extreme tiredness/fatigue
• Dry cough
• Sore throat
• Runny or stuffy nose
• Muscle aches
• Stomach symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
  

So next time you feel a bit achey from a rough day, don't be too quick to assume it's the flu -- if it was, your symptoms would probably be more severe.

Source

It's that time of year again -- where vibrantly green grass and leaves are replaces with yellow and brown ones, a sign of the impending winter season. And you know what winter means -- the season of colds. Of course, colds can happen year-round but I always find that during the changing of the seasons from summer to fall, I end up with a case of the sniffles. But I'm an allergy sufferer so I often wonder if it's my allergies acting up or if it's actually a cold. Do you have the same problem? If so, check out this handy questionnaire from AOL, which will help you determine what ails you.

Turns out my regular Autumn 'cold' might actually be a case of allergies acting up. What tends to separate cold from allergies is that colds are characterized by a sore throat, a low fever, swollen lymph nodes, yellowish nose discharge and an achy, weak, sick feeling -- if you don't have these symptoms, you might just have allergies. What about you? Cold or allergies?

Source

For some reason, of the most reliable indicators that I'm on the verge of getting sick is a sore throat. And for me, trouble swallowing is my body's way of telling me that I'm working too hard, not getting enough sleep, not eating well. But a sore throat can be an indication that there's more wrong with your body than fatigue. Mono-nucelosis, Coxsackie virus, flu and Strep throat are sometimes serious viral infections that are characterized by a sore throat.

So how do you know if you should treat your sore throat with rest or a trip to the doctor? Look for other symptoms, including a fever of 101 or greater, difficulty swallowing, excessive drooling in a child, swollen lymph nodes, pus in the throat, and rash.

For more information, check out this article.

Source

I've never had any luck with the ear thermometers that are so popular with parents of small children today, so when I saw a temporal thermometer on sale last winter, I snapped it up. But a recent study found that the easy-to-use, non-invasive thermometer may not be so accurate after all. When 16 subjects had their core temperature artificially raised, the thermometers -- which work by reading the temperature of the temporal artery using infrared sensors -- failed to work consistently.

There are several theories about why the thermometers didn't work. One is that the temporal artery isn't in the same place or at the same depth in every person, and makers of the temporal thermometer argue that the test is flawed because subjects had artificial "fevers."

Most moms know when their kids have a fever just by looking at them and touching their foreheads, but having an accurate picture of just how hot your child is important too.

Source