Cold and flu

10 Tips for Getting Through Your Day, Even With a Cough or Cold

You have a cold, maybe an annoying cough. But what if you can't call in sick and you have to be at work? These tips can help you make it through the day.

Drink. Sip water, juice, broths, and other clear liquids all day. Staying hydrated helps your immune system fight sickness. It can also help loosen mucus and replace fluids you lose from blowing your nose. Keep a healthy supply of drinks right at your desk.

However, avoid drinks such as coffee, caffeinated sodas, and energy drinks. When it’s quitting time, say "no" to hot toddies. Alcohol is dehydrating, too.

Eat ice chips. If your throat hurts, ice chips may help with soreness and pain. Bonus: They’ll also work to keep you hydrated.

Spray. Use a saline spray to help a stuffy nose. It helps congestion by loosening mucus and rinsing your sinuses.

Numb up. If a hacking cough is wearing you out, keep cough drops, throat spray, and over-the-counter cough suppressants at your desk. The first two can help numb and soothe a sore throat. A cough suppressant can keep that "need to cough" feeling away.

Relieve your pain. Over-the-counter acetaminophen, ibuprofen, or naproxen bring down fever and reduce inflammation to help with achiness.

Other over-the-counter cold remedies can be helpful, too. However, you should know that while they can make you feel a bit better, they won’t shorten how long you’re sick. Some cold medicines have pain relievers in them, too, so you could accidentally take more than you need. Read labels first and try not to use more than one medication at a time.

Avoid smoke. Smoking, secondhand smoke, and other not-so-fresh air can really bother your nose, throat, and lungs. Make it easier on yourself while you’re working to get better.

Still sick? Call your doctor. If you’ve been sick for seven days and you’re not getting better -- or if you’re getting worse -- it may be more than a cold. Your cold (usually caused by a virus) may have given way to a bacterial infection. Call your doctor to see if you need antibiotics to clear it up.

Be a loner. To avoid passing your germs to co-workers, avoid contact with others as best you can. Sneeze and cough inside the crook of your elbow -- not into your hands. Wash your hands often with soap and water and try to avoid shaking hands.

Rest. After work, go home and get a good meal -- try chicken soup. Then, get in bed! When you’re sick, your body needs rest and sleep. Give it what it needs to get better.

Vaporize. While you rest or sleep, run a clean humidifier or a cool-mist vaporizer in your room. It can ease stuffiness and help you breathe better.

Stay Healthy This Year: 6 Tips for Avoiding Cold and Flu

People who are exposed to cold and flu germs every day --doctors, paramedics, teachers -- know a thing or two about how to stay healthy when everyone around them is sick. Their suggestions can help you, too.

 

Get a flu shot. It's the No. 1 thing you can do to prevent flu.

Wash your hands -- a lot. No matter what line of work you’re in, if you come in contact with people who are contagious, you have to wash your hands over and over, says Alan Pocinki, MD. Pocinki practices internal medicine at the George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

“Wash your hands as much as you can stand, and then some more -- especially after wrapping up a visit with someone who’s sick,” says Pocinki.

It sounds so simple, but soap and water are the constant companions of doctors and nurses. To completely get rid of viruses from your skin, you need to scrub hard for 20 seconds or more. A good way to time yourself is to sing "Happy Birthday" twice while scrubbing the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails. It doesn't matter if the water's hot or cold -- the very act of scrubbing will physically remove the germs.

Reach for alcohol-based hand sanitizer. If you can’t get to soap and water, sanitizer can kill cold and flu germs.

Try to avoid getting close to people who are sick. For example, don't shake hands.

“Doctors tend to be very cautious about hand shaking,” says Terri Remy, MD, medical director of Medical Associates at Beauregard in Alexandria, Va. “Just explain, ‘To keep transmission of colds and flu down, I’m not shaking hands. But hello! Nice to meet you!’ They understand.”

Keep your surroundings clean. Arlington, Va., massage therapist Amanda Long asks clients to stay home if they feel bad. But to be safe, she sanitizes doorknobs and light switches between sessions. It's a practice she swears by.

“My hyper-vigilance has paid off,” says Long. “I was sick more often when I worked in an office, where people pawed into shared candy dishes and generally just mingled in a crowded space without much attention to germs. Now that I don't have sick days, I don't get paid if I don't work. And I know my job is to heal, not pass on a cold or the flu.”

Beth Geoghegan, a paramedic for 27 years in South Florida, says she starts her day by cleaning her work space with virus-and-germ-killing soaps.

“It may sound like overkill, but it’s not -- it’s awareness,” she says. “It’s a matter of looking at your environment and thinking: What could be contaminated? All it takes is a tiny droplet. What could have a droplet on it? And I know someone was in my ambulance for 12 hours before I got there -- both patients and other paramedics. It may already look clean, but it might not be.”

It’s also a matter of context. When Geoghegan gets home from a shift where nothing much happened, she launches into her normal activities. If it’s been a day filled with sick patients, she follows a different routine.

“If I saw 10 patients today, and eight had flu symptoms, I’m likely to take my uniform off the minute I get home, put it in the wash, and get right in the shower. Because you just never know,” she says.

Try to keep up a healthy lifestyle. It's important to look after your own health, says Ardis Dee Hoven, MD, an internal medicine and infectious disease specialist in Lexington, Ky., and president-elect of the American Medical Association.

“Do all the things we all should be doing on a daily basis anyway,” says Hoven. “Get adequate rest -- which people underestimate -- get good nutrition, don’t smoke, and keep your allergies controlled, because if they’re out of control, then your upper respiratory tree is already inflamed, which sets it up to more easily acquire a virus.”