Respiratory diseases are among the three most common infectious diseases along with gastrointestinal tract pathologies and sexually transmitted infections. The nasal cavity is a hollow organ that is divided by a septum and lined with mucous membranes from the inside. It provides the amount of inhaled air and its quality.
The ciliated epithelium covering the walls of the nasal cavity retains dust, toxic substances inhaled by humans together with air, preventing their penetration into the lower respiratory tract and into the lungs. About 90% of all protective functions are performed in the nose by mucous membranes. They are vulnerable to the effects of pathogens, so inflammation of the nasal mucosa (runny nose) is the most common pathology in people of any age.
Runny nose (rhinitis) is not an independent disease, but a pathological syndrome that must be treated in the early stages. Otherwise, it can cause inflammation of the auditory canal, sinusitis, adenoiditis and other severe inflammatory processes. If rhinitis has not gone into a chronic form, it can be dealt with without medication at home using folk remedies. From the common cold, there are many alternative medicine drugs that we will introduce you to in this article.
How does a runny nose develop?
The disease develops in three stages:
- Initially, the manifestation of secretions is characterized as a mild runny nose. At this stage, clear mucus is secreted from the nasal passages. Timely initiated treatment using home remedies for the common cold gives good results.
- Then the infection enters the soft tissues of the nose, causing significant discharge of water substance. As a result, swelling of the mucous membrane occurs, breathing is difficult.
- At the third, final stage, the body begins to defeat the infection, the discharge becomes more dense due to the accumulation of white blood cells in them.
Causes of pathology
There are many reasons for the appearance of this pathology, but the most common of them are:
- trauma to the nasal cavity;
- the penetration of pathogenic bacteria;
- hypothermia of the body;
- circulatory disorders in the nose;
- irritation of the mucosa by gases or dust;
- allergic reactions.
You need to know that by curing a runny nose in the early stages with home remedies, you can avoid more serious diseases and complications.
Types of the common cold
Since there are many causes that cause inflammation and irritation of the nasal mucosa, several types of the common cold are also known. Doctors distinguish the following types of rhinitis:
- Catarrhal. It is associated with many infectious diseases, including influenza, measles, scarlet fever.
- Chronic. Pathology develops with prolonged mechanical or thermal effects, deformations of the partitions, circulatory disorders.
- Neurovegetative. Runny nose occurs when exposed to the mucous membrane of dust, cold air, sharp aromas.
- Infectious. Pathology is characteristic of meningitis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, SARS, etc.
- Allergic. Runny nose occurs when exposed to allergens (dust, wool, pollen of flowers and herbs, etc.).
Rinse nose
Speaking of home, folk remedies for the common cold, you should start with the simplest but most effective procedure. To wash your nose you will need:
- A glass of warm water.
- Sea salt - 2/3 tablespoons (tea).
- The smallest syringe or syringe without a needle.
Dissolve the salt in water, you can add a few drops of iodine. Fill a syringe with a composition (syringe). Rinse them with one nostril, and then the second. It is advisable that the solution flow smoothly from one nostril to another. At first, this may not work, but gradually you can do it professionally.
The procedure should be performed 2-3 times a day. This simple remedy for the common cold at home quickly eliminates the symptoms of pathology. Two days are usually enough for a complete cure, and a runny nose in the initial stage completely disappears. This procedure can be carried out for children, only the amount of salt in this case is reduced to a third of a spoon.
Inhalation
This is an effective home remedy for the common cold and respiratory diseases. During the procedure, the used therapeutic substances dissolve into microscopic particles that settle on the mucous membranes. At home, inhalation is carried out using an inhaler or nebulizer. Such medical devices can operate using ultrasound or a compressor. They are able to spray drugs and therapeutic solutions with particles from 1 to 5 microns. But if there is no such device, you can use the old-fashioned way - to breathe over the steam, covered with a towel.
Many patients find an effective cure for a runny nose at home inhalation with 0.9% sodium chloride solution (saline). You can prepare a concentrated product yourself by dissolving a dessert spoon of table or sea salt in a glass of water. However, doctors recommend using ready-made formulations, since they are completely sterile, and the concentration of mineral salts in them meets the needs of the nasal mucous membranes. Use this home remedy for the common cold and nasal congestion should be three times a day. The procedure lasts from 5 to 8 minutes. If you observe a gentle regime, carry out the manipulation correctly, then you can cope with an unpleasant symptom of a cold in 3-4 days.
Thermal inhalation
Such home remedies for the common cold are more suitable for adults. During the procedure, hot liquids are used with the therapeutic components dissolved in them. The most common and effective are agents with natural essential oils: coniferous (juniper, larch), bergamot, tea tree or eucalyptus.
Before starting the procedure, especially if inhalation is carried out for the first time, a test for the absence of an allergic reaction should be done. To do this, a drop of oil is applied to the inside of the elbow bend for 30 minutes. If redness, irritation, or burning appears on the skin, the oil cannot be used to treat a runny nose, if the test shows a negative result, treatment can be started.
Dissolve 10 drops of oil in five liters of boiling water, bend over the container, cover your head with a bath towel and inhale the vapors for 10 minutes. Inhalations with oil have a moisturizing, bactericidal, decongestant effect, help strengthen the protective functions of the mucous membrane.
Rules for thermal inhalation
In order not to harm a sick person, you should know several rules for carrying out such procedures:
- Inhalation should not be carried out at elevated body temperature.
- Before inhalation, it is necessary to find out if the patient has signs of purulent inflammation, since with this form thermal procedures can cause increased secretion of pus.
- The steam should not be too hot, so before the procedure, leave the container open for 10 minutes so that the water cools slightly.
- Close your eyes during inhalation, so as not to irritate the conjunctiva of the eye and not burn the cornea.
You should know that for steam inhalation, decoctions of herbs and plants are successfully used: decoction of pine buds, oak bark, calendula, chamomile flowers. If your home medicine cabinet has an Asterisk balm, dilute 1-2 grams of the balm in a container of hot water and breathe it in pairs for 10-15 minutes. Relief occurs after one or two procedures. It is advisable to carry out 2-3 inhalations per day. The duration of treatment does not exceed 5 days.
Drops for the treatment of rhinitis
The choice of medications intended for the treatment of rhinitis in pharmacies is quite large, but many of them have contraindications, are not suitable for the treatment of certain categories of patients, for example, pregnant women and children, cause individual intolerance. In this regard, quite often used home remedies for the common cold and congestion. Drops for the nose are convenient to use, especially when unpleasant symptoms occur at night. Below we will present you the most effective remedies for the common cold. At home, many of them can be used to treat rhinitis in children older than one year.
Bay leaf and salt
Having a drying, bactericidal and disinfecting effect, bay leaf will eliminate swelling and relieve inflammation. Salt will restore fluid circulation and reduce discharge from the nasal cavity. Such a home remedy for the common cold for adults is prepared as follows:
- rinse with running water 10 leaves of laurel and place in an enameled pan;
- pour them with boiling water (150 ml) and put on a slow fire;
- add table salt (a teaspoon), mix and cook for a quarter of an hour;
- cool the broth and remove leaves from it.
Instill the drug 3-4 times a day in each nostril in three drops. Keep this home cold remedy for a maximum of four days at room temperature. Duration of treatment - until the symptoms disappear, but no more than three days.
Garlic and honey
If you do not know how to get rid of a cold with home remedies, we recommend that you pay attention to these drops. Natural antibiotics (phytoncides) contained in garlic can easily cope with bacterial rhinitis at an early stage. Honey will have an immunostimulating and anti-inflammatory effect, moisturize and soothe irritated mucous membranes, reduce itching and burning.
To prepare the medicinal composition, six cloves of garlic should be chopped in any way convenient for you and put in a glass container. Pour boiling water over the garlic mass (70 ml), cover and let it brew for an hour. Then add half a tablespoon (teaspoon) of honey and mix thoroughly. Drop the drops with a sterile pipette four times a day, one drop in each nasal passage. The duration of treatment is not more than five days. Store the medicine at a temperature not exceeding +5 ° C.
Vegetable drops
Having powerful anti-inflammatory properties, beet and carrot juices are used as a remedy for the common cold at home. In some recipes of traditional healers, it is proposed to add honey to the juice, but even without it, the drug copes with the pathological manifestations of rhinitis and significantly improves the patient's well-being on the second or third day of treatment.
Freshly squeezed juice of beets or carrots or a mixture of 2-3 drops should be instilled into the nose. At an early stage of the disease, the procedure is carried out three times a day. If the manifestations of the pathology are very pronounced, it is necessary to increase the number of instillations up to five times a day. The duration of treatment is from 3 to 10 days, depending on the individual characteristics of the body.
Runny egg
An effective home remedy for runny nose and nasal congestion is the most common hot chicken egg. Boil it until tender, cool slightly or wrap with a towel so as not to get a burn. Apply it to the forehead or to the sinuses. The procedure continues until the egg cools down. Warming up to three times a day. Contraindications to this procedure may be bacterial rhinitis, adenoiditis, purulent sinusitis.
How to speed up recovery?
Everyone wants to get rid of such an unpleasant manifestation of a symptom of a cold or infectious disease as soon as possible. To accelerate recovery, a gentle regimen should be observed at least within 48 hours after the onset of the first symptoms. It is advisable to spend most of the time in bed.
The air temperature in the room should be as comfortable as possible to stay in light pajamas, since too warm clothes impede thermoregulation and skin breathing, especially if the patient has a high body temperature.
The room should have fresh and clean air, so it must be ventilated at least six times a day, and ventilation must last at least 15 minutes. Wet cleaning should be carried out daily, since dusty air enhances the symptoms of pathology and makes it difficult to recover. Often drink warm fruit drinks, herbal teas, decoctions of rose hips or blueberries, compotes: these drinks contain many vitamins. They support a weakened body and enhance immunity to fight bacteria and viruses.
One Day Runny Nose Treatment
How to get rid of a runny nose at home? A tool, more precisely, a set of such measures exists:
- Flush the nasal passages with saline.
- Put four drops of menthol oil in your nose, brush them with whiskey and forehead.
- Steam the legs with mustard.
- Drinking should be plentiful.
Additional treatments for rhinitis
If the treatment of the common cold is supplemented with some procedures, it will significantly accelerate. During any procedure, it is necessary to monitor the patient's condition: the slightest discomfort or deterioration in well-being - and treatment should be discontinued.
Massage the nose wings
Massage the nose will help improve the discharge of mucus and prevent its stagnation. It should be performed by rubbing or tapping movements not only along the lateral parts of the nose, but also along the bridge of the nose. The procedure should be repeated up to five times a day. The last massage should be done no later than two hours before sleep, so as not to cause active secretion of mucus at night and not to worsen the quality of sleep.
Dry heat
It must be warned that at high temperatures, as well as bearing a child, thermal procedures are prohibited. If the discharge from the nose is transparent and has a watery structure, you can use folk remedies for the treatment of the common cold, based on the use of dry heat. To do this, pour a spoonful (tablespoon) of dry mustard in each sock, put on top of wool socks and go to bed. In the morning, you need to rinse your legs and wipe dry, without pressing on the skin or rubbing it.