Upper Respiratory Tract infections during the last week of 2019

December 31, 2019
Paul Herscu ND, MPH
Herscu Laboratory

There are three specific observations I would like to make now, involving the current viral illnesses.

The first involves what is likely the common cold. Unlike the cold that I reported on a few years ago which led to numerous first time asthmatic crisis, in people who did not previously have asthma, this one seems to mostly present in the common fashion. What is unique about it though is how bad It is. The symptoms that we see are a runny nose, mostly with a bland clear discharge, a great deal of frontal sinus pressure, which leads to a congestive headache, extreme weakness, wiped out, exhausted, and some body aches. Low fever of 99-I00.5. In many ways, this is a slightly altered version of the remedy Gelsemium. My main comment here involves what happens after you take Gelsemium. Most often when you take the remedy at this time, the next day it appears as though ‘nothing happens’. You are still sick. And this is why I want to highlight an error here.

But first, as background, here are some numbers for what is typically found in the common cold, what the natural progression is:

1.     Fever can last up to 7-9 days.

2.     Sore throat can last up to 9 days

3.     Cough can last 2 weeks and even more.

4.     Runny nose can last 2 weeks and even more.

5.     The body aches can last 10 days to a couple of weeks.