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Health and Beauty 1908 Cold in the Head Synonyms — Acute rhinitis, coryza, acute nasal catarrh. Symptoms - Repeated sneezing, chilliness, or shivering, fulness in the head, headache, muscular pains, slight fever, dry skin. The nose feels uncomfortably dry because of the local congestion, and this in turn necessitates mouth breathing. The sense of smell and taste are impaired, the voice acquires a nasal tone, the eyes are frequently congested. In the course of a few hours a thin, watery mucus flows from the nose; later this irritates the nose and lip, and makes the use of a handkerchief painful. On the second or third day the secretions are muco-purulent. A cold usually runs a course of from seven to ten days. A cold, whether it be in the head, in the throat, or on the lungs, is a congestion of the mucous membrane of these parts, due to a sudden chilling of the skin, either general or local. Because of the exhaustion of the nerve-centers, the skin fails to react, and the equilibrium of the circulation is broken, so that one part contains too little blood, while some other part has too much. That region of the body in which there is the east resistance suffers. This is usually some part of the mucous membrane. Colds are the earliest and simplest manifestation of disease, and are a warning that more severe measures will soon follow if the health is not cared for, and the body put in a proper state of resistance. Colds go hand in hand with exhaustion of the vital forces, and may be followed by pneumonia, pleurisy, attacks of gastro-intestinal indigestion, diseases of the kidneys, the liver, the pelvic organs, and the nerves. There are many conditions that render one susceptible to colds. Persons who have engaged in vigorous exercise, perspiring freely, even saturating the garments next to the skin, and who then remain inactive, sitting down or standing in the cold or wind, have a good opportunity to “catch a cold.” The exposure of a small portion of the body, like the back of the neck, the surface between the shoulders, or the chest, to a “blade of cold air” from a keyhole, a window crack, or a window let down from above, is a frequent cause of colds. If we could become accustomed to “facing the wind” with the back of the neck as we are with the face, we should not be afraid of drafts. Who ever thinks of contracting a cold because the wind strikes him in the face! Yet every part of the body can be made to resist cold just as well as the face. Low shoes in cold weather, thin soles, chilling of the ankles, and wet feet come in for a large share of the responsibility for colds. Overwork and lack of sleep reduce the vitality
in an astonishingly short time, and render one peculiarly susceptible
to colds. Indulging too freely in a hearty dinner may be followed
by a cold. Those who habitually have cold hands and feet easily
take cold. Muffling the neck in winter is an injurious practice
for it causes relaxation of the skin. The garments about the throat
are moistened by perspiration, the evaporation of which chills the
skin, and a cold is often the sequence, frequently developing into
the most aggravated and serious type. The free use of alcoholic
beverages paralyzes the vasomotor mechanism of the skin, and renders
one peculiarly susceptible to colds of various types. |