As a respiratory physician, I am often asked in the course of outpatient clinics and health consultations, “I’ve had colds for years, but I can’t get rid of them, so what is the best medicine to boost my immunity and cure them?” This question, in fact, this friend, mistook “rhinitis” for “cold”, because it will lead to repeated abuse of antibiotics.
First of all, let’s briefly understand the similarities and differences between these two distant relatives “rhinitis” and “cold”.
Allergic rhinitis: or allergic rhinitis, refers to inflammation of the mucous membrane and submucous tissue of the nasal cavity. It manifests as congestion or edema, and is usually seasonal, or occurs in hot and cold conditions. Patients often have symptoms such as nasal congestion, runny nose, nasal itch, throat discomfort, and cough. It lasts for a long time and recurs repeatedly. Although allergic rhinitis is not a serious disease, but because of the obvious symptoms, it can cause affect our daily life, study and work efficiency, persistent and repeated can induce bronchial asthma, sinusitis (which can lead to headaches and other symptoms), nasal polyps, otitis media and other diseases.
The common cold (as distinguished from the flu and influenza) is a mild, self-limiting infection of the upper respiratory tract. It usually does not last too long and can recover on its own. On average, children have about 6 colds per year, and adults about 3. The main symptoms are: early discomfort and dryness of the throat, sneezing, runny nose, sometimes clear nasal mucus, and even chills and low-grade fever. In severe cases, it may be further aggravated by bacterial infection, and yellow pus sputum may appear. (The proportion of bacterial infections after the common cold is actually not high. If there is no indication, there is no need to use antibiotics, otherwise it will cause misuse of antibiotics. If there is a secondary bacterial infection, you need to actively choose antimicrobials as needed) Both diseases will have the same symptoms such as throat discomfort, sneezing, nasal congestion and runny nose, but the two are still by many different things. First of all, the time: these symptoms caused by cold are usually self-limiting diseases, which will gradually disappear in about 1 week. Allergic rhinitis, on the other hand, can last for a longer period of time, ranging from a few weeks to several months. The second is the difference in nasal discharge: nasal discharge can sometimes be different, and the color and nature of cold nasal discharge can change in response to different conditions. In allergic rhinitis, the nasal discharge is generally clear, thin and watery. The third is that the sneezing is different: the sneezing of a cold is brief and occasional, while the sneezing of allergic rhinitis is violent and lasts a little longer.