Cold comfort

That old familiar feeling is creeping up on you: the heaviness in your sinuses. The scratchy throat. The feeling that -- ah, ah, ah -- you're going to sneeze!

It's that time of the year. Along with cooler weather come sniffles, sneezing and the feeling of general malaise that mark the common cold.

You can try to prevent it.

"There's no way 100 percent to prevent anything," said Charlotte Craig, director of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center. "Everybody knows that."

There are ways, she said, to try to prevent a cold: frequent, thorough hand-washing and staying away from areas where a lot of people congregate.

Craig said she would like to see more retail stores offer hand wipes at the front door. Craig said she uses the free wipes to wipe down her shopping cart and cleans her hands with them.

"Babies have been slobbering on them, people have been sneezing and coughing on the carts. Stop and think about it," she said.

Craig suggests that people carry sanitizing wipes with them to use before shopping in stores that don't provide them for customers.

Holiday parties are a great source for catching cold or flu viruses, she said. Craig suggests people avoid food that people dip their hands into, like bowls of nuts.

"If food is individually wrapped, it's OK," she said, "but bowls of nuts or popcorn, that sort of thing, are not."

People can catch colds at parties, work and other gatherings where others are not careful about covering their mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing -- and washing their hands afterward.

Another way to keep colds at bay is to have a healthy immune system, says a spokesman for the Medicine Shoppe chain of pharmacies. A balanced diet and plenty of exercise help maintain an immune system, but for people who need a little help, pharmacist Lindsey Stephens suggests supplements.

"Taking a multivitamin throughout the cold and flu season and additional vitamin C at the onset of a cold will help strengthen your immune system and possibly lessen cold symptoms," Stephens said. "However, taking a multivitamin year-round will help lessen your vulnerability to illness any time of the year."

Stephens also suggests looking for expiration dates on over-the-counter cold medicines and vitamin supplements, and avoid taking more than the recommended dose. Elderly people, pregnant women, nursing mothers, vegetarians or those with a chronic disease should consult with a physician, pharmacist or registered dietitian before taking supplements, she said.

Craig said when she feels a cold coming on she bumps up her intake of vitamin C. There is some debate about vitamin C's effectiveness, but Craig says she hasn't had a bad cold in a long time.

"I doesn't hurt anything," she said.

Zinc is another supplement some people say helps, and others swear by echinacea. Craig said any supplement may lessen the severity of a cold's symptoms, but might not prevent it.

Once the cold has taken hold, there isn't much anyone can do except stay home, get plenty of rest, drink extra fluids, and take an antihistamine or a decongestant to help alleviate the symptoms. And don't spread your cold around to your co-workers.

"Take yourself out of the workplace," Craig emphasizes. "We have 40 people working at the health department, and our policy is to encourage people to stay home. Call and say you're not coming in today. Employers all over the world need to be encouraged to have that mindset."

And if all else fails, there's Grandma's tried and true favorite: chicken soup.

"The theory behind that is the steam from chicken soup opens the sinuses," Craig said. "It's like a little humidifier. And it does make you feel better."

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160