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Hey guys you're probably here because you want to know all about how to get better from the
cold or the flu? We're talking about symptoms such as headaches, runny noses, sore throats,
blocked noses, fever, muscle ache, everything and every kind of symptom from the cold or the flu
we're going to talk about in this video and how you can get better from it? because as you know
winter is coming! sorry i had to say that i couldn't resist let's crack on now this is
going to be quite a long video jam packed full of information and i know you're a busy person
so if you want any specific information the video is going to be chaptered below feel free
to click on the description click on whatever information you want however as i always say
i'd highly recommend that you watch the entire video that way you're going to become a bit of
a pro let's carry on okay so let's begin with the signs and symptoms of a cold or the flu now they
do share a lot of symptoms the two of them when we have a mild cold we usually have symptoms like a
blocked nose sometimes a runny nose sometimes it's the opposite we have a sore throat we can have
a bit of temperature these are quite normal mild symptoms when we're looking at heavier symptoms of
a cold we're talking about things like pain around the body and the muscle muscle late type stuff
headaches pain around the sinuses these are all quite normal to have on a heavy amount of cold
but they do share a lot of symptoms now at the time of recording this video we are going through
the covert 19 pandemic and unfortunately they do share symptoms with covert 19 as well so please
remember i'm sure you all know this already but if you have any of these symptoms such
as a persistent cough if you have a temperature or if you have any loss of smell or taste this
could be covered 19 and i'm going to leave loads more information in the description below on the
latest guidance on what you should do if you have these symptoms as you know this stuff is changing
quite constantly so it's good to probably look in the description to stay up to date with it
now if you're watching this video and you do have a bit of a cold or the flu the good news
is that most people recover within a week or two but there are many things that you can do
to help aid the recovery and help you get better sooner so that is exactly what we're going to talk
about in this video so that's all the signs and symptoms of it done let's talk about what you
can actually do so let's begin with probably one of the most common symptoms of a cold or the flu
which is usually a sore throat or a cough what is the best treatment what should you do for it we're
going to discuss that now well first of all you need to make sure that you're drinking plenty of
water i know water sounds basic but it's critical for our body to produce saliva flush out waste
produce hormones and keep our cells functioning and that's just a few of the things that it does
when you're well you should be trying to stay hydrated anyway but this becomes even more
important when we're ill now taking regular sips of water can help soothe your throat and
helps thin any of your body's excess mucus that could be irritating you and causing you to cough
you should try and aim for about eight glasses of fluid a day now another top tip that you can also
try is gargling salt water we call the salt water a saline solution or a saline rinse or a saline
gargle saline is basically salt water you can make that home and it's really really good for getting
rid of excess mucus and providing temporary relief as well for the sore throat and potentially
stopping the coughing as well and if you want to know how to make a saline rinse or saline salt
water solution whatever you want to call it it's super easy all you need to do boil the kettle and
also super inexpensive by the way sorry boil the kettle get a pint glass let it cool a little then
pour it into your pine glass obviously if it's too hot it's probably gonna smash the glass by the way
after that get a teaspoon of salt only use about half a teaspoon of salt pour it in there
give it a mix let it cool so obviously you're not going to burn yourself and once it's cooled to a
temperature which you're easy with which you're not going to burn with you can then gargle make
sure you do it over the sink goggle away and then spit it out try not to swallow any of the solution
obviously sometimes you might swallow a little bit it's not going to harm you but try not to
swallow it also i'd highly recommend this is only done by adults children shouldn't really be doing
it and that's it really it's as simple as that another top tip for a sore throat or a cough is
eating soft foods also people find that eating colder foods help such as eating ice lollies or
soaking up lollipops or boiled sweets all of these things can help kind of create that suction action
which is going to help get rid of that mucus and any irritation in the throat a lot of people find
this really really helpful another thing that you can do for a cough for example is putting two
teaspoons of honey in some hot water in a mug give it a stir and drink it slowly obviously again let
it cool a little so you're not gonna burn yourself a lot of people find this really helpful and it's
probably as effective if not more effective than some of the cough medicines that you can buy over
the counter in the supermarket or on the chemists now i really hope these tips are helping you so
far but if you've tried all these tips so far for your sore throat and cough and you're still
coughing or your throat is still quite sore there are other options available as well which are more
medicinal options i usually start with the more easy options that everyone can do at home because
most people probably don't have these medicines at home but i think paracetamol and ibuprofen
can be really effective for these and most people have them at home please do speak to your chemist
before you take them so you can make sure that you're safe and suitable to take that medication
that is the most important thing and also always read the information leaf that comes with the
medication again to check that you are safe and suitable to take it again i'm going to say again
that's the most important thing because your health is the most important thing
now some patients also find that sucking on a medicated lozenge can be quite helpful for them
by the way lozenges are basically boiled sweet they're the hard little sweets that you suck on
you can get medicated ones that contain antiseptics we'll leave the ingredients here
look out for these ingredients on the back of it if they are there it'd be useful for you
to try them if the other stuff haven't really worked so far and if all of that still doesn't
work and you're still having a bit of a sore throat and it's getting really really tiresome
then you can try local anesthetic sprays and some lozenges actually have local anesthetics
as well and that's going to help numb the area and help reduce the pain but please be aware
that if you do use a local anaesthetic it can make the whole mouth numb it's kind of like
going to the dentist after you have some work done and your whole mouth is numb because of the
local anaesthetic and when that happens you're at much higher risk of burning yourself for example
when you have a hot cup of tea because you're not gonna feel it those those nerve endings are not as
sensitive as what it used to be and you probably won't even tell that it's burning so just just be
aware of that if you're having hot drinks or if you're doing the salt water gargling etc etcetera
these sort of local anaesthetic products look out for ingredients like benzocaine lidocaine
these all end in cane remember that the benzocaines all that family and local anesthetics
basically so if you see them on the actual product the lozenges or the sprays that basically means
the local anaesthetic in there okay so how are you doing so far i hope you find this information
helpful if you are make sure to click on that like button and just leave a comment to say you
know what i'm finding this information helpful now let's move on to how to get rid of that blot
nose runny nose qatar phlegm mucus all that stuff in the nasal areas what we're talking about now
the first thing that i'm going to mention to you is probably the best things that you can try
for it and again this is going to be the saline rinse you can use the solution that we use for
the gargoyle in to do a saline rinse i'm going to explain how we do it in a minute so it's that same
solution that you can use again let it cool down a little but you can use that exact same solution
and it's going to help get rid of that mucus it's going to help get rid of any inflammation
in that area anything nasty that's causing that inflammation and mucus to build up that's just
going to help to get rid of it so you can breathe easier now surprisingly a blocked nose is not
often caused by mucus but it's actually caused by the blood vessels in your nasal passage and
them expanding they expand so that more white blood cells can fight off any infection there
but this translates to that uncomfortable and annoying feeling that we all have when we have
a blocked nose where we're unable to breathe from our nose and then we become mouth breathers now
when doing the saline rinse it's really easy to do we spoke about the solution earlier how to make it
again i'm going to leave more information in the description on how to make a sale on rinse also
if you'd like to read it and just come back to this but it's really simple you're gonna stand
over the sink because it's very messy and you're gonna get the pint glass with your solution in
it pour it in the palm of your hand and suck it in from one nostril and then just let it fall
out okay and you're gonna do that a few times in one nostril and a few times in your nostril
again you can do this several times in a day there's no maximum amount by the way for the
gargling or the saline rinse through the nose you can do it as much as you want just to get
that relief throughout the day if you're finding it difficult to make the saline rinse solution
there are ready-made solutions that you can buy in the chemist or supermarket so these are other
options as well another option to discuss as well and nasal decongestants these can be quite helpful
when you've got congestion but remember that you get something called rebound congestion from them
which after using them i think it's more than five or seven days sometimes it can
cause rebound congestion so it actually makes you more congested than you were in the first place
it's not something you want to be using long term also decongestants interact with quite a
lot of medicines and also if you have like heart problems for example you shouldn't be using them
this is why it's super important you speak to your healthcare professional your pharmacist especially
before you purchase them just so they can question you and make sure you are safe and suitable to use
it and again read the information leaflet again just to make sure you're safe and suitable to
use i know i keep saying this but your health is the most important thing now an alternative
to nasal sprays or you can be used in addition actually of vapor rubs these contain things like
eucalyptus or menthol and it can again help to open up the airways and help you breathe easier
sometimes they come as rubs where you can place them on things so it helps you can just breathe in
throughout the day or you can also mix them in hot water and do steam in a steam inhalation with them
okay so now we're on to the next section we're looking at headaches muscle aches and temperatures
what can you do to help with these well it's pretty simple you need to make sure that you're
resting and giving your body time to recover you can also take paracetamol or ibuprofen
as these medicines are not only painkillers that can help with headaches but also known as
something called antipyretics this means that they're good at bringing down a fever and can
stop the discomfort of feeling hot and shivery but again please speak to your healthcare professional
before you take any of these medicines so then make sure you're safe and suitable to take
them so a high temperature is anything above 38 degrees celsius now another top tip that you can
do which is going to help with a fever that high temperature is drinking plenty of fluids i know we
spoke about earlier but again this is again going to help with bringing down the fever remember when
you've got fever as well you're going to be losing a lot more water your body's going to be working a
lot harder so again by drinking fluids and making sure you're well hydrated this is going to help
and dehydration can quite often cause headaches so again this is another win-win situation we're
actually drinking plenty of water so eight glasses of water a day by the way other drinks count to
this as well so if you're having coffee or tea these also count to that eight glasses a day
but again dehydration can cause a headache so make sure you are staying hydrated and do just
make sure that you're wearing loose comfortable clothes you haven't got too many on if you have
but it's really not going to do much for your internal body temperature for that we need to make
sure we're wearing the right clothes reduce our layers make sure you wear a loose clothes all that
sort of stuff now we've discussed a few things about headaches so far so we've discussed the
hydration the paracetamol and ibuprofen but there are a few other things that you can do as well
which will help with this the first thing that you need to avoid is alcohol because alcohol not
only dehydrates you which can make headaches worse but it also widens the blood vessels in your brain
and cause an increase in blood flow there this can cause headaches and even trigger migraines
in people who are prone to them and on top of this alcohol has been shown to have the ability
to suppress the immune system and interfere with your body's natural recovery process in short this
means that drinking alcohol could make it longer to get better so while you're recovering from a
headache or any other illness stay clear of any alcoholic drink to get better sooner now another
thing that you really need to try and avoid is skipping meals because i know when you're not
feeling well you really don't want to have a meal okay but it's super important that you're having
your three meals a day this is going to make sure that our sugar levels are at a normal steady state
because if it does drop our body produces certain hormones which tighten the blood vessels to the
brain which again can lead to headaches as well and the final tip for headaches is when you are
unwell i know what you're probably gonna do you're gonna watch tv you're gonna play on your laptop
you're gonna play on these all day you're going to be looking at all day and that's going to strain
the eyes and by straining the eyes it's going to cause headaches as well so you need to try
and keep it a normal amount on these on the phones on the laptops and the tv
and every now and then have a rest that's just going to give your eyes time to adjust again
and reduce your chances of that headache which is really really not nice when you're not feeling
well now with colds and the flu most people can usually recover on their own without having to
speak to the healthcare professional however there are certain people who are much more vulnerable
and could potentially get really really unwell and i'd highly recommend that these people do
speak to the healthcare professional it should already be here a box full of these individuals
what we call more vulnerable people so if you are any of these or if you know someone who's any of
these that you're looking after right now make sure you speak to their healthcare professional
or you speak to your healthcare professional now there are also certain symptoms that you need to
look out for which should prompt you to speak to your healthcare professional sooner as well so
these include for example if you feel like you're not getting any better and your symptoms have
suddenly got worse if you feel like you've got a really really high temperature or if you're having
shivering because of your temperature or chills again this should prompt you to speak to your
healthcare professional and in terms of recovery time with a cold if you're not got any better
after three weeks and with the flu if you haven't got any better after seven days both of these
you need to speak to your healthcare professional there are also more emergency times when you need
to speak to a healthcare professional a little box is going to appear here give it a read just so you
know that you need to see medical advice urgently if you have any of these and one last point when
it comes to seeking medical advice look we're all different so sometimes we might not apply to all
the stuff that i've just discussed but you know yourself better than anyone else and if you feel
like something's not right and you're not doing too well just pick up the phone and speak to your
healthcare professional that's the best and safest option just to get some professional healthcare
advice can be really really important so that's the end of this week's video we now know all
about cold and flu and all about the symptoms and what you can do to get better quicker and give you
some relief from those symptoms as well you also know all about when you should seek medical advice
so you're a bit of a cold and flu symptom pro if you want to call it that please do let us know how
you get on and also if you have any of your own tips please leave a comment below because i'd love
to read it and i'm sure everyone watching this video would too always remember you're awesome
and i will see you next week hey guys thanks for watching this week's video make sure to
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