Stages of a cold

Intro

A cold am certainly just a viral disease that infects the throat, sinuses, and larynx. In general, a common cold reflects some symptoms that you can experience within two to three days. Significantly, you should experience some form of coughing and a runny nose. Furthermore, you will experience sneezing, headache, and a sore throat. So, for many of you, detecting the stages of a cold can be quite helpful. 

The effects of a cold can simply go away within a few days or so. But to a few percent of us, the effects can stay for weeks if proper care is not taken. No to mention, more than two hundred virus strains can cause cold in a human or animal body. However, we will discuss the forever rising common cold that the rhinovirus causes. So, now let us take a view on the stages of a cold and its symptoms first. 

 

Signs of a Cold (In stages of a cold)

In general, the four common symptoms of a cold are a runny nose, slight tickle in the throat, inflammation of the sinuses, and sneezing. However, the symptoms can also occur due to other reasons like allergy, bacterial infection, and more. In fact, fifty percent of the time, people think that they have a cold. But what they have is merely an allergic reaction. 

 

Again, if you have a cold, then you will have a collection of some general symptoms. And they are, 

 

Muscle ache

We generally call muscle ache or pain as myalgia. This symptom is typically a sign of the common cold. Furthermore, other viral infections can also cause muscle ache. You will indeed feel like you have used your muscles for hours. So, Muscle ache can be quite irritating during a common cold infection.

 

Fatigue

In reality, fatigue is nothing but a sensation of gradual or sudden tiredness. Even though fatigue can be a symptom of many diseases, but in the common cold, it is a significant symptom. Basically, fatigue is quite normal if it is gradual. But if you have a compromised medical condition, then you should ask your doctor for proper treatment. However, when you have a cold, then don’t worry about the fatigue condition as it will go away within a few days. 

 

Headache

In case you feel some pain on your face, head, and even on your neck, then you have a headache condition. This condition, in general, is a sign of a migraine or hypertension. This headache is simply too severe for people with various health problems. If you catch a typical cold, then a headache will indeed affect your everyday life. 

 

Loss of Appetite

Loss of appetite or anorexia is simply a condition when the patient feels no sensation of hunger what so ever. Firstly, this condition is just a symptom and nothing more than that. However, if you take anorexia as a diagnosis measure, then it may cause some problems. Let us discuss the issues later. When you have a common cold, then this loss of appetite is a common sign. But you should bemuse this condition with the anorexia nervosa disorder. 

Runny Nose

In medical terms, a runny nose is a condition where the nose discharges thin nasal mucus fluid from the mucus membrane. In fact, this condition is a common symptom when you have allergic problems, hay fever, or a common cold. So to say, you have a cold, and you want to calculate how many days you have it. Simply calculate the days since you had a runny nose, then the days of the cold will match up. 

 

Sneezing

Sneezing is undoubtedly one of the most frequent medical conditions for a human. It must be remembered that sneezing can a sign of a cold, or it may not. If your cold position is severe, then and only then, sneezing is a sign. However, an allergic reaction is the most common reason for sneezing related problems. So, don’t worry if you have a few sneezes here and there because sneezing is not a problem in any what. However, you need to make sure you need a tissue, handkerchief, or any piece of cloth. 

 

Nasal Congestion (Diagnosis of the Stages in a cold) 

If you have nasal congestion, then this may be a sign that your sinuses are jammed up. This blocking of nasal breathing is undoubtedly a pain for many of us. In this case, the membrane that is lining the nasal cavity gets filled with blood. Furthermore, in multiple instances, such a condition leads to mouth breathing instead of nasal breathing. So, have a cold can further increase Nasal congestion and lead to some severe breathing problems. 

 

Cough

To be sure whether you have a cold or not, coughing cause be an excellent symptomatic diagnosis. But you can’t always use cough as a measure of the standard cold detection. In the stages of a cold, coughing may occur within two to three days of the lung inflammation. In general, fluid gets build up into the lungs that cause your lungs to explode and clean it. Furthermore, in the Covid-19 condition, specific ways of coughing can help increase the chances of your survival. 

 

How long should a typical common cold last?

In general, a normal cold will continue its journey for seven to ten days. Firstly, when any cold virus gets in contact with you, then it will want to reproduce inside of you. The rhinovirus, which causes the common cold, will typically start its initial stage within eight to ten hours. However, this initial infection phase can begin even after three to four days of contact. 

 

If you confuse the flu with a common cold, then you are sure to be wrong. Because the flu takes from one day to a week to start its initial starting phase, therefore, is a condition of a cold, the symptoms will last about a week or so. If you feel that the cold is not getting better, then you should definitely get a medical doctor to consult you. 

 

Stages of a cold (Common cold) 

Detecting the stages of a common cold can surely help you find the best measures for your safekeeping. Even to this day, finding a cure for the cold is not possible. But now, we can certainly diagnose the stages of the cold in various ways. However, the stages of a cold are,

 

Stage number one

If a cold virus infection starts inside of you, then the first thing you will realize is that you have a sore throat. Secondly, you will notice a form of sudden tiredness and fatigue. Thirdly, you will have a runny nose that even causes sneezing. 

 

However, nasal congestion may also happen in this stage as your nasal linings will get inflammation issues. So, these are the first stage of a cold. 

 

Stage number two

In the second part of the stages of a cold, your first stage symptoms will increase dramatically. During this stage, the things that will affect you more is the constant headache, cough, and tiredness. In fact, the other symptoms may also increase according to your immunity. If you have a feeble immune system, then this stage will be quite painful. 

Again other symptoms that may be an issue for you are the constant runny nose, congestion, sneezing, cough, etc. In medical terms, this stage is the peak stage because, in this stage, a patient feels the maximum pain. However, this stage will not last for more than two to three days. 

 

Stage number three

For the next few days, your symptoms will gradually start getting better. In reality, this stage does not last for more than four days. Furthermore, your general symptoms will begin to decrease and leaving you with improved energy. Many patients reported that they feel more energetic right after they get better from a common cold. 

 

However, for a small percentage of patients, this stage can extend for more than fourteen days. In fact, they might even have a runny nose or cough though this time. 

 

The stages of a cold for babies and toddlers

As babies have a different stage of immunity, the common cold will not affect them equally. In fact, babies and toddlers may feel a completely different stage of the cold. The symptoms and stages of a cold for babies may last for a week or two. 

 

Firstly the babies will face difficulty in sleeping. Secondly, in the stages of a cold, they will feel fussiness and congested nose. Furthermore, the symptoms may follow vomiting, diarrhea, and fever. These symptoms will surely go away within a few days and will not last more than two weeks. 

 

Now for the toddlers, firstly, they will experience watery eyes, feel a constant headache, and then chills. Again, most of them will have a low-grade fever. But for some of them, this fever may increase dramatically. But not to worry, the toddlers will face no serious health issues as this is just a stage of growing up. 

 

Treatment and remedies in the stages of a Cold

Undoubtedly there is no complete treatment for the common cold. In fact, you can only use various forms of remedies as a symptomatic treatment. The things you can do is take a lot of fluid like warm water, lemon juice, etc. You can also suck hard candy to improve your sour throat. Finally, you need to take a saline nasal spray if your nose congesting gets too serious. 

 

However, you can take ibuprofen to decrease the constant pain in your body. Again taking cough medicine will also work for your cough problems. 

 

FAQs

 

What are the stages of the common cold?

The first stage of a common cold is the infectious stage. At the beginning of this stage, the cold virus will start infecting you and then reproduce. And then comes the peak stage of a cold. In this peak stage, all the symptoms like headache, fatigue, runny nose, etc., will reach its maximum stage. Now the final stage is the recovery stage. In this stage, the symptoms will ease up, and the patient will get better.

 

What are the worst days of a cold?

Surely it is the first three of the peak stage that is the worst days of a cold. These days, the patient will feel severe fatigue, weakness, runny nose, and more. However, this stage will last for only three to four days. 

 

How long does a cold last for?

A common cold will typically last for five to a week. However, these stages depend fully on the immunity of a patient. If you have a robust immunity, then the cold will last for only a few days. 

 

Can you sweat out a cold?

Sometimes doing hard exercises can help decrease the symptoms of a common cold. However, there is very little evidence that a cold will simply go away after sweating. So, if you want to get a full cure then, please stay home and rest. 

 

Wrapping up with the stages fo a cold

So, we have reached the final portion of the stages of a cold article. When you get affected by a cold, the first stage is the onset of symptoms. Furthermore, the patient will gradually reach the peak stage or the send stage. And finally, in the last stage, the patient will get complete relief from the disease and also feel better. 

So, this is it for today. Have a nice day. Bye-bye.