Why can’t "they" cure the common cold?

Let me start by saying - geez, I hope there are no typos in this....

So if you have been reading – or not, a few posts back – I said that my oldest kid had a cold.  Since it was a few weeks ago, I thought the other two (and mom) had escaped the bullet.  Not true this time – since I have a cold and have two kids at home with the same cold.

As normal with a cold – the symptoms are: stopped up nose, slightly runny eyes, mild fever – and this time a barking cough.  In babies, this would be known as “croup”.  A lot of people think that croup is “whooping cough” or pertussis.  It is not.  Whooping cough – truly sounds like the “whoop” of a crane – the noise also occurs on inspiration – and not when they cough.  The croup cough sounds like a barking seal and is also called “bronchiolitis” – which simply means that the bronchioles are inflamed - and likely infected.

In either case - in small infants, it can be troublesome and even dangerous.  This is why “they” insist that all children should get the pertussis vaccine - usually several times (in addition to the other 100 or more vaccines they now “require”).  The problem with the pertussis vaccine is that pertussis is “dangerous” in infants under the age of two months – and the baby can’t get the vaccine until 2 months or “out of the woods”.  The idea behind making kids (adolescents and some adults too) get the vaccine is to prevent babies from getting it….huh?

I digress, the common cold is caused by any one of a number of viruses.  Symptoms are usually less severe than the “flu” which is caused specifically by an influenza virus.

The cold cannot be “cured” – actually most viruses can’t be “cured” – it can be treated, prevented or prevented from spreading.  Every year there is also a big push to get the “flu” vaccine.  Problem with this is that the flu virus comes in many “strains” – and they can only put about 2 or 3 of those types in the vaccine.  So since the vaccine takes several  months to develop – they have  to guess at which particular viruses are going to be active during flu season – sometimes they miss and everyone gets the flu anyway.

The flu can be “treated” with prescription antivirals (Tamiflu and Relenza).  Like the common cold – it can also be symptomatically treated with over-the-counter cold medicine:

• Decongestants – open up the airways – pseudoephedrine (which you now have to get from behind the counter) and phenylephrine – also increase the heart rate, blood pressure and make some people nervous
• Antihistamines – dry up secretions in the nose and chest – diphenhydramine, chlorpheniramine, brompheniramine, cetirizine etc – can be sedating and will likely dry your mouth
• Cough Suppressant - dextromethorphan – often abused by teenagers, known as “robo-tripping” because the normal brand name is Robitussin – and when taken in LARGE amounts, it can cause dizziness and a slight euphoria – why kids want to be dizzy is beyond me but there you go - (Used to, this category would include codeine - but they no longer want to give that out at all for fear that you will drink the whole bottle - even though thousands of people are addicted to a much stronger pain medication - oxycodone (Oxy, Oxycontin)
• Expectorants – guafenesin – cause the mucous to be more runny so that it is easier to cough up, drain or blow out (remember how I feel about sputum). The drug is actually useful at preventing a secondary infection like ear infection, pneumonia or sinus infection because those are caused by mucous sitting around and fermenting
• Pain/Fever reducers – ibuprofen and acetaminophen – ‘nuf said

The pediatric and medical associations came out with a recommendation a few years ago that said that cough/cold medicines should not be given to children under 12 and they stopped putting dosing instructions on packaging.  Actually – originally they stopped at 2 years of age and then changed it to 12.  Supposedly, the average American is not smart enough to read (possibly true) and were creating such a problem with overdosing their kids (not that many, really) – that “those that be” decided not to let the parents do it at all.  This means that you are supposed to get the medicine from the doctor – by prescription.  As a pharmacist, I know that the cough and cold medicine you get and pay prescription prices for is EXACTLY the same as you can get OTC.

This supposedly forces you to go to the doctor – the doctor actually doesn’t really want your snotty, coughing kids there.  The kid doesn’t want to be there because he feels like crap.  You don’t want to be there because there are a bunch of other snotty, coughing kids wiping their grimy hands all over stuff.

So back to the question – why can’t they cure the common cold? 

The answer is two part: 

A few years back, a company called Viropharma was investigating an antiviral for treatment of the “summer flu” – aka the common cold.  The Viropharma stock jumped from a couple of dollars a share to over one hundred (just think how much you could have made in the stock market).  I know this because I actually worked on one of the studies – couldn’t take advantage of the stock prices though – because that would be insider trading.  This seemed like a great idea, curing the cold – but then the study results came back and showed that it didn’t really cure the cold – maybe it stopped it from getting worse but since the duration of a cold is only a few days – you are probably on your way to getting well before you get the meds.  Drug failed, stocks plummet, tons of people lose money, company changes to a whole different focus.

The problem may also have been that the cold is caused by one of tens if not hundreds of different types of virus and maybe the Viropharma drug only worked on some of those strains.  AND they have never investigated Tamiflu or Relenza for the cold – basically because it can’t work well enough – and that would cause the stock to plummet (incidentally during the “impending” epidemic of the bird flu, Donald Rumsfeld owned a whole bunch of stock in the company that makes Tamiflu and made a killing because the USG required the stockpiling of Tamiflu).

I happen to know “some people” who have some Tamiflu – left over from that same stockpiling.  Those same “people” have taken a couple of doses of Tamiflu at the start of a cold because “they” couldn’t afford to get sick while taking care of a passel of kids (exactly three).  Guess what, the Tamiflu worked, the “person” or “persons” did not get sick.

So really they could stop the common cold in some cases if they wanted to.  They just don’t want to – it is a business decision.  It also supposedly forces you to take that grimy, snotty, coughing kid to the doctor to sit with a whole bunch of other grimy germ bags to get some expensive stuff that used to be OTC and cheap.

“Some people” don’t bother to do this – and give the kids the medicine anyway.  “Some people” still believe that they are smart enough to figure out not to give kids a multi-symptom cold medicine with acetaminophen, pseudoephedrine, diphenhydramine, guafenesin and dextromethorphan in it – and then give them separate doses of all the same stuff because “some people” can actually read the ingredients which are clearly marked on the box.

Despite many people’s opinion, the cold or flu cannot be treated with antibiotics – but parents are desperate since they probably had to take off of work to care for the whining monster who may or may not be screaming.

This is in no way, a recommendation to go against medical advice – just that “some people” do not follow it, for good reason as common sense goes a long way here. But don’t ask your doctor (the same people who now recommend against giving your kid Benadryl to make them sleepy for a long trip, or before getting one of those horrid vaccines – or using corn syrup for constipation – both used when I was a kid, and even when my kids were babies), or when you do tell the doctor, you will be given a really expensive prescription – and told that it will go away in a few days, despite the fact that your snotty germ bag has been exposed to a whole bunch of other grimy germ bags.

Remember, I did NOT give you this advice – I just told you what “some people” do. (Read the disclaimer at the bottom of the page).

If I am still sick - tomorrow, I will tell you about alternative treatments for the flu and common cold - but it is NOT going to be advice - just informational chatting about what "some people" do.