COLD AND HOMEOPATHY

The Double Pair Socks Syndrome

It is the Start of 2nd week of November and it is not that cold yet. The minimum temperature in the plains in this part of northern India is touching between 12 and 15 degrees centigrade. But if you are the one who’ve already started wearing a double pair of woollen socks or a thermal vest underneath or woollen mufflers and you’re sure that this winter again your nose is going to be infested with that dammed stuffy cold and headaches, homeopathy might be the right choice for you. Homeopathy understands and treats this idiosyncratic combination of your cold sensitivity and body’s propensity to develop such stuffy colds.

Although this sensitivity is not pathological enough to be called as any syndrome, but then it is hard to resist coining a term for it ?double pair socks syndrome?. It is the only way to describe this extreme sensitivity to cold and the symptoms that result out of it.

Just a mild exposure to cold can trigger a complete sequence of events. There are patients that even at the least exposure to cold air ? moving the hand out of the quilt at night or sleeping without a warm head cap at night?go into weeks of incapacitation. Aerated drinks, juices or water even at room temperature are very discomforting. Ice creams ? please don?t even mention the name some are so sensitive that even in summers they cannot take anything cold and even bathe in luke-warm water.

Sneezing for most of the patients is the foremost symptom which is followed by runny nose and often followed by a feeling of obstruction in the nose, especially in the night or when lying down. Some may even develop fever along it. Headaches are also very common in patients with cold sensitivity. Even a mild draught of cold air can cause very uncomforting headache. Constant stuffy feeling in the nose or discharges is the most troublesome feature of this sensitivity.

Well, the extent to which one is affected varies a lot. It depends on their level of intolerance and other factors such as genetic tendencies, age, nature of jobs, etc. Recurrent colds in winters often lead to chronic conditions such as sinusitis, nasal polyps, tonsillitis, bronchitis, and even trigger asthmatic attacks.

Chronic colds and sinusitis are the most common complications that arise out of it. Sinuses are hollow air spaces in the human body. They are four pairs of cavities, or sinuses, known as Para nasal sinuses, located within the skull or bones of the head surrounding the nose. When colds are recurrent inflammation may extend to the sinuses causing sinusitis. There is also a chance that the colds may persist for long and be chronic.

homeopathic medicines Silicea and Hepar Sulph top the homeopathic table in handling such constitutions . Belladonna is also very helpful in acute situation. I often get patients who complain that they can never get their get their feet warm despite all measures of keeping them warm ; in such cases I have found silicea to be of great help .