A cold is not from the “cold”

When someone says, “I have a cold,” exactly what he or she implies is, “There is something in my body that is causing me to have the symptoms that we call a ‘cold.'” The set of symptoms generally consists of things like a runny nose, sneezing, coughing, “chills” and a headache. It does not include a fever– normally, if there is a fever it’s called “the flu.”

More often than not these symptoms are actually caused by elements within the indoor environment.

There are many different viruses that can trigger cold symptoms, however about half of the time a cold is caused by a class of viruses called rhinoviruses.

The rhinovirus gets into the cells lining your nose and begins recreating. It arrives from other individuals and spreads from person to person– it is not cold weather that causes a cold, however that cold weather causes people to congregate together indoors, which makes transmission of the virus easier. This also creates greater exposure to airborne particulates, either bio or chemical. This exposure triggers fatigue and other illnesses or symptoms that can be caused by the indoor environment.

Do you get cold symptoms in the winter? Headaches? Fatigue? Runny Nose? Fever?

These are exactly the symptoms that are caused by airborne particulates which might exist in your indoor environment. You may want to get your home inspected for mold or other airborne bio-particulates.

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