At GuideTreatments.com we believe that symptomatic treatments should be reserved only for short term. It is vitally important to diagnose the underlying condition with robust assessment and investigations.
Symptomatic treatments:
- Honey – 1 teaspoon with 2 drops of lime juice after meals. Avoid any other food or drink for the next 30 minutes.
- Warm liquids and saltwater gargles.
- Steam inhalation
Common conditions to consider:
Condition |
Common clinical presentation along with cough and cold |
| Sinusitis | Painful sinuses, blocked nasal passage, frequent headaches or fever |
| Laryngotracheitis | Breathlessness, stridor and fever |
| Pharyngitis | Painful throat, evidence of redness of uvula, pharynx or enlarged tonsils. Patient may present with enlarged submandibular lymph nodes |
| Upper respiratory tract infection | Rhinitis, pharyngitis or laryngitis |
| Bronchitis | Productive cough, fever and bilateral crackles on auscultation |
| Asthma | Chest tightness, wheeze on auscultation and abnormal pulmonary function tests with reversibility |
| Bronchiectasis | Chronic productive cough, breathlessness and radiological evidence of dilated airways. |
| COPD | Chronic daily cough, productive cough and abnormal pulmonary function test without reversibility |
| Eosinophilia | Persistent cough, urticaria, breathlessness and laboratory confirmation of raised eosinophils |
| Filariasis | Dry cough associated with groin pain, leg swellings. This is more common in endemic areas |
| Influenza (common flu) | High fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pains, headache and tiredness |
| Swine flu | High fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pains, headache and tiredness and positive H1N1 swab test |
| Tuberculosis | Chronic cough and associated with night fever, loss of appetite, weight loss and positive AFB sputum |
| Measles | Rhinitis, red eyes, small greyish-white spots on the buccal mucosa (Koplik spots) and blotchy maculopapular rash |
| Whooping cough | Prolonged cough (classic whoop sound), low grade fever and apnoeic spells in infants |
| Congestive cardiac failure | Pedal oedema, breathlessness (especially when lying flat), irregular rhythm and 2-D echo evidence of reduced ejection fraction |
| Gastro-oesophageal reflux | Dry cough associated burning sensation in chest, symptoms usually after meals, difficulty in lying flat, acidic taste due to regurgitation |
| Worm infestations | Dry cough associated with cramps, lack of appetite, history of worms in stools and positive stool microscopy |
| COVID 19 | High fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pains, headache and tiredness and positive swab test for coronavirus |
| Drug induced | Dry cough commonly caused by ACE inhibitors |