The Common Cold may not be so common

There are certain things that may be able to count on during the winter time and one of them is the common cold.  It’s this anticipation of the influenza season that drugs stores all around the nation stock up on over-the-counter cold remedies and people flock to their local store to stock up especially if they have school age children.  This may no longer be an option.

For some time now, my five and two year old have been struggling with what would be considered as the normal cold and flu but regardless of what medicine we gave them, it appeared to have very little if any affect.  They would get better but as soon as the temperature dropped or the wind blew from any direction, they would be sick again.  The numerous doctor visits made us feel even less of a parent because following the doctor orders to the letter did not return our children to the once happy-go-lucky troublemakers of the past.  We finally got tired of this consistent circle and decided to demand better for our children.  This was the best decision that we could have made.

Because their primary doctor kept telling us the same thing over and over again and refused to prescribe anything different than he was used to, we took our children for a second opinion.  After addressing the issue with another physician and explaining our concern, their new doctor prescribed us a strong remedy.  We took the kids home and followed this doctor’s directions on dosage, 24 hours later we thought that we had awaken two totally different children than those we put to bed just a night earlier.  They were back and with a vengeance.  They were climbing on and over everything, running through the house and laughing as if they had never been sick.  This was definitely a sight for sore eyes.

The common cold is not so common because the drugs that may have worked before does not work anymore.  It could be because the manufactures has figured out that the more you children need their products the larger their bottom lines.  They could have watered down the most effective parts of their products to keep people coming back.  It could be that the attack on the Twin Towers in New York released more than what has been reported into Earth’s air.  It could be because of our 4^th of July celebrations we have damaged the ozone layer with the fireworks to the point where airborne viruses are free to spread.  It could be a lot of things but one thing it can never be again is common.  The normal influenza prevention rituals that people normally go through during this season is gone and a new strategy must be implemented.  What is going around out there now is far from common.