Most colds are caused by viruses. I was trained in conventional medicine, having worked in two hospitals for a period of four years, and am familiar with the allopathic or symptom- oriented treatment for most disease conditions.
Basically, physicians will treat the manifestations of the cold. The person who actually has the cold is ignored to the extent that there is minimal attempt made by the physician to check the function or working of the actual body.The physician speaks briefly with the patient, may look in their throat, nose, ears, auscultate their lungs but that is about it if even that is done. The diagnosis, common cold, is rapidly established and the patient given symptomatic treatments and told to take clear liquids, etc. etc.
But what about the person who has the cold? The critical elements that will help them recover are largely ignored. The lymphatic system, the circulatory system, the drainage from the sinuses and working of the various organs concerned with respiration, the rib cage, the clavicle which often prevents good drainage from the head and also makes it hard for the lymphatics to drain into the venous system, their final point of release are not examined. The spleen, which removes old red blood cells, and is vital in the function of the immune system is critical in fighting off any infection is overlooked. In fact, one authority has described the spleen as one enormous lymph node. The diaphragm, the muscle of respiration, is also what is responsible for the movement of lymph in the entire body. It also has a tendency to spasm with any trauma, physical and emotional, which leaves the patient compromised in many ways. These and many more aspects of a living, functional whole might as well not even exist as far as most physicians are concerned. There are so many important and vital structures and functions which the well trained osteopathic physician must examine in real time and treat until they are functioning as close to normal as possible, that truly help the patient to return to not only a state of health, which few people as they age ever again experience, but a glowing state of health.
The osteopathic treatment for the common cold, for which allopathic medicine has no specific treatment since antibiotics are not helpful in a viral infection, can have immediate and powerful benefits to the patient with this condition.
There may be general guidelines of which I have mentioned only a few above, but the reality is that every patient is totally different. So there is no cookie-cutter recipe for treating the cold. We must meticulously examine and treat the patient who presents with the condition which is usually labeled the common cold. In actuality, a lot more is going on with these patients than the symptoms of a cold. Each one must be evaluated and treated from a functional perspective with a hands-on exam and osteopathic treatment.
And this need not be a long, drawn out affair. The well trained, experienced osteopathic physician can accomplish the actual exam in a matter of minutes. The treatment will take longer but all of this can be done in less than 30 minutes with excellent and immediate results.
Today I treated a 55 year old man who had developed a bad cold which left him sounding horrible when he spoke. He felt lethargic and was going from bad to worse. He had already taken large doses of time release vitamin C, echinacea, and I gave him a homeopathic remedy, Ferrum phosphoricum, to further help. Following the osteopathic treatment his voice had returned to normal, his color was back to normal, he mentioned that he could finally take a deep breath and his entire system was functioning as it was meant to function in its healthy state. He felt truly healed in many ways. And, of course, his cold was now almost an after thought.