WHAT is called the common cold is very common indeed. It is universal. It is usually a triviality, but not always. A cold may be followed by bronchitis, pneumonia, pleurisy, tuberculosis, rheumatism, heart disease and innumerable other grave disorders. Every layman is acquainted with this fact.
The average individual, when he falls ill, immediately asks himself whether his trouble is due to indigestion or to a chill. The chill is the father of most colds. It follows that if we wish to protect ourselves against colds and their dangerous sequels, we should endeavour to avoid chills or to deal efficiently with chills at the earliest moment.
We cannot always avoid a chill. We get hot by being in a hot room, by being in the hot sun, by doing violent exercise, and then we get into a draught which chills us, or we are exposed to wind, or we have to wait for a conveyance and we begin to feel uncomfortable. If the vague discomfort felt at the beginning of the chill is dealt with very promptly, nothing further will happen.
Otherwise the vague discomfort will become an intense discomfort. The individual begins to shiver, to feel miserable, and he has the instinctive desire for some hot food, hot drink or a hot bath which may not immediately be available. Later on he may explain: “I felt miserable and chilly, I wanted to have a hot drink, a hot bath or a hot fire, but I could have none of these and now I am ill.”.
Medicine knows numerous drugs which are quite easily obtainable, and which are extremely efficient in combating chills. It is more important to know how to combat chills than to try to avoid them. Active men and women cannot avoid chills, and if they try to do so they have to coddle themselves, and then they become so soft and so susceptible that they will catch chills and colds very easily.
Those who believe in orthodox medicine should take some quinine or aspirin at the first sign of discomfort produced by a chill. A small quantity of quinine or aspirin may abort a chill and its occasionally dangerous sequels. Those who do not like to take the strong drugs of orthodox medicine can deal with a chill rapidly by taking the indicated homoeopathic medicines. Among the chill remedies Aconite easily stands foremost. A few doses of Aconite 1x to 3x taken at rapid intervals will eliminate a chill and give the individual glowing warmth and comfort in a few minutes or in half an hour.
In cases of severe chills Aconite should be taken every five or ten minutes. If the chill is very severe, Camphor in the form of Camphor pills or Camphor spirit should be taken. The latter may be taken in hot water, or a few drops should be taken on lump sugar at intervals. Another useful chill remedy is Ferrum Phosphoricum 2x or 3x, which is one of the tissue remedies. There are many other medicines in the Homoeopathic Materia Medica suitable in the case of chills, but it would only confuse the reader if they were described.