Cough and cold season is here: Our expert GP is here to help!

[CeriMumsnet]

With cold and flu season in full swing and kids returning to school after Christmas, winter illnesses can feel inevitable and never-ending. But what can we do to relieve symptoms when they strike or even better, keep the germs at bay in the first place?

We’ve invited GP Dr Kate Cottam to answer your questions on all things winter bugs. Share a question for Dr Kate by 12th Jan for your chance to win a £200 Amazon voucher (T&Cs).

About Dr Kate:
Dr Kate Cottam is an NHS GP. She has had experience in various different medical specialties throughout her training and is the Practice Lead for Learning Disabilities and Serious Mental Illness. Kate is committed to compassionate, patient-centred care and making health information accessible and easy to understand, encouraging patients to take an active role in their care. Kate is also a mum to two boys aged 7 and 4
.
Here's what Broncho Junior has to say:
'Broncho Junior is chosen by mums who plan ahead. One cupboard staple, many cough types. Broncho Junior helps calm dry or chesty coughs day or night'

How long should cold symptoms last ie running nose irritating cough “ bunged up feeling” before you contact a GP or due you just keep self medicating
We returned from a holiday cruise ship don’t know if that’s relevant on 8th December when symptoms started and still feeling rough due to all above
Also my handkerchiefs are streaked with blood when I blow my nose

What tips can you offer to stop an irritating cough? Do antihistamines work?

My Son gets a cough which lasts for months every year. At which point should I take him to the Doctor?

I have recently been in hospital
with flu, (even though I had a flu vaccine!). Does this mean I will now be more covered for flu, I will have built up a better resistance? And if so, would this last forever or just this winter?

My GP surgery seems incapable of maintaining my coding for being immunocompromised from one year to the next.

This obviously affects the treatments and vaccinations available to me (NHS England.)

Is there a reason for this?

How helpful is it to take daily Vitamin C?

Which vitamin/multivitamin would be the best for a toddler to have as a supplement to their immune system ?

What would you advise to be the best deterrent to reduce the risk of catching a cold ?

Best treatment for a blocked nose - it's the worse thing that distresses my DC's

Do schools get advise to to helping minimise the spread of winter coughs and colds in the classroom ? When I used to pick my DC up from school, the classroom was so warm stuffy, and you could smell the scent of stale air when they were let out for home time - no ventilation was being considered.

As a primary school teacher, I'm exposed to a rich bouquet of bugs throughout the year, but it gets particularly intense in the winter months. I do everything I can to ward them off and maintain a strong immune system: keep good hand hygiene, eat well, try to get enough sleep (although as a teacher, I necessarily work a lot in the evenings), exercise and take vitamin supplements etc. Nevertheless, I'm always under the weather from November to February, with a steady presentation of painful sinuses, tonsils, throat, coughs, low-grade temperature and fatigue, trying to 'rest it off' at weekends (we can't take time off for colds etc). It's so miserable and my own DC don't get the mum they deserve; I've been unwell for the whole of the Christmas holiday so far!
What can teachers do to have a fighting chance against circulating classroom bugs?

How important do you think fermented products for improving gut health are in increasing resistance to the symptoms of coughs and colds - I am trying a two way approach in extra vitamins plus probiotics and kefir drinks. I am doing the correct thing (they are 9 and 12)

How can I distinguish between a heavy cold and the most recent covid variant ?

What are your tips when children share a bedroom and one has a cold or gastric flu to help prevent one catching it from the other when they have bunk beds, I keep a window on vent and use an air filter - any other ideas ? ty

Cough syrup? 🙄

I'd heard that raising a bed at the headboard side by a few inches helps with decongestion when sleeping - any truth with this ?

When a child has a cough that keeps them awake at night, is it safe to give a child a cough syrup and a honey and lemon drink, and paracetamol before bed - does the sugar in honey just stimulate them to keep them awake ?

My chesty cough has now been with me for two weeks and doesn't seem to be getting any better - if anything slightly worse. Is there a point where I should assume its not a cough but something else and go to see a doctor?

I swear by a spoonful of Manuka honey for myDC's it's expensive - but works a treat - teeth clean then a vapour rub and bed. What does cough medicine have which this treatment does not ?

My DC's can cope with a cough, and the medications will help them sleep, but they really need a decongestant, it's the nose breathing which upsets them most - any suggestions to alleviate this for sleeping ?

Do cough syrups do any good or is hot water and honey just as good?

My employee regularly calls in sick with colds and sinus problems. Refuses to take decongestant or regular paracetamol as “thinks drugs make body feel weird and not good for you”.

Is this reasonable? Employee is wfh - surely can get on computer for a few hours a day and do something productive. Just a cold not flu. How can I enforce employee to work when everyone else comes to work sick?

Various people recommend putting vapor rub on a child's feet for a cold, is there any way in which this could actually be helpful?

Can you give this in the middle of the night if they are coughing ?

From the range - I would choose the 5 in 1 when they are ill as a cough causes the other symptoms - they are 12 - is this ok as it is does not say it's for children specifically.