Cold weather causing pneumonia? *vent*

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This is just a vent.. My grandma told my brother not to go outside without his jacket because he'd catch a cold..or even worse pneumonia. But according to my microbio textbook, this isn't true because colds are viruses and pneumonia is bacterial/viral/many other causes NOT related to weather. When I mentioned this (in front of my ENTIRE family) they laughed in my face and basically acted like I was a complete idiot. I told them that as a nursing student, I know to not give out any information unless it's referenced. But they replied that it's "common knowledge" that going out into the cold will cause these problems. Then my grandma had the nerve to say that because she was a "nurse" and I'm only a student that she was right and I was wrong. She's a nurse's aide/home care worker NOT a nurse. I corrected her and she was like "it's the same thing." Grrrr my family makes my mad sometimes. :angryfire Anyway I'm just wondering what you guys think about this... from what I've searched on the internet I can find no truth that cold causes colds.. the only thing I've found is that colds are more likely in winter due to everyone staying indoors in close contact with eachother. Is there ANY truth to colds causing colds/pneumonia? Also, I've had things happen like this before, how do you get people to believe you when you KNOW you're right about something? I've tried showing them reliable sources where I have the info, like textbooks and drug guides, but my families convinced I don't know what I'm talking about.:uhoh3: This has caused me to have anxiety in clinicals with doing patient teaching, because I worry my patients will think I'm giving them unreliable info, but so far the clients I've had seem to appreciate the info I provide them with..Wow, that felt good to let that all out!

Specializes in ER, NICU, NSY and some other stuff.

I am sthinking life would be easier to pick your battles wisely.

I't ain't smart to butt heads with grandma. She doesn't really care what modern science has to say, she has hundreds of years of Old-wives tales to back her up.

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Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.

I just let it go in one ear and out the other. Blah, Blah, Blah !! Smile, be respectful, give a hug and a kiss and go on about my business.

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I have the same issues but not quite as bad...one side of my family comes to me for everything. So do a lot of my friends. They trust my opinion, but they always say, "if you dont' know, you don't have to look it up." I always look it up...I learn that way too!

But the other side of my family is not so good about it. I may be a nurse (and not a bad one, either, if I do say so myself), but to them, I'm "just a kid". It's funny, because even my cousins, who are only a year or so older than I am, think I don't know anything. Several of us had a big argument once about water bottles. They said that if you reuse a plastic water bottle, you will get "really, really sick" because of the germs on it. I pointed out that there is a lot less of a chance of that happening if you actually WASH the bottle...remember when this was in the news a few years ago? People would buy a bottle of water and keep it at work and just keep refilling it? Go back to what that one poster said about your desk at work being dirtier than a toilet seat...that's why people were getting sick...yes, it IS just water, but you're touching it, and putting your mouth all over it, and probably backwashing half a sandwich in it... But I said that, as long as you wash the bottle, there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to reuse it a few times if you want to. Whoa, that started a major thing! Somehow they were talking about germs "getting into the plastic"...apparantly those little suckers can stick pretty hard and are just waiting to jump into your mouth when you take a drink. Look out!!!! Lol, it seems stupid now, but I was so angry at the time because it didn't matter what I said...they didn't believe it because *I* said it. If the guy on the news said it, it would be true.

I also have this one know-it-all uncle. He's a dentist, but he somehow knows everything about everything. If I had a conversation with him about starting IVs, I'm sure he'd try to teach me how to do it. Luckily he's a very nice guy most of the time, so we just ignore him (usually) when he gets on one of his tirades about how windshield wipers work or the best kind of apple to eat if you have a headache. Lol! I feel for ya!

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

OK did you know raw biscuit dough will give you worms?

Not wearing a jacket/sweater after Labor Day will give you a cold/pneumonia (Im in the south and Labor Day it's usually in the 90's.)

Walking barefoot before June 1 and you will get "ground itch."

And there is the pneumonia cold weather phenomenon, along with the flu shot that gives you the flu.

I am surprised the textbooks leave these common sense "factoids" out. The must not research as well as granny did.

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I didn't think anyone believed that you could catch a cold or pneumonia from going out into the cold any more. I do suspect that possibly your immune system is down when out in the cold. However, the cold also should reduce the survivability of microorganisms. In the winter we all lock our selves into our houses, stay closer to other people, and kids are in school where they are exposed to every cold virus strain possible. In addition, in the old days food supplies were poor in the winter, and thus nutiriton suffered as well. Maybe all these things combined lead people to think that cold causes colds.

Another thing to think about is the definition of cold temperatures. Up here in the frozen tundra of Minnesota, 50 degrees is a heat wave. People wear shorts in 50 degrees. In fact, it is about 40 degrees out side right now and I have my windows open. Even in the depths of most cold days well below 0 degrees there still can be found some people swimming in lakes (okay, I concede that even I think these members of the Polar Bear club are nuts).

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Specializes in Tele, Acute.

Now that we are talking about myths, I have a question.

What is the deal with older folks and bowel movements? Why does their life revolve around that one subject?

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Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

ahhh this has my mothers name writen all over it..please dont get me started on her obsession.

Now that we are talking about myths, I have a question.

What is the deal with older folks and bowel movements? Why does their life revolve around that one subject?

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in my opinion, i think going outside without proper attire and lead to a cold and the cold may eventually turn to pneumonia is not treated properly.

according to wikepedia:

pneumonia is an illness of the lungs and respiratory system in which the alveoli (microscopic air-filled sacs of the lung responsible for absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere) become inflamed and flooded with fluid. pneumonia can result from a variety of causes, including infection with bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites. pneumonia may also occur from chemical or physical injury to the lungs, or indirectly due to another medical illness, such as lung cancer or alcohol abuse.

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Specializes in Cardiac.

The relation to the cold is that more people are indoor together and thus sharing each others germs more often and breathe in more reycled air. That's why people in hot climates get sick in the summer-beause we are always indoors.

At least, that's what I thought.....

I agree witha PP about the defination of cold. I'm from Az, and when it dips below 70, I'm getting the heater on! Of course, it's still hot as heck here.....

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Specializes in Critical Care.
I also have this one know-it-all uncle. He's a dentist, but he somehow knows everything about everything. If I had a conversation with him about starting IVs, I'm sure he'd try to teach me how to do it. Luckily he's a very nice guy most of the time, so we just ignore him (usually) when he gets on one of his tirades about how windshield wipers work or the best kind of apple to eat if you have a headache. Lol! I feel for ya!

Oh, for me this is my cousin. I went to a community college and got my ADN. He went to a university and got his rad tech cert. becasue he was in a REAL college and I was in tech school. He must know more about nursing than I do. I know he knows more about the CT's and MRI's, but not more about the whole disease process of cancer.

tvccrn

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Speaking as a person who has had pneumonia twice, once in August when the weather was in the upper 90's, and the second time this last September when the weather was in the 80's, it's just not true that pneumonia is caused by cold weather. I agree that while it might lower your immune system response, it won't cause pneumonia.

I understand about how you need to vent about family. My MIL has some very strange and wrong ideas about healthcare (for example: it's OK to go to multiple doctors for pain meds :uhoh3:), and I can't counter her when I try to nicely correct her. She got sooo mad at me once when I tried to explain that doctors won't like it if you go to several doctors for pain meds. Ever since then I've really had to keep my mouth shut when she has some silly idea about medicine.

I feel your pain!! :D

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Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

I think with many older folks, the whole bowel movement thing is a bodily function that if not working properly can cause significant stress. It is like thinking that if you don't have a bm, you will become 'clogged' and need surgery or become incontinent, or have bowel cancer. I mean, it is pretty much a natural unthinking thing we do, and if you have to think and worry about it daily..then it is one of the cornerstones of being "OLD".

I have to really get some older folks to quit freaking out about bowel movents all the time. Especially the ones that don't eat, or just drink Boost or Ensure...no, you really won't be forming much bowel or stimulating perastalsis! But there are still stereotypes and old wifes tales that say if you don't have a bm daily...something is wrong! UHGGGGGG!!!!!!!! I even have to calm down nurses who tend to go full board if someone hasn't had one in three days post surgery...I look at last time they had one, how long they were NPO, complications, etc....instead of immediately hitting the warm prune juice, MOM, supp, or fleets!

As far as pneumonia being caused by the cold, I totally agree with the other posters that cold can lower your immune system, and another...it can tighten the airways in sensitive people causing inflamation and excess fluids in the lungs (typically on a very small scale). But nothing is going to happen if you are just walking outside for a little while sheesh! What, do people in colder regions of the world drop dead of pneumonia??? No!

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