When you stroll down the cold and flu aisle in a drugstore, it’s easy to get lost in the dizzying array of products promising to clear sinus pressure, dry up sniffles and stop plaguing coughs. Some concoctions even offer it all in one magical pill.
But doctors say the science behind some of those claims is lackluster.
“There’s just not much that’s very effective for treating the common cold,” said Dr. Lauren Eggert, clinical assistant professor in the Pulmonary Allergy and Critical Care Division at Stanford University.
“Most of the things out there — antihistamines, decongestants, cough medicines — none of them have a lot of evidence that they’re super effective at improving cough or common cold symptoms.”
Headlines blasted that message in September when advisers to the FDA found oral phenylephrine, which is an active ingredient in some Sudafed, Mucinex, and Dayquil products, is simply not effective. The review was prompted by inquiries dating back nearly a decade.
A decongestant might not cure the cold, but it sure as hell makes life easier to be able to breath lol
*To be fair I’m talking about things like vicks/olbas/tiger balm type things that help clear the gunk out of your sinuses, I don’t know if that’s what they mean too, but those are my go-to’s if I’m bunged up.
German proverb: A flu lasts seven days with medicine and a week without.
Just a reminder that phenylephrine, the replacement for Sudafed in OTC decongestants, isn’t any more effective than a placebo.
If you want a decongestant, use a nasal spray (very sparingly because rebound effect)
Seriously, just don’t use nasal spray ever. I was addicted to it in high school. By addicted I mean I couldn’t breathe through my nose at all without it. The bottle says only use it every 4 hours, but it never lasts more than 1.
Yeah, the only time you should use it is to fall asleep.
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chill at home and get a slight buzz going
Way ahead of you there. And I don’t even have a cold.
There’s painkillers and pills against fever but they should be used only if absolutely necessary.
They’re fine, at least if your pain or fever bothers you. If you’re thinking about “fever as natural defense”, it’s been shown IIRC that treating the fever with over the counter drugs does not harm you or prolong the course of the illness.
Sadly, that buzz may not be all that helpful, depending on what you’re imbibing, though it certainly can help distract you a bit depending on the severity of the cold and the level of buzz.
Best thing is water, sleep, healthy food, maybe a doctor’s visit, and definitely just time for it to pass.
I wouldn’t recommend seeing a doctor unless you’ve been sick for over a week, have symptoms of a bacterial infection (like strep throat), are running a high fever that’s resistant to nsaids, or any severe symptoms like difficulty breathing.
Otherwise you’re just paying to be told to get rest and drink plenty of fluids, and potentially infecting people at the clinic. Or they just throw unnecessary antibiotics at you which increase your risk of a c-diff infection (would not recommend).
If your doctor is cool, you can probably call and talk to the nurse on staff and they’ll tell you to come in or not.
If you have a cold, you do not need to see a doctor.
All the medicine is about masking the symptoms. The best results for “cures” reduced cold length from 5 days to 4.5 days.
In my experience medication also helps with overlasting coughing after the cold passes. But yeah, you’re about right.
Sleep is the best medicine
the real sudafed (pseudoephedrine) which is at least partially-controlled now most places. you have to ask for it, the sale is logged, etc… and it’s expensive af these days.
…and if you have high blood pressure, you can’t take it.
This is news to me. Drug Interactions or something else?
It raises blood pressure, so if you already have high blood pressure it can cause you to have a heart attack.
ohhh so if the blood pressure is controlled it’s okay?
As far as I’m aware, yes. Ask a pharmacist for more info next time you’re grabbing some.
I’ll just treat it with crystal meth but yeah
The best way to take care of a cold is to have taken care of your body before you got the cold.
Chicken soup, a good chicken broth/soup. Is the only thing to, help, a little. And is tasty.
Yes, it helps my taste buds quite a bit.
Especially when baked instead of just boiled
Taking rest, and letting your body handle it is what works. Not going out and infecting others helps a bunch too.
Most other things help against the symptoms, like opening up your nose. Nice to haves, but not cures
Now makes since. I get colds all the time and nothing helps.
It’s kind of pseudoscience but have you tried zinc? I feel like it helps I get over stuff faster than others in my household and I’m the only one that takes it when sick.
Shortages of certain vitamins and minerals cause your immune system to be weaker. Low zinc is one but vitamin d, k, b12 and (less than made out by marketing but not zero) C deficiencies make you more susceptible
This is the main thing with supplements in general. If you’re deficient and the supplement is in a bioavailable form then it will help you (though not necessarily with the specific issue you want to resolve, and with illness it’s better to be prepared ahead of time rather than try to catch up once you’re sick). If you aren’t deficient, you’re just giving your kidneys more work for no benefit.
And this is just speculation, but viruses and bacteria also use vitamins and minerals to replicate, so it’s possible that certain supplements could benefit the infection. That said, your cells vastly outnumber infection cells unless you’re doing very badly already, so odds are your body still gets more benefit from not being out of something, even if the virus needs it.
You are probably just lucky, or your body just happens to deal with it better than your family.
My n=1 study says that real Sudafed (pseudoephedrine HCl) is a life saver when I have sinus pain. The modern, over-the-counter, fake shit does absolutely nothing.
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Yeah, nothing’s ever worked for a cold. You have to let that shit pass. And absolutely not take antibiotics.
NyQuil at bedtime, honey lemon tea, sleep
