Treatment for Colds
When you have a cold, your first goal is to relieve the symptoms and feel better as soon as possible. It’s a fact that using antibiotics doesn’t help the condition itself, and it will take you just as long as if you were doing absolutely nothing. Preventing colds is also hopeless. However, there are certain supplements, herbs and remedies that can help you feel better and recover sooner.
Remedies for Colds: Medications
There are many over-the-counter drugs you can use to soothe the symptoms of colds. However, you should keep in mind that these drugs are not intended for children under the age of six.
Decongestants (for example, Sudafed, Afrin and Neo-Synephrine) are medicines you can use to open up your air passages and breathe more effectively with your nose. However, you shouldn’t use nasal sprays and drops of this kind for longer than three days in a row as rebound congestion may occur. Your doctor can decide to combine some decongestants with other drugs – for example, with cough suppressants or pain relievers. Decongestants are not recommended for people with high blood pressure, diabetes, glaucoma or heart disease.
Antihistamines include loratadine (Claritin), which helps you deal with a runny nose and can be bought without the doctor’s prescription; others, such as fexofenadine (Allegra) and cetirizine (Zyrtec) can be bought if you have the prescription.
Medicines for cough are divided into expectorants, used to treat wet cough with lots of mucus, and cough suppressants, used for a dry cough, especially if it keeps you awake at night; they both require a prescription.
Painkillers. The most popular kinds of this treatment for colds are aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) and acetaminophen (Tylenol). These remedies can be used to treat body aches, headaches and fevers. Aspirin should not be given to children and teenagers younger than 16 as they may develop Reye’s Syndrome (a potentially fatal metabolic disease that can damage the brain, liver and kidneys).
Remedies for Colds: Nutrition and Dietary Supplements
If you decide to take some supplements along with the drugs prescribed by your doctor, keep in mind that some of them may interact and have a negative impact on your health. Therefore, it’s important to discuss any supplements you are going to take with your doctor or physician.
- Chicken broth (chicken soup) is as traditional a remedy as it can be. Any warm liquid will do, in fact, so your favorite tea can also become a good treatment for colds. Apart from being nutritional and tasting good, these warm fluids will also help you deal with congestion.
- Probiotics are also referred to as “good” bacteria (Lactobacillus). They are used to prevent any infections in the intestines, and it is thought that they can help prevent going down with a cold.
- Vitamin C and colds. It hasn’t been proved that vitamin C cures colds, but it surely reduces its duration in some cases. It’s also important to take this vitamin regularly, instead of just trying it as one of the remedies for a day or two.
- Zinc is necessary for your immune system to protect your body from infection, which surely contributes to a faster recovery. However, no consistent evidence has been found that zinc cures colds in any way; it basically helps your body do it more efficiently.
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