Medications Used For The Common Cold

Medications Used For The Common Cold

When you come down with the common cold, all you can think about is relieving your symptoms fast so that you can feel better again.

We all know that there is no cure for the common cold, and that it is a virus, so no antibiotic is going to get rid of it for us.

Viruses just need to run their course and in the meantime we can try to make ourselves feel a little better by relieving the symptoms of the common cold.

The first thing we notice is that we are fatigued, and may have a mild sore throat. We reach for a pain reliever for the sore throat such as Tylenol, Tempra or Panadol.

We may also chose instead to use a medication known as a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug such as Advil, ibuprofen, Menadol, or Motrin.

We try to rest by cutting back on our physical activity such as staying home from work and school, laying around on the couch or even sleeping more than usual.

On the second day of our cold we may discover that our nose is runny, so we reach for an antihistamine such as Benadryl Allergy, or Banophen or we may chose to use chlorpheniramine found in Aller-Chlor, or Chlor-Trimeton Allergy.

As the cold lingers we may experience "stuffed up nose" which has us reaching for some decongestant OTC such as Sudafed, or Allermed.

The stuffy nose is soon followed by a dry cough, which may respond to an antitussive medications such as Robitussin, or Drixoral.

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Individuals may also have a productive cough and may benefit from using an expectorant such as Robitussin, Tusibron or Guiatuss.

If we lose our voice, we may rest our vocal cords or gargle with warm salt water, as there is not any current OTC for a loss of voice due to cold symptoms yet on the market.

You may need to use OTC medication to relieve the symptoms of the common cold for one to two weeks, which is the typical duration of the cold.

The symptoms will not be the same throughout the illness, they will however come in multiples just to keep you "on your toes" and feeling miserable.

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Relieving the symptoms with OTC medications, drinking plenty of fluids and getting more rest are what your body needs to recover from the common cold.

It is important to only take one medication at a time unless your doctor or pharmacist has said that combining medications is all right to do.

Taking more than one kind of medication can lead to an undesirable drug reaction that may have disastrous results.

When taking a medication whether it is prescribed or an over-the-counter (OTC) medication, you should always determine what the medicine is suppose to do for you, how and when the medication should be taken, what possible side effects can you expect to experience, what activities may have to be avoided while taking the medication, and of course how will you know if the medication is working?

The good thing to know is that eventually the common cold will leave your body and you will start to feel human again.