What OTC Medications Are Best For Colds?

So hand hygiene, making sure cleaning surfaces. So I have three young girls and so three start in school. This is the season for everyone to get sick. And so we end up seeing a lot of viruses kind of passing around park related to this. And this is definitely that season.

Often people don't really know what they're taking. And they'll come in saying they're taking one of the colding flu versions, but they don't realize they're actually taking Pseudafed and they're taking a few other things they actually didn't think they were taking. I also like a conversation that we do see with cold and flu, we can get sinus or really lung bronchitis symptoms. And the lung bronchitis symptoms actually have a different treatment than the sinus symptoms.

And so I've seen some scenarios where people are taking medicines to cover the sinuses and the one they're using actually makes some of their symptoms worse.

And so I think the idea of what's the names of some of the medicines are in the cold and flu treatments and then what they end up doing. And so one of the ones is called Yfenison, this actually helps to make things runner. So it helps you get out the junk that's in your chest.

For example, and that can actually build up and turn into an pneumonia. And so some of the other things like I mentioned with the sinuses, we tend to see things that dry it up or even some of the nose sprays that can actually help reduce the inflammation process that's happening. Those can actually have a good benefit. And just I guess every cold and flu is not always the same. But it does depend on where your symptoms are.

And it was actually called Zeffluza. Zafluza started coming out actually a little bit before COVID ended up hitting. And it's actually a one-dose medication that generally within twenty-four hours, people have significant improvements. It tends to be a little bit more expensive, so it just depends if it's covered. Tama flu is actually a five day course and it actually tends to decrease the symptoms by about a day.

From the overcounter part, we do see, you know, vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc. There are some minerals and vitamins that we do see help from a standpoint of kind of the immune system portion. A lot of times it comes down to making sure you stay well hydrated, making sure you're getting nutrition in and getting kind of Sustance to help your body recover.

It's weekend hard to get in to see the provider the next day. There are medications we can use to kind of help with the symptoms as your body does address the virus. And for the vast majority of these instances, your body will take care of things. It's just how much are you going to suffer while that process is happening? And then are there things that we might do that actually could make things work?

And so especially making sure you're getting plenty of sleep, making sure you're getting nutrition, make sure you're getting high fluids, those are things that definitely help. From a standpoint of the mucus that ends up being produced, that can actually get stuck in certain areas and actually cause a lot of symptoms.

So we can see significant headache, significant ear pain, and that can come from junk getting stuck in the sinuses and then also in the eustacean tube, for example, and getting into the ears. From a lung standpoint, we do see bronchitises. And actually, flu and COVID are two viruses that do cause bronchitis. But actually, a lot of the common cold viruses can do it as well.

And so a bronchitis part, you notice it a lot more in your chest. You're coughing trying to get something out. It's just really hard to ultimately get that junk out. And so that's where there are some treatments over the counter, such as like mucinx to help you really get rid of it. And your body's basically producing these symptoms because it's trying to flush out a part of what's there.

and really try to get rid of some of the, you know, exploding the virus trying to help those kind of aspects. I do think there's also the contagiousness port. the viruses making you do some of this too with hopes that you will have that airborne or at least uh droplet kind of transmission.

And so again, that's where making sure you're washing your hands. If you are sneezing or coughing, kind of make sure you're coughing into your arms and it's not moving outwards, because we can see just a potential from a passing standpoint. The Other part from at least a medication or the counter standpoint is cough is a common side effect. And so cough can come or symptom that can come from sinus drainage. It can also come from within the chest.

And so from one of the medications that we actually see tends to be a little bit more effective from a cough standpoint is actually something called dextromorphan. So have you ever seen something like Mucinex DM? Dextromorphan is the DM within Mucinex. And then D is another version that's actually a decongested or sudo.

in many instances. There are other options that are actually antihistamines, and those do act to dry up fluid. And those are also different versions of decongestants. But so core CD and HBP, which is over the counter, is actually an antihistamine decongest. So those tend to work really well from the sinus standpoint because it does help to dry the sinuses up so you don't drain as much. And then that can help to reduce cough along those lines.

One of the interesting things is even like Robotussin versus Musinix, they're both quietnessin. And so they're just brands. And so a lot of times or one of the things I'm actually seeing a little more recently is brands using their name to kind of repurpose some things. So one of the things that I can notice was actually a Musinex no spray. If you look at the ingredient, it's octymethasone, that's the same ingredient for African.

And so many people when they're using the mucinx note spray, they don't realize they're using afferin, but they know it works really well. And so that's one of the things we can see rebound symptoms, we can see side effects related to that. But especially if you're having something more in the sinuses.

Something that does help to kind of dry things up so you're not having as much of the drainage can help reduce cough. It can also help with the symptoms you're having. But especially if you're noticing it in the lungs, you do not want to use decongestants that actually risk increase your risk of the most.

having things like guy penicillin, something that's actually an expectrant, help you get the stuff out because that will make you feel better. But then even things like even baths, steam baths can help really help clear some of the crud that get stuck in the chest out as well.

Personally I I do like some of the uh like menthol slash eucalyptus kind of steam. So I think it's a VIX a vapor kind of steamer that actually can really help to open up the sinuses and help clear some of the crud out through that portion.

But I don't think it's a bad idea to go and see a uh primary care physician if you're able to get in. I'm just noticing lately it's a lot harder to get in. It takes a few days to get in to see the primary care doctor. And in many instances, I've had people where they set up appointments, but by the time the appointment happens, they're actually feeling bad.

And so I think in that interim there are over the counter things that can really help, but fevers is gonna be a big one, especially if you're having fevers consistently past two days and it's you're constantly having to use toleraprofen to keep the fever down. Usually it's about two to three days of fevers in some instances.

And then if you're losing appetite, not getting fluids in, dizziness is actually a big one where we would even have them consider the R. If you're getting dizzy with standing, feeling faint, that's often a concern from a low blood pressure.

The other part I'll talk about just because of pneumonia, we often have that data linked with flu, just because a lot of viruses can end up turning into pneumonia. And so fluid covert are definitely two of them as well, but even the common colds can have that kind of an impact. And so with a bacterial infection, one of the things we often will see is, especially with pneumonia, shortness of breath with activity.

We can see people are coughing up more junk and sometimes it does have a discoloration. But there are viruses that will give you a yellowed cough upper junk that you end up getting out or sputum, but it's primarily in the morning when it kind of drains and cakes and then it you get it out and it tends to be clearer.

but consistent kind of colored medium contained to it. But a lot of times it's kind of the other fever, feeling really run down, shortness of breath with activity, especially if you're having a hard time getting food in and really more the you're getting dizzy because you really can't keep food down.

Those are areas where I would have a lot more concern. And we tend to start worrying or wondering about that transition to a bacterial infection. Speaking a little bit more on the sinus side, so sinus bacterial infections, generally what we see is it always starts out with viral or allergen. After about seven to ten days, that's really when we start going, yeah, this is probably more bacterial.

The viral aspect of it, generally it's about three to five days in many instances, but there are scenarios, especially people who are smoking, we can see symptoms can last for weeks, especially cough. But generally you're feeling better. You just have these prolonged symptoms afterwards.

A lot of times because of fever and your body trying to heat itself up to kill off the viruses, that's really where we see the body aches. You do not feel well. It's hard to get up and do things. And really you're just trying to sleep.

Those are the most common symptoms we end up seeing, especially with some of the more significant body reactions to viruses trying to expel it. And that's actually where the ibuprofen tolanol does come in to help reduce the fevers. And usually you do feel better at those instances.

But I do think from a general standpoint, you know your body, trust yourself. If you don't feel right, I do think getting seen is important. I also recognize it is hard to get in and see someone. And in many instances, knowing what some of the medicines mean can actually help a little bit more with catering uh the treatments to your symptoms.