Home Care for the Common Cold

Home Care for the Common Cold

One of the questions I get frequently—and one of the things we were never really taught (outside of a career medicine)—is what tools you might have available to you that you don't need a prescription for that you can use at home to help safely treat your symptoms when you have a cold. Below is a table with a summary of some of the medicines that are available over-the-counter (OTC) that you don't need a prescription for that are helpful in treating symptoms of the common cold.

Symptom	OTC Medicines
Fever	Acetaminophen (Tylenol), Ibuprofen (Motrin)
Stuffy Nose	Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed), Netty Pot
Runny Nose	Oxymetazoline (Afrin)
Cough	Guaifenesin (Mucinex), Menthol Drops, dextromethorphan (Robitussin)

Always take medicines as directed on the box, and if you have any medical conditions or any other questions, be sure to reach out to your primary care physician to get those resolved before taking one of these medicines if you have concerns.

As always, listen to your body! If you have symptoms that don't seem to be going away, or are getting worse or if you have any other concerns, please reach out to your primary care physician or be seen in an urgent care or the emergency room. Better to get checked out and have everything be fine then wait too long and get a lot more sick!