Medical Questions » Viruses Questions » Question No. 1025
| Question: | What is the best cure for a cold? I get several a year, and I end up in bed for a week every time. Medical science must be able to do something to help me! |
| Answer: | If you catch a cold, there is nothing a doctor can do to cure it. He or she can certainly prescribe medications to ease the symptoms and make you feel more comfortable, but please do not pester him or her for antibiotics, because they do not help the problem at all.
The more you rest, the faster the problem will go away. Those who insist on working while feverish and miserable prevent the body from building up its defences rapidly, and pass the infection on to their work mates.
Aspirin or paracetamol, rest at home and medications for the cough, sore rhroat, runny nose and blocked sinuses are the best remedy. The usual cold will last for a week, but some people are luckier and have a brief course, while others are particularly unlucky, and the first cold may so lower their defences that they can catch another one, and then another, causing cold symptoms to last for many weeks.
Many vitamin and herbal remedies are touted as cures or preventatives for colds, but when subjected to detailed trials, none of them can be proven. If any medication, vitamin or herb could be found to help this condition, the entire medical profession would be delighted to recommend it.
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