To Catch a Cold

I had a cold for the past several days. Here's Wikipedia article on cold: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_cold

Few things of interest:

• Cold (Acute nasopharyngitis) is caused by a virus. (has nothing to do with not being warm enough)
• There is currently no vaccine nor cure towards Cold.
• The cold medicines people take are for relieving Cold symptoms or discomfort. They do absolutely nothing to fight the virus. The virus is killed by the body's immune system all by itself in about a week.

When you go to a drug store for cold medicine, there are a bewildering array of choices. The medicines come in many forms: pills, syrup, candy, drink powder, effervescent tablets. They do a combination of various things: relieving nasal congestion, running nose, sneezing, sinus pain, soar throat, body ache or headache. They come in various brand names, and their prices vary also wildly. Here's how to make your choice:

When a person is hit with the cold virus, different people will develop different symptoms. Some will have coughs, some running nose, some nasal congestion etc. You want to choose the medicine that matches your symptoms. Don't worry if there's no exact match of your symptoms. All cold medicines came down to do a few things: Antihistamine, Pain reliever, Nasal decongestant, Cough suppressants.

Look at the Active Ingredients on the package. Here, you'll find a no-nonsense description of what the package do exactly.

For example, i have a cold medicine with this list:

ACTIVE INGREDIENT                    PURPOSE
Acetaminophen, 250 mg.              Pain reliever/fever reducer.
Chlorpheniramine maleate, 2 mg.     Antihistamine.
Phenylephrine HCI, 5 mg.            Nasal decongestant.

They will also list the amount of each drug (e.g. milligrams) the package contains. Say if you are comparing two packages, then just compare this list of Active Ingredients. Usually they'll be identical except the quantity mixture. For example, if you don't have much body ache but have severe cough, you want the package that has more quantity of cough suppressant. Lastly, you can compare the prices. You'll find, some well-marketed brands are 2 to 3 times the price than a nameless brand with respect to the active ingredients.

Also, remember, all these medicines do nothing to heal your cold. They only relieve symptoms and help you get through your day. You don't have to take them really. Drink a lot of water, and slice ginger roots and boil them in water and squeeze in lemon juice will be very soothing. (do forget about the chicken soup. You might as well have a clam chowder soup.)