What does the forum like for an over-the-counter cold medicine these days?

[beagledave]

If you do nothing, your cold will last 14 days. If you pick the right remedy, you can knock it down to two weeks.

For symptoms, it depends on what bothers you the most. The strategy of my ENT for his colds is Afrin type spray for the worst days (only 2-3 days of course). Other than that..this is the standard suggestion list.

I'll add to the above that only the "real" sudafed has any efficacy.

Since I have sinus issues, I'm a big fan of saline nasal rinsing if I'm not completely clogged up. (I use a water pik attachment to "pulse" the saline rinse).

Staying hydrated is good. Zinc lozenges falls into the category of a big "maybe"

The Straight Dope covers the current state of research. YMMV

[cbelt3]

I'm with Randall...

+

[rz]

I don't like using pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) because it causes me to hallucinate when I try to sleep. I end up feeling more tired when I wake up than when I went to sleep. Well, hallucinate is probably not exactly the right word. I get these very vivid dream-like fits of sleep that as I said are not restful at all. If I'm really, really sick, I may take one in the morning when I wake up. Otherwise, I do ok with Dayquil/Nyquil without Sudafed.

[Ombligo]

I used to use a alka-seltzer cold remedy dissolved in watered-down Nyquil to wash a Contact and two Sudafed.. not sure if it made the cold go away, but five minutes after taking it I no longer cared.

(and yeah, I really did that back in my stupid, indestructible youth)

[rexs]

At the first hint of a tickle in the throat or runny nose we start taking Yin Chiao

It works better to ward off a cold than any thing else we have found.
After the cold is full blown, it is less effective.

[Racer X]

pinion wrote:
I find you have to ask the pharmacist for the good stuff and give them your id to be put on a list.

It's more of a hassle to get OTC sudafed than it is to refill my morphine prescription.

[pinion]

Racer X wrote:
[quote=pinion]
I find you have to ask the pharmacist for the good stuff and give them your id to be put on a list.

It's more of a hassle to get OTC sudafed than it is to refill my morphine prescription.

Cant' make meth with morphine!

(Disclaimer: maybe you can? I'm not a chemist)