How to Make Your Cough and Sniffles Go Away

Rest and liquids are often helpful for the common cold.

Maddening, isn't it? You're happily perking along when seemingly out of the blue, you begin coughing, sneezing and — the coup de grâce — your nose starts to run. The bad news is that a cure for the common cold remains elusive. There are, however, simple measures you can take to control your symptoms while the cold runs its course.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Disposable tissues or handkerchiefs
• Saltwater nasal spray or rinse
• Humidifier
• Large bowl or plastic tub
• Towels
• Sugar-free lozenges or hard candy
• Over-the-counter decongestant
• Zinc lozenges or syrup

Congestion Relief

1. Gently blow your nose to clear mucus buildup and then rinse your nasal passages with an over-the-counter saltwater spray according to the product instructions. Alternatively, irrigate your nasal passages with a saltwater solution delivered with a neti pot.

2. Repeat saltwater misting or irrigation as needed during the day to relieve your nasal congestion and potentially shorten the duration of your symptoms. In a January 2008 article published in the "Archives of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery," Dr. Ivo Slapak and colleagues report that children with colds who used a nasal saltwater wash six times daily experienced a shorter duration of symptoms compared to children not using a nasal wash.

3. Take a hot bath or shower and breathe the warm, moist air to relieve nasal congestion. Moist air also soothes your upper airways and may provide temporary cough relief. Taking a bath or shower before bedtime may help you sleep more comfortably.

4. Use a humidifier to keep your nasal passages and upper airways moist. Humidified air helps prevent mucus buildup in your nose and may quiet your cough.

5. Consider using an over-the-counter decongestant to help relieve nasal congestion if other measures fail to relieve your symptoms sufficiently. Phenylephrine and pseudoephedrine are nonprescription, oral decongestants that you can purchase from your local pharmacy. Oxymetazoline is a decongestant nasal spray.

6. If your cold symptoms began with the past 24 hours, talk with your healthcare provider about taking zinc lozenges or syrup. In a February 2011 article published in the "Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews," Drs. Meenu Singh and Rashmi Das report that supplemental zinc taken within the first 24 hours after the onset of a cold may reduce the severity of symptoms and shorten the duration of the illness by roughly a day. The dosage of zinc required to effectively treat the common cold remains uncertain; the amount taken in the studies reviewed by Singh and Das ranged from 30 to 160 mg per day.

7. Get plenty of rest to help overcome the fatigue that sometimes accompanies the common cold.

Cough Control

1. Make a steam bath by pouring hot — but not boiling — water into a large cooking pot or plastic tub. Place a towel over your head and the bath to capture the moisture rising from the water. Take slow, deep breaths to bring the moist, soothing air into your lungs.

2. Suck on sugar-free lozenges or hard candy to keep your throat moist and suppress your cough.

3. Sip on water, hot tea or another sugar-free beverage throughout the day. In addition to suppressing your cough, drinking fluids helps keep you hydrated.

4. Avoid smoke and other inhaled irritants that may trigger your cough.

Tips & Warnings

• Cover your sneezes, wash your hands frequently and dispose of tissues immediately after use to prevent the spread of cold viruses to others.

• Do not take antibiotics for a cold. Viruses cause colds and antibiotics have no effect on viruses.

• Watch for signs and symptoms that may indicate something more serious than a cold, including a fever higher than 102 F; shortness of breath; chest pain; dizziness or lightheadedness; large, swollen glands; inability to keep food down; confusion; coughing up blood; and failure to improve after 10 days. If you develop any of these signs and symptoms, call your doctor right away.

• Use filtered, distilled or boiled tap water to make saltwater solution for nasal irrigation. Do not use tap water straight from your faucet due to the risk for a rare, potentially life-threatening parasitic infection.

• Talk with your doctor before using a decongestant if you have high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, glaucoma, asthma, or prostate or thyroid problems.

• Do not use a decongestant nasal spray for longer than three days to avoid rebound congestion.

• Do not give over-the-counter cough and cold medicines to children younger than 4 years old unless your doctor prescribes the treatment.

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration advises consumers not to use nasal sprays, gels or swabs that contain zinc due to the risk for potentially permanent loss of your sense of smell.

References

• MayoClinic.com: Runny Nose
• Archives of Otolaryngology — Head & Neck Surgery: Efficacy of Isotonic Nasal Wash (Seawater) in the Treatment and Prevention of Rhinitis in Children
• PubMed Health: Phenylephrine
• PubMed Health: Pseudoephedrine
• PubMed Health: Oxymetazoline Nasal Spray
• NHS Choices: Cold, Common - Treatment
• Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; Zinc for the Common Cold (Review); Meenu Singh, M.D., and Rashmi R. Das, M.D
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases: Common Cold Treatment
• FamilyDoctor.org: Colds and the Flu
• State of Louisiana Department of Health & Hospitals: North Louisiana Woman Dies from Rare Ameba Infection

Resources

• FamilyDoctor.org: Decongestants: OTC Relief for Congestion
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Cold and Cough Medicines: Information for Parents
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Using Over-the-Counter Cough and Cold Products in Children
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration: FDA Advises Consumers Not to Use Certain Zicam Cold Remedies, Intranasal Zinc Product Linked to Loss of Sense of Smell
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Common Cold and Runny Nose
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Handwashing: Clean Hands Save Lives