Colds start slowly - flu comes on fast

The first thing to watch for is how fast the symptoms come on. Colds take 2 or 3 days to develop. The first symptoms to watch for are a scratchy, sore throat followed by sneezing and runny nose. Temperature is usually normal or only slightly higher. A mild cough often develops a few days later.

Flu symptoms come on suddenly with headache, dry cough and chills followed quickly by muscle aches. Fever of 39°C – 40°C (102°F – 104°F) is common but usually subsides by the 2nd or 3rd day. That’s when respiratory symptoms like nasal congestion and sore throat generally appear.

Most colds, coughs and flu can be treated safely at home

You very rarely need to consult your doctor for colds, coughs or flu. Keep a watchful eye out, however, for unusually high or prolonged fever, green or yellow phlegm, vomiting, diarrhea or dehydration. If you see any of those symptoms, or if your child complains of severe earache, you do need to call the doctor.

Please don’t ask your doctor to prescribe antibiotics for a common cold or flu. Antibiotics won’t kill or cure cold or flu viruses. And over-using them is a serious problem that can lead to resistance in disease-causing bacteria. However, while antibiotics won’t help a cold virus, there are things you can do at home that will.

Getting lots of rest will help fight the infection. Drinking plenty of fluids is also important. (And yes, that old mother’s standby, chicken soup, does help. While it won’t cure the cold, it does relieve dehydration, help relieve congestion and soothe a sore throat.) Then there are trusted, proven over-the-counter (OTC) medications (available without a prescription) that can provide relief from symptoms.

What to look for in OTC medications

There are so many cold, cough and flu products available these days that choosing the right one can be confusing. Most of them will contain one or more of the following ingredients:

• ^Decongestants^ open up stuffed nasal passages. (Be careful with decongestant sprays, though, as using a spray for longer than 3 days can actually make congestion worse.)
  
• Expectorants are thought to help loosen mucus and make coughs more productive.
  
• Antitussives or cough suppressants soothe and quiet coughs due to minor throat irritation.
  
• Analgesics such as acetaminophen, acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) or ibuprofen reduce fever and relieve aches and pain. (Children and teenagers with flu should not be given products containing ASA as it has been connected to Reye’s Syndrome, a rare condition that can be fatal.)

For your convenience, some of these remedies are available in multi-ingredient formulations, so you don’t have to take 2 or 3 different products to relieve all your symptoms. TYLENOL* COLD and TYLENOL* FLU are good examples of OTC combination medications that have been proven to relieve your many symptoms while the particular virus runs its course. Visit Tylenol.ca for more information.

Don’t hesitate to treat run of the mill colds, flu and coughs at home. But if cold symptoms fail to disappear in 7 to 10 days, a cough seems to hang on, or flu symptoms fail to respond to over-the-counter medication, it’s time to call your doctor.

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