What medicine should I take for a cold?

At present, there are many kinds of drugs used to treat colds in the market, but according to the mechanism of action, they are mainly divided into four categories: antiallergic drugs, nasal congestion relieving drugs, antipyretic and analgesic drugs, and antiviral drugs:

Anti-allergic drugs can relieve sneezing, stuffy nose and runny nose, and have a slight sedative effect, such as chlorpheniramine and diphenhydramine.

Drugs to relieve congestion of nasal mucosa can selectively contract blood vessels of nasal mucosa, relieve symptoms of nasal congestion and reduce nasal discharge, such as phenylpropanolamine and pseudoephedrine.

Antipyretic and analgesic drugs can reduce fever and relieve headache, joint pain and muscle pain, such as aspirin, acetaminophen and diclofenac.

Antiviral drugs can inhibit the virus from synthesizing nucleic acid and protein, and inhibit the virus from being released from cells, thus reducing the severity of virus infection. Commonly used antiviral drugs include ribavirin, acyclovir and amantadine.

There are many traditional Chinese medicines for treating colds, such as Yinqiao Jiedu Pill, Sangju Ganmao Tablet, Ling Gan Yang Ganmao Tablet, Ganmao Qingre Granule and Huoxiang Zhengqi Granule. Chinese medicine, such as Bupleurum, Radix Puerariae, Coptidis Rhizoma, Flos Lonicerae, etc. It has antiviral effect that western medicine does not have. For example, Bupleurum has obvious antipyretic effect on fever caused by many reasons, and has the characteristics of low toxicity and rapid antipyretic. In the aspect of antivirus, Bupleurum chinense not only has inhibitory effect on influenza Bacillus, pneumococcus and Staphylococcus aureus, but also has strong inhibitory effect on Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Shigella dysenteriae. Therefore, Bupleurum chinense not only can be used to treat influenza, but also can be used to treat mumps, pneumonia, acute bronchitis and other infectious diseases caused by cold.

Both the common cold and the flu are caused by viruses. At present, the effect of antiviral drugs is uncertain, so we can only treat the symptoms, and choose the appropriate anti-cold drugs under the guidance of doctors. The common cold is a self-limiting disease, which can be cured in 5-7 days. If the local symptoms are serious, you can take local physical therapy, drink more water, take some throat tablets for sore throat, and use some medicine to shrink the nasal mucosa for nasal congestion. The flu needs bed rest and plenty of water. For example, oseltamivir is a drug for influenza A and B viruses, which has a good effect within 48 hours of the initial fever.

According to the etiology, Chinese medicine divides colds into three types: wind-cold type, wind-heat type and summer-heat type, and there are also differences in medication. Cold-type cold is characterized by headache, no sweat, pain in limbs, heavy nasal congestion, runny nose, cough, thin white sputum, dry mouth and tongue coating. Treatment should choose pungent drugs to relieve exterior syndrome, disperse lung and dispel cold. Chinese patent medicines can choose Ganmao Granules, Xuan Tong Li Fei Tablets and Xiaochaihu Tablets. In rural areas, some people chop up fresh ginger and boil water with scallion, drink it while it is hot, and then they can heal themselves with a little sweat. Wind-heat type cold is characterized by high fever, slight chills, head swelling and pain, thick or yellow runny nose, sore throat, cough, yellow and thick phlegm, thirst, yellow or thin white tongue coating. Xin Liang should be used to disperse lung heat and relieve exterior syndrome. Yinqiao Jiedu Pill, Sangju Ganmao Tablet, Ling Gan Yang Ganmao Tablet or Ganmao Qingre Granule can be taken orally. Summer-heat-type cold should clear heat and dispel summer-heat, clear qi and divide heat, and Huoxiang Zhengqi granule or oral liquid can be selected.

Some Chinese doctors also divide a cold into three different types: external cold and internal heat. Often eat high-calorie food, unbalanced nutrition, hot constitution, internal fire, coupled with exogenous cold, resulting in internal heat stagnation. There is also exogenous cold, improper treatment, long delay, resulting in endogenous stagnation. When treating a cold with external cold and internal heat, pungent warming should be used to relieve exterior cold first, and then the stagnation heat should be evacuated.

It is worth noting that many cold medicines used by adults are harmful to children. Therefore, children should be very cautious when using cold medicines, such as Xiao Su Shangfeng Capsule, Ganmaotong and Antongding. Which contains paracetamol, phenacetin, aminopyrine, caffeine and other ingredients. These components can inhibit the hematopoietic system of bone marrow, affect the generation and growth of children's blood cells, lead to leukopenia and agranulocytosis, reduce children's immunity, and some can cause toxic liver injury. Compound aspirin has an exciting effect, but the mechanism of nerve inhibition on infants is not perfect. Using compound aspirin in infants with high fever is easy to induce convulsions, collapse and even jaundice due to the accumulation of free bilirubin in the blood. At the same time, the drug is harmful to digestive system and liver and kidney function, and some may cause Wright's syndrome, leading to leukopenia and thrombocytopenia, especially in children under 3 years old. This medicine is generally not recommended.

Experts believe that colds should not be taken lightly, especially for the elderly and infants, but don't panic, abuse cold medicine, listen to advertisements, don't give fluids easily, especially don't use antibiotics easily. A cold is usually a viral infection. Antibiotics have no effect on viruses, but will increase the body's resistance to antibiotics. Unless complicated with bacterial infection and pneumonia, antibiotics are generally not needed.