Don’t take antibiotics, but do consider cold relief pills
Put bluntly, there is no reason why antibiotics should help – since they target bacteria, whereas it is a virus that causes a cold. “There’s no real benefit from antibiotics, but they do increase the risk of adverse events like diarrhoea,” says Allan. Your best bet is to try to reduce your symptoms. Over-the-counter pills that combine antihistamines with decongestants or painkillers help relieve some of the nastier symptoms for adults (not children). But even then, the benefits are often modest and probably differ between people, and the particular types of infection they are suffering from, says Allan.