Cold Virus Defence Question!

[A Canadian]

If someone has a cold, would it better for that person to over come the cold without the use of cold medications?

Would white blood cells "remeber" better without the assist of on the self cold remedies.

Cold remedies may speed up and/or make you feel better for a short time, but is it really the best thing in the long run?

This strikes me as a question becuase of the use of antibiotic and how they do more harm than good in the long run. Can the same be said for on the shelf cold remedies?

 

[Repo Man]

Cold remedies only alleviate the symptoms. None that I'm aware of actually change your immune response. They might prolong the cold by encouraging you to be more active, rather than spending your time resting, and allowing your immune system destroy the virus.

Many people (including me) are often susceptible to a secondary bacterial infection of the sinuses following a cold (sinusitis). Over the counter decongestants might actually help reduce the risk of these by clearing blocked sinuses. And they can be a wonderful relief of splitting sinus pressure headaches.

I think the best advice is to get rest and good nutrition, and use cold "remedies" to alleviate the worst symptoms, rather than using them as crutches to continue your usual busy pace, and end up with bronchitis or pneumonia (other common bacterial secondary infections following a cold).

 

[Gill]

Most cold medicines actually oppress your body's natural antihistamine responses that help rid the body of infection. The truth is that you will recover faster without taking something like Tylenol, but you'll feel like crap. I usually try not to take any medication unless I have an important event coming up...If I don't have anything going on, what's the point of taking medication? The best thing you can do would be to drink lots of non-sugar liquids.

EDIT: Oh...I think you mentioned antibiotics in your post. I don't believe antibiotics affect the immune system in any negative ways like Tylenol can. The only problem is that if not used properly, antibiotics can lead to favoring a mutation in the infection agent, creating a new strain that is immune to the original antibiotic.