What is the fastest way to get over a cold?
Nothing gets you over a cold much faster, so the win is feeling better while it runs. Sleep really aids immune clearance, fluids loosen secretions, paracetamol or ibuprofen tame the misery, saline rinses and decongestants open noses, honey calms coughs better than most syrups.
Zinc lozenges started within a day may trim it slightly; vitamin C after symptoms start does little.
Antibiotics do nothing here. The average cold lasts seven to ten days with a cough trailing longer; worsening after improvement, high persistent fever, breathlessness or one-sided facial pain flags the exceptions that need a doctor.
Source: NHS, common cold
See a doctor promptly if
- Difficulty breathing, chest pain, or breathing so fast you cannot finish a sentence
- A stiff neck with fever and headache, a rash that does not fade when pressed with a glass, or new confusion
- Unable to swallow your own saliva, drooling, or a muffled voice with severe throat pain
- Fever with shivering rigors plus back or flank pain and burning on passing urine
- Spreading redness, swelling and heat around a wound, or a red streak tracking up a limb
- Severe watery or bloody diarrhea during or in the weeks after an antibiotic course
Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS · How we review
If you are buying a thermometer
A basic digital stick thermometer is accurate and costs a few dollars. Forehead scanners are fine for quick checks on children; ear thermometers need good technique to read true.
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