Why won't my doctor give antibiotics for my cold?
Colds and flu are caused by viruses, and antibiotics kill only bacteria. Taking them for a virus adds side effects and breeds resistant bacteria. The cold runs its identical course either way. Green mucus does not mean bacterial. It means the immune system is working.
Most coughs last up to three weeks; that duration alone is not failure.
What earns reassessment: fever returning after improvement, one-sided facial pain beyond ten days, breathlessness, or feeling much sicker rather than slowly better. Antibiotics saved for real bacterial moments still work when your family actually needs them.
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
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Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS · How we review
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