Cold Medication

When you’ve got a cold, all you’ll want is to get better as soon as possible so you can get back to normal.

If you want to get better quickly, you’ll need to get plenty of rest and sleep, keep yourself warm and drink plenty of water.

Thankfully, there are also lots of effective treatments available that can ease your symptoms in the meantime.

These include paracetamol, ibuprofen, nasal decongestants, vapour rubs and cough medicines if necessary.

Always check the label of your cough or cold remedy to make sure you don’t take too much, especially if you’ve been taking any other medicines.

When you’ve got a cough, it’s important to rest and drink plenty of fluids so you can let your body recover.

There are some treatments that can help to ease your symptoms too, such as cough syrup, cough medicine and cough sweets.

There are several varieties based on whether your cough is a dry, tickly or mucus cough.

It’s normal to catch two or three colds a year, so it’s likely you’ll get one during your pregnancy.

Before taking any medicine when you’re pregnant, including regular painkillers, you should speak to your doctor, midwife or pharmacist to make sure it’s safe for you and your baby.

You can find important information on medicines in pregnancy here.

Antihistamines work by blocking a chemical called histamine that is released during an allergic reaction, causing symptoms like a runny nose and watery eyes.

Experts generally believe that histamine isn’t the cause of a runny nose if you’ve got a cold, however, some viruses may induce histamine production.

As long as it’s a suitable medicine for you, there’s no harm in trying an antihistamine to see if it relieves your runny nose.

However, the recommended treatments for colds are usually painkillers, like paracetamol, or specific cold and flu medicines.