I’m not sure what’s worse -- a cold or the medicine to treat the cold.
It’s bad enough to have gotten a summer cold, but for me it’s always tough trying to decide whether or not to suffer it out or give in a take some medication.
If I don’t take the medication, I have to deal with the constant head pounding, sneezing, sore throat, coughing and overall ickiness I feel when I get a cold.
However, if I take the medication, then I feel as though I am watching my own life pass me by in slow motion. It’s really weird. All I usually take for a cold is some variation of Tylenol, Advil, DayQuil or NyQuil. However, I never take the recommended two tablets or I am literally a walking zombie. Yes. I may even moan and drool. I’m not sure because I am in a zombie-like state.
This week, I totally messed up an ignored my own rule of only taking one tablet. I took two, the recommended adult amount. Bad idea. It hadn’t even been an hour when I started to feel odd. It’s hard for me to describe, it’s almost like I am floating. Then the realization hit me. In my own sad and pathetic cold-like state I took two tablets instead of one. Now what am I going to do. What I usually do I guess. Carry one with my day and don’t take anymore medication until the first dose wears off. All I took was daytime over-the-counter cold relief medication, but I feel as though I am going to fall asleep.
On a positive note: I am not coughing as much, the headache is gone and I’m not sneezing either, but I feel like I’m living life in slow motion.
I quickly go and check the label on the package. Nothing out of the ordinary. I think “this too shall pass and I go on about my day.”
The thing about colds is they just plain suck. It doesn’t matter what kind I have or what my symptoms are, they just plain suck. And it seems like the older I get, the longer the colds last.
Now, I’ve had people swear their colds are gone quicker if they take medication like Zicam as soon as they notice cold symptoms. I’ve tried this before and I didn’t notice a difference at all. Plus, I have such bad allergies so by the time I figure out it’s a cold and not allergies I’m dealing with, it’s just too late.
People also claim taking vitamin C, zinc or vitamin B will also help.
Once again, I haven’t had much luck with any of these. Maybe it’s a “if you believe it helps, then it helps” sort of thing. I don’t know. What I do know is if I tried all of these things not only would I feel spacey, but I’d probably have a stomach ache too.
For me, the more things I take to try an alleviate the symptoms only make me feeling worse, which is why I just stick with the basics.
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