5 ms·

DayQuil/NyQuil (acetaminophen, antihistamine, cough suppressant) are fairly commonly used to address common cold symptoms.

deogeo 7y ago
I have to say this reeks of overmedication.
- orhmeh09 7y ago
  Can you explain why you feel this way?
  - deogeo 7y ago
    Anecdotal of course, but in the case of a common cold (as opposed to one where symptoms are unusually severe, or lasts too long) no-one in my family takes medicine (other than tea with honey and lemon), and the cold goes away just fine. I get the strong impression this is true for most of Europe. A little less anecdotally, a cold is a viral infection, so medicine will mostly target only its symptoms, not the underlying cause. If the symptoms are bearable, then this looks like a bad idea to me - I'm inclined to think the symptoms are there for a reason.
    - Nursie 7y ago
      Nobody is taking medication to cure the cold, just make it more bearable. Being unable to breathe through your nose serves little purpose I can think of. Your 'most of Europe' doesn't really fit with my experience of the UK.
      - ambentzen 7y ago
        Haven't you heard, the UK is not part of Europe anymore. As a generally healthy Dane, when I get the cold or the flu I generally don't take any medications for it, and neither does most of the people I know.
    - amalter 7y ago
      The symptoms are caused by the virus reproducing. At least take cough suppressant. The rest just makes you feel a little less awful. All the studies show the current OTC remedies don’t shorten illness duration (which conversely means they don’t lengthen it either). The “evolutionary response” hypothesis is a lesser form of “smart people going with their gut instead of science” - which is partly how we’ve gotten into this mess in the first place. Smart people seem to get important things wrong quite a lot.
      - deogeo 7y ago
        Not taking medicine unless necessary still seems like a good default - there's two sides to this mess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overmedication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overmedication
- mikeash 7y ago
  Having a cold sucks. These medicines make it suck less. Why not take advantage?
  - sebazzz 7y ago
    Is there risk involved in using these medicine?
    - mikeash 7y ago
      I’m sure there’s some, but tiny. There’s risk from the symptoms too, so it’s not clear which is worse.
  - Arnt 7y ago
    Erik Naggum used to say something along the lines of "if you dull your ability to feel sick, you also dull your joy of feeling well, and your ability to spot the difference".
    - Nursie 7y ago
      Well that sounds like nonsense!
    - mikeash 7y ago
      Does Erik Naggum go lick the armrests in the local clinic if he hasn’t had a cold in a while?
      - Arnt 7y ago
        No. He's dead. Ten years ago, and there were five obituary threads on HN, with about 200 comments. He knew a lot about being ill.
- Luc 7y ago
  It feels appropriate to suppress the symptoms of the cold (headache, coughs, stuffy nose) while it runs its course. Some people do find it virtuous to suffer a little, but that's another matter.
  - whiddershins 7y ago
    Are cold symptoms maladaptive? The “symptom” is an immune system response to a pathogen. To me, it seems rational to default to assuming the symptom has an evolved purpose, a mechanism in fighting infection, and not counteract it unless absolutely necessary.
    - Luc 7y ago
      AFAIK the medical consensus is that the virus exploits the cough reaction etc. to infect other hosts. E.g. quick random Google: https://bmjopenrespres.bmj.com/content/3/1/e000118 https://bmjopenrespres.bmj.com/content/3/1/e000118 "The commonest form of cough is caused by upper respiratory tract infection and has no benefit to the host. The virus hijacks this natural defence mechanism in order to propagate itself through the population."
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
- orev 7y ago
  Recovery is greatly enhanced by getting good sleep, and taking medication at night to suppress symptoms so you can get a good night’s sleep is far better for your recovery than toughing it out. It may not entirely reduce the duration of the illness, but it will certainly help reduce the severity.
- senectus1 7y ago
  If I have snot running down the front of my face and down the back of my neck then I'll take a cold/flu tablet to dry me up. otherwise... just deal with it
marci 7y ago
A good documentary on the issue in the UK: https://youtu.be/1w3QJjpwJhA?t=242 https://youtu.be/1w3QJjpwJhA?t=242

deogeo 7y ago

I have to say this reeks of overmedication.

orhmeh09 7y ago
Can you explain why you feel this way?
- deogeo 7y ago
  Anecdotal of course, but in the case of a common cold (as opposed to one where symptoms are unusually severe, or lasts too long) no-one in my family takes medicine (other than tea with honey and lemon), and the cold goes away just fine. I get the strong impression this is true for most of Europe. A little less anecdotally, a cold is a viral infection, so medicine will mostly target only its symptoms, not the underlying cause. If the symptoms are bearable, then this looks like a bad idea to me - I'm inclined to think the symptoms are there for a reason.
  - Nursie 7y ago
    Nobody is taking medication to cure the cold, just make it more bearable. Being unable to breathe through your nose serves little purpose I can think of. Your 'most of Europe' doesn't really fit with my experience of the UK.
    - ambentzen 7y ago
      Haven't you heard, the UK is not part of Europe anymore. As a generally healthy Dane, when I get the cold or the flu I generally don't take any medications for it, and neither does most of the people I know.
  - amalter 7y ago
    The symptoms are caused by the virus reproducing. At least take cough suppressant. The rest just makes you feel a little less awful. All the studies show the current OTC remedies don’t shorten illness duration (which conversely means they don’t lengthen it either). The “evolutionary response” hypothesis is a lesser form of “smart people going with their gut instead of science” - which is partly how we’ve gotten into this mess in the first place. Smart people seem to get important things wrong quite a lot.
    - deogeo 7y ago
      Not taking medicine unless necessary still seems like a good default - there's two sides to this mess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overmedication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overmedication
mikeash 7y ago
Having a cold sucks. These medicines make it suck less. Why not take advantage?
- sebazzz 7y ago
  Is there risk involved in using these medicine?
  - mikeash 7y ago
    I’m sure there’s some, but tiny. There’s risk from the symptoms too, so it’s not clear which is worse.
- Arnt 7y ago
  Erik Naggum used to say something along the lines of "if you dull your ability to feel sick, you also dull your joy of feeling well, and your ability to spot the difference".
  - Nursie 7y ago
    Well that sounds like nonsense!
  - mikeash 7y ago
    Does Erik Naggum go lick the armrests in the local clinic if he hasn’t had a cold in a while?
    - Arnt 7y ago
      No. He's dead. Ten years ago, and there were five obituary threads on HN, with about 200 comments. He knew a lot about being ill.
Luc 7y ago
It feels appropriate to suppress the symptoms of the cold (headache, coughs, stuffy nose) while it runs its course. Some people do find it virtuous to suffer a little, but that's another matter.
- whiddershins 7y ago
  Are cold symptoms maladaptive? The “symptom” is an immune system response to a pathogen. To me, it seems rational to default to assuming the symptom has an evolved purpose, a mechanism in fighting infection, and not counteract it unless absolutely necessary.
  - Luc 7y ago
    AFAIK the medical consensus is that the virus exploits the cough reaction etc. to infect other hosts. E.g. quick random Google: https://bmjopenrespres.bmj.com/content/3/1/e000118 https://bmjopenrespres.bmj.com/content/3/1/e000118 "The commonest form of cough is caused by upper respiratory tract infection and has no benefit to the host. The virus hijacks this natural defence mechanism in order to propagate itself through the population."
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
orev 7y ago
Recovery is greatly enhanced by getting good sleep, and taking medication at night to suppress symptoms so you can get a good night’s sleep is far better for your recovery than toughing it out. It may not entirely reduce the duration of the illness, but it will certainly help reduce the severity.
senectus1 7y ago
If I have snot running down the front of my face and down the back of my neck then I'll take a cold/flu tablet to dry me up. otherwise... just deal with it

marci 7y ago

A good documentary on the issue in the UK: https://youtu.be/1w3QJjpwJhA?t=242 https://youtu.be/1w3QJjpwJhA?t=242