Honestly, YES, I do. I feel very bad having the problem especially flu that i get when the weather changes. I do not have patience to wait for the 5 days cycle of the flu/viral fever, and feel sick. In the city life with a number of obligations to attend to, the patience tend to go down, and I want to be back on the track in the shortest possible time.

If the cold is fairly severe and considrably affects my work and life, I take some medicines to relieve the symptoms.

If it is not very severe, on the other hand, I do not take medcines. Instead I do the following:

(1) For running nose, I wash inside my nose frequently with warm water.

(2) I take hot water frequently, in particularly when I have a sore throat.

(3) I have some lying-down.

I know if I can cope with cold symptoms, my immune system will fight back eventually.

By the way, I have never taken any antibiotics for cold/influe for many years.

Dear @Miranda, if we talk about bad cold or flu, I do use FERVEX (include paracetamol) and many tee, many water in order to avoid the consequences as soon as possible. Antibiotics should be the last instance if Your state of health did not improved with previous cure.As a son of doctor, I do not visit them, it is a bad habit of mine!

Our living dynamics is so fast that we can not afford to be sick! Regarding this last sentence read the test by following the link attached!

http://www.langevin.com/blog/2012/06/04/how-to-find-the-upside-of-down-time/

A member of my family has Parkinson. All the medicines are "symptomatic" i.e. they do not cure but symptoms disappear. In such cases there is no other solution.

I (a mother of two boys) and my folks will take some traditional Chinese medicine to regulate our body before any symptom appearing. It is said the traditional Chinese medicine can remove our inner heat, then prevent us from having a bad cold. of course other ways such as taking a lot of warm water, having lying-down, are better choice than taking paracetamol and antibiotics.

When it comes to me, I prefer and take Ayurvedic medicines than the Allopathy (sorry to all the medicos of my family).. this natural medicine is mostly herbal with roots, shoots, leaves etc., ... no side effects... ensures rejuvenating the system... Similarly for fractures I prefer PUTTUR (a place in Andhra Pradesh nearer to Thiruthani, Tamilnadu) famous for non surgical bone setting....

It looks as the Chinese traditional medicine is similar to the Allopathy as Mr. krishnan has said above, no side effect.

Dear Miranda,

I avoid taking medicines as far as possible. I hope the body has enough strength to take care of common ailments if I am able to bear the reasonable pain. If the temperature is very high then use paracetamol. May be sometimes cough syrup I may use to suppress the cough.

Advisable to take treatment with the cure and/or if the cure is not available!

Period!

I agree with Kamal that It depends on the nature of the disease.

Thanks for your views. I try my best to avoid taking medicines. I had a cold for the past 4 days, but it's better today. I only took 1 regular tablet of Panadol, in this time, but I drank about 4 litres of water each day. And I rested; no World Cup :( Even girls like football, we played mixed football when I was doing pre-university studies.

Dear Miranda,

Many contributor has suggested one or other ways to control symptoms of cold or flu, such as allopathic, ayurvedic, home remedies, self care etc which are all effective at some points. Along with above suggestions, I want to concentrate on finding the cause and preventive measures to avoid recurrency of getting cold or flu...

Here i am attaching a preventive meaure by NHS... Hope this would be useful...

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/coldsandflu/Pages/Preventionandcure.aspx

Thanks @Ratan, I will check out the link. Prevention is better than cure :)

To get a flu is even worse, more fever, more muscle aches.....certainly we all want to avoid.

I trust my doctor/s and go with his/their recommendations. He normally explains what each drug do and sometimes does not prescript anything at all.

I have a degree as a nurse, being a daughter of a doc,( thus my father was a victim of my first injections) and a degree as a master of massage. That's why I prefer alternative medicine plus folk medicine. I trust only one professional in our city- it's my friend -Ph.D.in Therapy, highly humanistic personality, a greatest doctor.

Blindly taking medicications without consulting a doctor is not advisable even just for flu . As no one is aware when you develop adverse reactions to certain drugs. There are so many people who have reactions to paracetamol. I am one of them. Till my late teen I used to take paracetamol without any issues. Once I developed such an adverse reaction I am so scared and skeptical of using any drgus which contain the slightest portion of this in combination. So its always better to take natural remedies first and if its still persisting with the same degree consult the doctor. In Australia we have flu vaccines which helps one protected from contracting it. So I agree with @ Ratan prevention is always better than cure.

My dear @Irina, Ias I have mentioned before, I am a son of a medicine doctor too! I did not like medicine to study, as it was his wish, but my younger brother was doctor. I think that doctor's children are not serious regarding medical examinations. They rather take medication alone with no advise! What do You think about. I am the example for, the bad one!

Dear Ljubomir, to be a child of a doctor is very honorable and educative. My father wished I would be a doc, too. But my passion for Philology won. Then I faced the necessity to learn medicine.It was simple to undergo internship as a nurse, because my father helped me in practicing manipulations. I like to help my nearest and dearest, but for me to undergo a cure is the event, on which I have no time. I can discuss with my friends-doctors a lot of themes, like you,besides my health.

Dear friends, thanks for your views. Very helpful to me...

Dear Prof Ljubomir and Irina, I believe all doctors want all their kids to be doctors, but they can accept that the kids may have different ideas about their own profession. My grand uncle was a doctor, but none of his children were doctors, and he smiled, 'Let them decide for themselves'.

Prof Ljubomir, if you are bad, then I am worse. I dislike seeing doctors and I practice my alternative medicine. But many people including Dr Max Chartrand have contributed to my thread. Ravi has contributed a lot of humor!

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Why_do_some_patients_refuse_to_comply_with_prescribed_western_medication_while_they_are_willing_to_seek_treatments

I agree with @ Miranda and Prof Ljubomir. Yes I do have friends who are born for doctor parents and didn't get into medicine. But they do advice simple tips of medications to other friends as they believe and seen practising at home by their parents. Lots of common people dislike seeing doctors and practice their own home remedies. To some extent yes these medicines ( home remedies/ alternative medicine gives such a lot of relief and cure). But the call here is where to draw a line and seek specialist advice when needed.

Thanks Meena and friends. I like your views:

'But they do advice simple tips of medications to other friends as they believe and seen practiced at home by their parents. Lots of common people dislike seeing doctors and practice their own home remedies. To some extent yes these medicines (home remedies/ alternative medicine gives such a lot of relief and cure). But the call here is where to draw a line and seek specialist advice when needed.'

These days I'm very busy with my research and teaching and students...

Thanks my friends. I have recovered, taking the minimum of Panadol and Chlorpheniramine.

Many OTC (Over The Counter Medicines) medicines are used as symptomatic relief- say for instance - Paracetamol (Panadol brand), Cough Syrup,Lemsip Cold and cough,Vitamin C,Nasal decongestants (Otrivin Brand) etc.,  and obviously these are used to relieve the symptoms than as a treatment. However, the patients needs them for a limited period and the reason being to use these medications are to have better quality of life although it is not meant for the curative purpose.  

I agree with @ Sultan. But there are many instances that these simple medications could also have harmful effects. I had been taking Panadol ( Paracetamol ) in my childhood days without any adverse effects. One fine day I developed severe rashes with it and had to be admitted for management. Since then I am quite skeptical of taking any medications.

A very close person to me has Parkinson's disease. Unfortunately the medice for Parkinson are "symptomatic" , they just remove symptoms. Present day ther is no alternative. In the future they talk about Gene therapy.

Common over-the-counter medications

Cough syrups

Coughing is stressful when it keeps your child awake at night. But coughing can be helpful. It can be a sign that the body is getting rid of mucus that irritates the airway. Syrups that stop this normal response of the body can be harmful to children.

Many OTC cough and cold products contain drugs that claim to ease coughing. Usually they include dextromethorphan (also called DM) and/or diphenhydramine. Codeine is another drug that is used to calm coughing in children. Some OTC drugs contain codeine, but in most cases, you need a prescription.

Most studies of these drugs have been done in adults. The few that have been done in children show no benefit.

Decongestants

Oral decongestants (pills or syrups taken by the mouth) are drugs from the same family as adrenaline (a hormone that acts on blood vessels). They are given to reduce swelling and stuffiness in the nose due to colds. Decongestants can offer some relief, but they won’t cure the problem and can cause a fast heartbeat, restlessness, or insomnia (not able to sleep) in children.

Antihistamines

Antihistamines are usually used to dry up a runny nose or reduce sneezing caused by allergies. They can also ease itching from things like hives, chickenpox or insect bites. Antihistamines won’t help someone with a cold.

Nasal drops or sprays

Nose drops or nose sprays that contain normal saline (a weak salt water solution) can be used to soften the mucus in the nose and help your child breathe better. Do not use nasal drops or sprays that contain drugs.

Pain and fever relievers

The most common OTC pain relievers are acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), acetaminophen and ibuprofen. Products with acetylsalicylic acid (such as Aspirin) should not be given to children and teenagers for fever from colds, chickenpox and influenza because it can cause Reyes syndrome, a sickness that can cause brain and liver damage.

For fever and mild to moderate pain in children, you should use acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Acetaminophen is found in products such as Tylenol, Tempra, Panadol and others. Ibuprofen is found in products such as Advil or Motrin. They come in drops for infants, liquid for toddlers, and chewable tablets for older children.

http://www.caringforkids.cps.ca/handouts/over_the_counter_drugs

Dear friends, thanks for your views.  @Costas, you have told us about this relative, I remember, thanks.  Your post was the 4th in the first panel.  Dear @Umachandran, thanks for interesting info.  These things enrich RG conversations, making it more than just opinions from great peers, thanks.

Dear RG Cohort,

Please do remember any medications (OTC or POM -Prescription only medicines may have adverse drugs reactions (ADR), so always consider any medications as a foreign materials. Immediately seek medical attention if you encounter any unwanted reactions.

I have seen   many cases of adverse reactions  even to the so called simple medications like paracetamol/Actifed/Aspirin etc., during my practice.

I suppose added some points to the discussion. 

Sufficient rest is amother important factor which must be recognised in association with drug treatment for upper respiratory tract infection by viral infection. Antibiotics is not necessary for viral infection, but rest helps patients to improve  immunity to get rid of infection. If complications are caused by bacterial infections, antibiotics must be considered. However, symptomatic and supportive treatment are also needed.

When you can not remove the cause of disease,to cure disease, it is justified to eliminate symptoms such as strong, unbearable pain!

@Sultan, @Wibool and Prof Ljubomir, thanks for your views.  Here in this country, we have a long relationship with herbal medication.  Many plants have medicinal properties, and we boil these herbs.  The body gets hydrated.  Dr Max Chartrand supports herbal medicines too.  Besides, as @ Wibool says, rest is very important for our immune system to fight disease.  Also I hardly drink coffee anymore.  At one time I drank coffee every morning; but I found that it wasn't good for me at all.  And as Prof Ljubomir says, if nothing can be done to cure a disease, it is justified to reduce and remove pain.