how to arm yourself against a cold

When you are starting to feel under the weather, it is often hard to differentiate between the cold, the flu and allergies, but usually one underlying symptom of all three is nasal congestion. So what you want to do is make sure you buy a decongestant that will help make you feel better and breathe easier quickly. A nasal decongestant that you can buy over the counter is called pseudoephedrine. Now, it is your pharmacy, but in a new location. It is behind the pharmacy counter. So you just need to ask your pharmacist for it. One example is Claritin D. It provides 12 and 24-hour non-drowsy relief so that you can get back to work and start feeling better quicker. The difference is, a lot of the products on the shelf only offer four hours of relief, but if you want that immediate relief, Afrin Nasal Spray will start working within five minutes and the 12-hour no drip, severe congestion formula stays in your nose and does not drip down your throat. Now, if you are not able to--the best thing really to do is prevent the cold and the ways you want to prevent the cold is make sure you get plenty of rest, drink lots of fluids, make sure you eat a well-balanced diet, as well as washing your hands frequently. That is the number one thing that the CDC recommends from transmitting the viruses is washing your hands. If you are not in your sink, the thing you can do is use a hand sanitizer such as this one. It will kill about 99% of the germs and viruses on your hands and this one you can see fits in the pocket and it is offered exclusively at CVS Pharmacies, so that is really convenient for you and your kids to carry around. Another thing you can do to boost your immune system is use a multivitamin with probiotics. One example is MultiBionta Probiotic and it has the probiotics that help restore the good bacteria to ward off any illnesses that you may have. The other thing that you want to think about during this cough and cold and flu season is really to, like I said, keep washing those hands. A lot of people do not realize that it is an airborne virus that leads to all of these allergies and these coughs and colds, so when you see someone sneezing or see someone coughing, try to keep your distance and then go wash your hands immediately. Other things people do not realize is those viruses can live on inanimate objects like your computer keyboard, your steering wheel, your telephone at work. So that is another reason to keep washing your hands. One thing as a pharmacist, I like to make sure people realize is that you only want to treat the symptoms you have if you do get a cold. There are lots of agents or products in the pharmacy that can help you feel better quicker and it can be overwhelming at times, so you want to make sure that you pick an agent or a product that is only going to treat the symptoms you have because people do not realize that these over the counter medicines are just as potent as prescriptions. They can have as many drug interactions, they have as many side effects, so you want to make sure that you are not putting anything harmful in your body. You are only putting things in your body that are going to help make you feel better. So if you need more information on tips about how to stay healthy throughout this season, you can go to moreaboutthat.info. I am Dr. Stephanie Ferrari.

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