Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Cold and Cough Medicines
Cold and cough medicines can help relieve symptoms of a common cold. The symptoms of a cold can include a sore throat, stuffy or runny nose, sneezing, and coughing.
You don't usually need to treat a cold or the cough that it causes. You can't cure a cold, and antibiotics won't help you get better. But sometimes the symptoms can keep you awake or cause a lot of discomfort. In that case, cold and cough medicines can sometimes be helpful.
There are lots of different cold and cough medicines, and they do different things:
- Nasal decongestants - unclog a stuffy nose
- Cough suppressants - quiet a cough
- Expectorants - loosen mucus in your lungs so you can cough it up
- Antihistamines - stop runny noses and sneezing
- Pain relievers - ease fever, headaches, and minor aches and pains
Before taking these medicines, read the labels and follow the instructions carefully. Many cold and cough medicines contain the same active ingredients. For example, some of them include pain relievers. If you are taking these medicines and are also taking a separate pain reliever, you could be getting a dangerous amount of the pain reliever.
Do not give cold or cough medicines to children under two, and don't give aspirin to children.
If you decide that you don't want to take cold and cough medicines, there are other ways to feel better:
- Drink lots of fluids
- Get plenty of rest
- Use a cool mist humidifier
- Use saline nose drops or sprays
- Use nasal suctioning with a bulb syringe, which can be very helpful in children under a year old
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
It sits within Drug Therapy.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Cold and Cough Medicines
7 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research already completed
- Effect of Over-the-counter NSAIDS on Cough Reflex Sensitivity in Patients with Upper Respiratory Tract InfectionsUniversity of Melbourne
- Promoting Safe Use of Children's Cough/Cold MedicinesNYU Langone Health
- Study of BPZE1 Intranasal Pertussis Vaccine (Administered Via VaxINator(TM)), Prime + Boost, in Healthy AdultsILiAD Biotechnologies
- A Bioequivalence Study Between Two Brands of Medications to Treat Cough & Cold SymptomsJohnson & Johnson Consumer and Personal Products Worldwide
- Comparison of Efficacy and Tolerability of Two Cough Syrups in Cough Due to Cold in Children.Clalit Health Services
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Cold Remedies: What Works, What Doesn't, What Can't HurtMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- Cough Medicine: Understanding Your OTC OptionsAmerican Academy of Family Physicians
- Decongestants: OTC Relief for CongestionAmerican Academy of Family Physicians
Treatments and Therapies
- 5 Tips: Natural Products for the Flu and Colds: What Does the Science Say?National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health
Related Issues
- Acetaminophen LevelNational Library of Medicine
- Don't Overuse AcetaminophenFood and Drug Administration
- High Blood Pressure and Cold Remedies: Which Are Safe?Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Cold Medicines and SupplementsNational Institutes of Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Cough Medicines and SupplementsNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Expectorants, Multi-Ingredient Cold, Flu, and Allergy Medications, Nasal Decongestants, Antitussive Agents, Histamine Antagonists. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Cold and Cough Medicines, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.