{"id":2913,"date":"2012-01-30T05:31:51","date_gmt":"2012-01-30T13:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/?p=2913"},"modified":"2012-01-23T16:33:07","modified_gmt":"2012-01-24T00:33:07","slug":"saving-on-over-the-counter-cold-remedies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/saving-on-over-the-counter-cold-remedies\/","title":{"rendered":"Saving on Over-the-Counter Cold Remedies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The last thing you want to do when you or someone in your household comes down with a cold is to trudge to a drugstore to purchase over-the-counter cold remedies. It\u2019s better to keep an array of remedies on hand so when sickness strikes, you have something to ease the patient\u2019s symptoms. While they won\u2019t cure the cold, they may serve to lessen discomfort and inconvenience while it runs its course.<\/p>\n<p>Of course you can\u2019t keep the whole drugstore in your medicine cabinet. Choosing a well-considered assortment of cold remedies to keep in stock is wise course of action.\u00a0Rather than purchasing products that combat multiple symptoms, it\u2019s best to get single-symptom remedies you can take to fight off specific symptoms. For instance, you might need something for a sore throat and a runny nose one day and two days later you may be dealing with congestion and a cough. It\u2019s best to treat only the symptoms from which you\u2019re suffering at any given time. Taking something for more symptoms than you have means you\u2019re taking unnecessary medication, which is unhealthy and wasteful.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a list of the general categories of cold remedies to keep in your medicine cabinet:<\/p>\n<p><strong>NOTE: It is vital that you check with your doctor about which ingredients to look for &#8211; and which to avoid &#8211; in products in each category to take into account your personal health profile.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t have any particular health concerns, talk to the pharmacist for recommendations. There are store-brand versions of most medications, so once you know what the active ingredients are, you can usually find the medicine you need for much less money.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Analgesic &#8211;<\/strong> This combats pain, like headache, sore throat or body aches.\u00a0Acetaminophen, ibuprofen or even aspirin will do the trick. These medications can also lower fever.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cough remedy &#8211;<\/strong> A cough suppressant helps relieve the urge to cough (though if it\u2019s \u201cproductive\u201d and helping you to expel excess mucus from your lungs, coughing itself isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing). Take a cough remedy when coughing is excessive.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Expectorant &#8211;<\/strong> An expectorant aids in \u201cloosening\u201d the mucous which may cause coughing, making it easier to expel. Often cough remedies include an expectorant, but you may not always need these products together. Get an separate expectorant for the treatment of an unproductive cough.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Decongestant &#8211;<\/strong> These relieve the swelling (congestion) of nasal passages caused by a cold, opening up your airway, thus making it easier to breathe through your nose.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Antihistamine &#8211;<\/strong> When you have a cold (or an allergy) your nose releases chemicals called, \u201chistamines,\u201d which make your nose itchy and runny and causes sneezing. As the name implies, an antihistamine combats those chemicals, thereby relieving the symptoms they cause.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Once a year, take inventory of what cold remedies you have on hand. Check their expiration dates. Most expired cold remedies lose some of their effectiveness after the expiration date has passed, so you\u2019ll want to replace them with fresh medications. Once you know what you have on hand, fill in your symptom-battling arsenal so you\u2019re prepared to treat any symptoms that attack. Stocking up in advance enables you to shop at your leisure, rather than when you\u2019re anxious to get home to the patient. Purchasing them before they&#8217;re actually needed will provide time to research products,\u00a0price-shop \u00a0and find coupons, all of which will make buying these pricey medications more affordable.<\/p>\n<p>Colds happen. When illness strikes, being prepared with what you need to relieve symptoms can help you &#8211; and your wallet &#8211; feel healthier.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>How do you save on over-the-counter cold remedies?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The last thing you want to do when you or someone in your household comes down with a cold is to trudge to a drugstore to purchase over-the-counter cold remedies. It\u2019s better to keep an array of remedies on hand so when sickness strikes, you have something to ease the patient\u2019s symptoms. While they won\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[510,53],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2913"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2913\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}