Rating My Sick Days’ Treatments

By Kayla Ngai

Every winter I get sick (for around two months), but now that I am finally over my cold I can write this. I am asthmatic, so colds and seasonal allergies have a strong effect on my well-being. So, I have decided to rate the various medicines that possibly helped me overcome my illness. 

1. Cough Drops
   1. Ricola
      1. My sister loves Ricola, but I am not a big fan. Although they taste really good (essentially candy), they do not really help my cough. It has 1.5 mg of menthol (it is a chemical that relieves the upper respiratory system of congestion). 
   2. Halls
      1. I like Halls (specifically, the honey lemon flavor) because I actually felt like it was helping my cough. Unsurprisingly, it has more menthol than Ricola with a whopping 7.5 mg of menthol.  
   3. Fisherman’s Friend
      1. Along the way, I discovered Fisherman’s Friend which was stronger with 10 mg of menthol. Albeit, they do not taste as nice as the other two, I’d rather not be coughing all the time. Due to the potency of menthol, I used a hammer and smashed these cough drops into pieces so I could maximize them. 

2. Home Remedies/ Tips (courtesy of Asian parents)
   1. Do not drink or consume dairy
   2. Do not drink or consume sugar
   3. No cold food or drinks
   4. Wear a scarf to keep your throat warm 
   5. Honey lemon tea

*I will say that most of these worked, but I am weak and love sweets, so I did not really abide by the no dairy and sugar rule. 

3. Syrups
   1. DayQuil
      1. This one tastes nasty, but it does give my throat a cooling effect (due to the menthol) and it did alleviate my cough for a good half hour. I did not take this religiously, but if my cough gets awful or if I needed to go to an event where I’d rather not cough, I would down some DayQuil syrup beforehand. 
   2. Robitussin
      1. Robitussin does not taste as good, so every time I drank some I would drink water afterward. This does not work as an immediate treatment, but it is supposed to help remedy your cold long-term. When I was sick, I would take Robitussin (raspberry flavor) three times a day. However, over time I did not see or feel any results pertaining to my cough. Side effect: it works as a laxative. 
4. Pills
   1. DayQuil
      1. I am going to be completely honest and say I do not think these help at all. No effect whatsoever. 
   2. NyQuil
      1. Disclaimer: these do not work as cough drops so do not use them if you seek an immediate solution. This worked for the first couple of nights as the amount of coughing decreased in severity. However, after a few days, despite taking the pills every four hours, my cough remained stagnant. 
   3. Vitamin C
      1. To be completely honest, I do not think these helped at all (at least when you are already sick). According to my mother, it helped her as a preventative and she has not been sick in years. 

Although it did not fit into one of the categories, I used Flonase when I felt something dripping in the back of my throat. You are supposed to take it twice a day, but I felt I needed to increase the frequency. However, in my experience, these medicines do not really shorten the time that I am sick, but only minimize my symptoms short-term. The ones I will stick with for next year are the NyQuil pills along with the Halls and Fisherman’s Friend cough drops. I hope this is helpful for your next sick day.

• health
• life
• sick days
• wellness
• winter colds