[cpncrunch]

Actually, the FDA recommends against using any cold treatments in kids, as they cause more harm than good:

http://globalnews.ca/news/1723414/are-your-young-kids-fighti...

In general all these cold and flu medications do is suppress your immune response, which is obviously not the smartest thing to do. You might get rid of some symptoms, but you're also hindering your body from actually getting rid of the infection.

The article above does say that in adults decongestants might be helpful. I think you need to know when it's a good idea to "help" your body treat the infection, and when you're just treating the symptoms and just hindering it. Most people just want rid of the symptoms.

[refurb]

In general all these cold and flu medications do is suppress your immune response

That's not true at all. Over the counter cold formulations contain one of four products: decongestant, cough suppressant, pain reliever and antihistamine.

None of those suppress your immune system.

EDIT: I think know what you meant now. You mean your immune system reacts to a cold by making you cough and the drugs suppress your cough (thus your immune response)? In that case, I see your point.

[sliverstorm]

Aren't histamines part of your immune response, thus making antihistamines immunosuppressors?

[cpncrunch]

Yes, they are. Also, I believe most pain medications (apart from opioids) work by knocking out some part of the immune response.

Now, even assuming that the medication doesn't actually interfere with your immune system and just gets rid of the symptoms and makes you feel great, you should be aware that your immune system deliberately makes you feel crappy ("sickness behaviour") so that you'll rest and give your immune system a chance to kill the infection. This is more an issue with the flu rather than the cold.

[refurb]

I think what threw me off is the use of the word "immune suppression". That word has a specific meaning when referring to drugs and tends to refer to drugs that to interrupt immune response far upstream. These drugs have severe side effects as your body can't fight invading viruses and bacteria.

I think the difference with cold remedies is that they tend to interfere with immune responses that are far downstream that tend to be more symptomatic, rather than major mechanisms by which the body's immune system works.

[joezydeco]

I'm just one data point, but my children usually suffer pretty badly when they have colds. I teach them that you can't fight the cold, but you can make it more comfortable to sleep (which goes a long way towards fighting the cold).

I give Acetaminophen/Paracetamol/Tylenol for pain, and a mucogenic (Guifanesin or the much better Mucosolvan/Ambroxol if I can get it from Europe) to thin out the mucus secretions.

It goes against instinct but making more mucus keeps it from building up and turning into that gunk that starts sinus/ear infections and never gets out of your lungs once the cold has passed.

I really wish Ambroxol would be approved in the USA, but apparently it's too old of a molecule to successfully recoup the FDA approval expenses.