[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.