Can you take antibiotics for a common cold?

It’s easy to mistake antibiotics as a magic remedy for a cold. For a long time, antibiotics have dutifully treated the conditions they were intended to be used for, like bacterial pneumonia, sinusitis, and tonsillitis.

Can you take antibiotics for a bacterial infection?

Cold sufferers may think the symptoms they’re feeling might be due to a bacterial infection that antibiotics can treat — especially if these medicines helped them recover from a previous bacterial illness. Sometimes a cold can lead to a serious bacterial infection, but this is not common. In those few cases, antibiotics are the best thing to take.

Is the common cold caused by a bacterial infection?

But unlike bacterial infections, colds are caused by viruses, which are not affected by antibiotics. Cold sufferers may think the symptoms they’re feeling might be due to a bacterial infection that antibiotics can treat — especially if these medicines helped them recover from a previous bacterial illness.

Is it bad to take medicine when you don’t have a cold?

It might not seem like you’re doing any harm if you take a medicine even though it doesn’t treat your cold, but it can. When people take antibiotics when they don’t have to, over time, the medicine becomes less effective.

When do you really need antibiotics?

Typically, antibiotics are needed when: Sinus infection symptoms last over a week Symptoms worsen after starting to get better Sinusitis symptoms are severe (high fever, skin infection or rash, extreme pain or tenderness around the eyes or nose)

What antibiotics can you take for a cold?

Antibiotics basically help to improve the situation and other symptoms of cold quite significantly. Thus, antibiotics such as Aspirin, Codeine, Chlorpheniramine, and Benzonatate helps out a person suffering from allergic conditions of watery eyes, hay fever, runny nose and the likes.

When should you take antibiotics?

You should take antibiotics only when you have a bacterial infection that is not going away on its own. The most important rules to follow when taking antibiotics are: Only take antibiotics for bacterial infections. If you take them for a viral infection, your body will create a resistance to them and,…

What are the side effects of antibiotics?

Unfortunately, antibiotics do not discriminate, and as a result, they tend to kill many beneficial organisms in the body. People taking these drugs can experience antibiotic side effects like nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach cramps as a result of disturbances to the gut flora.