Adult Viral Upper Respiratory Infection Plan

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Viral Upper Respiratory Infection
# Handwashing (Wet, Lather, Scrub, Rinse, Dry)
# Cover your cough (cough may last a month or more!)
# Maintain hydration
# Return for worsening symptoms or symptoms that fail to improve over 1 to 2 weeks
# NSAIDs (OTC ibuprofen or naproxen) may reduce headache, ear pain, muscle pain, joint pain and sneezing.  NSAIDs do not improve symptom duration or cough.
# OTC Acetaminophen may provide short-term relief of rhinorrhea and nasal obstruction but has no effect on sore throat, malaise, sneezing, or cough.
# OTC Nasal decongestants (oral and intranasal) may relieve nasal congestion, but probably don't help cough.  OTC oxymetazoline reduces the duration and severity of nasal congestion after multiple doses, but should not be used more than 3 days (then more harm than good)
# OTC Antihistamines combined with oral decongestants and/or analgesics may provide some relief of cold symptoms, although the effect on cough is limited (most effective on first 2 days).
# Prescription Intranasal ipratropium (2 sprays two to three times daily) is the only medication that improves persistent cough related to URI in adults
# 75 mg of OTC zinc acetate or gluconate lozenges per day may relieve cough and nasal discharge more quickly when treatment is started within 24 hours of symptom onset.
# OTC Probiotics may reduce the duration of URI symptoms[/textarea]
[checkbox memo="References (Hide/Show)" name="footnotes" value=""][conditional field="footnotes" condition="(footnotes).isNot('')"][link memo="DeGeorge KC, Ring DJ, Dalrymple SN. Treatment of the Common Cold. Am Fam Physician. 2019 Sep 1;100(5):281-289." url="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31478634"][/conditional]