I personally do recommend avoiding NSAIDS (but not other painkillers) for any cold, common or uncommon, and I have an anecdote to base my choices on.
In 2018, I got a cold (no idea whether rhino or corona), and I figured I’d take a single ibuprofen because the inside of my nose felt sore where it was pumping out the mucus. Within a day it turned into a horrible chest cold. Not only was the mucus I coughed and sneezed unpleasantly thicker, so was the mucus I was swallowing, despite my usual cold hydration routine. At night, I had to lie prone (on my belly) and cough for ten to twenty minutes into the trash can to clear my lungs enough to stop coughing and sleep. By the time I fell asleep, I felt like I’d jogged a quarter mile.
Even after all other symptoms faded away after two weeks, I had to continue this nighttime routine. I just wasn’t getting better. And then the daytime cough turned into a dry persistent cough. It took me another two weeks of this hell to finally see a doctor. They prescribed a mucus reducer and cough reflex suppressor, both with the potential for serious side effects which I didn’t experience. This worked, though my usual back-of-the-throat mucus remained sludge-like for another month.
I will never take an ibuprofen during a cold again. Even if it did something for the pain inside my nose, any pain reduction was overshadowed by the other symptoms, and the possibility that it somehow exacerbated the symptoms would be enough to make me avoid it even if it were the only painkiller available.
For every cold since, I’ve taken one 50mg zinc pill (with food) as soon as I noticed the characteristic sinus dryness/thirst that heralds the arrival of a cold, and DayQuil/NyQuil generics during the day and night respectively during the symptoms. None of these colds have resulted in more than two days of work missed, and none have become chest colds.
In March, I had a cold I caught at the post office that started with the same nasal pain I remember from 2018, plus slightly thicker mucus and a lack of taste for salt, so I plan to get a COVID-19 antibody test as soon as it’s available to see if I accidentally killed the big one with my usual cold routine.
WHO doesn’t recommend avoiding Ibuprofen for COVID-19 symptoms.
Source: https://twitter.com/WHO
I personally do recommend avoiding NSAIDS (but not other painkillers) for any cold, common or uncommon, and I have an anecdote to base my choices on.
In 2018, I got a cold (no idea whether rhino or corona), and I figured I’d take a single ibuprofen because the inside of my nose felt sore where it was pumping out the mucus. Within a day it turned into a horrible chest cold. Not only was the mucus I coughed and sneezed unpleasantly thicker, so was the mucus I was swallowing, despite my usual cold hydration routine. At night, I had to lie prone (on my belly) and cough for ten to twenty minutes into the trash can to clear my lungs enough to stop coughing and sleep. By the time I fell asleep, I felt like I’d jogged a quarter mile.
Even after all other symptoms faded away after two weeks, I had to continue this nighttime routine. I just wasn’t getting better. And then the daytime cough turned into a dry persistent cough. It took me another two weeks of this hell to finally see a doctor. They prescribed a mucus reducer and cough reflex suppressor, both with the potential for serious side effects which I didn’t experience. This worked, though my usual back-of-the-throat mucus remained sludge-like for another month.
I will never take an ibuprofen during a cold again. Even if it did something for the pain inside my nose, any pain reduction was overshadowed by the other symptoms, and the possibility that it somehow exacerbated the symptoms would be enough to make me avoid it even if it were the only painkiller available.
For every cold since, I’ve taken one 50mg zinc pill (with food) as soon as I noticed the characteristic sinus dryness/thirst that heralds the arrival of a cold, and DayQuil/NyQuil generics during the day and night respectively during the symptoms. None of these colds have resulted in more than two days of work missed, and none have become chest colds.
In March, I had a cold I caught at the post office that started with the same nasal pain I remember from 2018, plus slightly thicker mucus and a lack of taste for salt, so I plan to get a COVID-19 antibody test as soon as it’s available to see if I accidentally killed the big one with my usual cold routine.