If you only have one or two cold symptoms, it is best to treat the individual symptoms rather than take a combination cold medication and treat symptoms you do not have. However, if you have multiple cold symptoms, you may decide to take a combination cold medication. Knowing the active ingredients in the medications will help you to decide which medications are best for you. However, do not assume that all OTC drugs are safe for you. Old drugs may have lost their effectiveness.
Drugs can interact with other drugs, foods or alcohol.
Be sure you know when it is safe to take a medication. Also, over use of medication can cause unwanted or severe side effects. It is important to distinguish among the effects of the different ingredients in throat lozenges. These lozenges release a weak topical anesthetic as they dissolve. The effect of this is that the anesthetic will sometimes numb everything in your mouth, especially your tongue.