Treating Flu and Cold Symptoms – includes a free patient information PDF!

There is no cure for a cold or flu virus, but you can treat your symptoms while your body fights off the virus.

Ways to Ease Flu and Cold Symptoms

• Stay home and rest, especially while you have a fever.
• Stop smoking and avoid secondhand smoke, which can make cold symptoms worse.
• Drink plenty of fluids like water, clear soups and unsweetened fruit juices. Fluids help loosen mucus, and keep you hydrated when you have a fever. A fever can dry up your body’s fluids, which can lead to dehydration.
• Don’t drink alcohol.
• Gargle with warm salt water a few times a day to relieve a sore throat. Throat sprays or lozenges may also help relieve throat pain.
• Use salt-water (saline) nose drops, a neti pot, or other nasal irrigation method to help loosen mucus and moisten the skin in your nose.

Ways to Prevent Catching a Cold or Flu

Patient Handout
You can print copies of this PDF handout for your patients, to reinforce what you have told them.

• Eat healthy foods
• Drink lots of fluids
• Get regular exercise
• Limit alcohol use
• Get enough sleep
• Don’t smoke
• Don’t touch your face - germs can enter your nose, eyes and mouth from your hands
• Cover your sneezes and coughs with your elbow or a tissue
• Always wash your hands after using the bathroom, before eating, and after touching frequently used surfaces

Used with permission from the Community Health Association of Mountain/Plains States (CHAMPS)