We've entered the dreaded cold and flu season, meaning we'll be pumping vitamin C and trying to avoid friends and coworkers who have the sniffles. But sometimes, regardless of how hard we try, we do get sick—and when dealing with a cold, there's not all that much you can do other than let it run its course. You can treat pesky symptoms like congestion or a sore throat, but you may want to reconsider before you reach for tissues or medication. In fact, both could be making your cold worse, not better.
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Blowing your nose could intensify cold symptoms.
A stuffy nose or sinuses is arguably one of the worst symptoms of a cold, making you feel grateful for the times you could breathe easily. When you're sick, the mucus that the body produces gets thicker to trap viruses, and when you blow your nose, it expels this mucus,Peter Filip, MD, rhinologist and skull base surgeon at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, recently told CNN.
But while it's tempting to try to clear your nose and use a bit of force, Filip says doing so will only give you temporary relief and potentially worsen your cold. This is because it creates more pressure and could reverse the flow of mucus, pushing it back up into your sinuses.
"While some mucus came out, there is some effect of pushing mucus back into the sinuses in a backward direction where you don’t want it to go," Filip told CNN. "It’s possible that could cause worsening of an infection."
Beyond that, blowing your nose too hard can have a whole range of unpleasant ramifications, including ear pain, nose bleeds, a bacterial infection at the front of the nose, headaches, or even an orbital fracture (a break in the bones around the eye sockets), CNN reported.
Can I still blow my nose?
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If you're going to blow your nose, you want to do so safely.
Make sure you blow gently "so you don't take contaminated mucus from the exit of your nose and blow it up into the sterile eustachian tubes—those connected to the back of your throat and your sinuses. Those are sterile areas," Henry Danko, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at Rush University in Chicago, said in a YouTube video.
Danko recommends blowing one nostril at a time and not blowing hard enough to contaminate the sterile areas.
In addition, he says you can also take a handkerchief or tissue and "squeeze your nose dry."
"That way, you will be protecting the sterile surfaces in your face by protecting your nose," Danko says.
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Consider your alternatives.
However, you might want to rethink blowing your nose in general. Filip recommends a saltwater solution to help clear mucus and bacteria from the nasal cavity.
"People with a common cold or sinus infection get some relief with saline irrigation and feel better from both a nasal breathing standpoint and mucus standpoint," he told CNN.
Certain medicines are a bust, too.
When struggling with a cold, we'll often try anything to get some symptom relief. But if you have a habit of picking a random over-the-counter option or rifling through leftover antibiotics in your medicine cabinet, fair warning that you could be doing yourself a disservice.
Cold medicines often aren't recommended for children "because they're younger and more susceptible to side effects," Brittany Chan, MD, a pediatrician at Texas Children's Pediatrics, said in an article posted by the American Medical Association. (Like Filip, she recommends nasal saline instead.)
The word is already out about the iffy effectiveness of phenylephrine, but you also won't feel cold relief if you take an allergy medication or leftover antibiotics that you have hanging around the house.
Chan noted, "It’s important to note that antibiotics do not work for colds because colds are caused by viruses and antibiotics are for fighting bacteria."
She continued, "But unfortunately, antibiotics are not effective for the cold and can lead to side effects without actually helping the patient. So, it’s important to keep that in mind."
In a report for Vox, Keren Landman, MD, wrote that pseudoephedrine, which is the active ingredient in Sudafed, is "the only decongestant to bother with." Just be warned that it's not the active ingredient in Sudafed PE.
