Stock Your Medicine Cabinet for Cold Season: A How-To Guide

Everyone has been through this scenario- you wake up and feel awful. Stuffy nose, sore throat, hacking cough. You open the medicine cabinet and find that you either don't have cold symptom relievers, or what you do have is expired. Forced to drag yourself to the drugstore, you wander hazily through the aisles searching for something, anything to make you feel better.

Fall is a great time to clean out that medicine cabinet and re-stock for the cold and flu season. Use this easy guide to know what to keep on hand.

#1 - Prevention
The best way to avoid having to use cold symptom remedies is to avoid getting a cold in the first place. Stocking basic vitamins and sanitizers in your home can help you ward off those nasty germs.

I swear by a product called Emer'gen-C. At the first sign of cold symptoms, open a packet of this Vitamin C powder and pour it into a cup of hot water. This will give you a boost of vitamin C, along with other vitamins and minerals. Other members of your household may also take a dose - if it's too late for you to ward off the illness, it may not be too late for them. Other vitamin C and zinc products are on the market and may provide similar benefits

For flu symptoms, try Oscillococcinum by Boiron. It is a homeopathic flu medicine that has shown, in clinical trials, to provide significant improvement or dissapation of symptoms.

#2 - Comfort
Once you are officially sick, the best thing to do is take it easy and get relief from severe symptoms. Of course, check with your doctor if anything seems out of the ordinary or if you just don't get better. Be smart.

Good quality tissues are a must have. Even if you buy the cheap brand for the rest of the year, keep one high quality box on hand for when someone gets sick. Having a sore nose only adds insult to injury when a cold strikes.

Thermometer. A basic digital verson is only a few dollars, and can help keep you safe while sick.

Medicines. The brand is up to you, but here are some basics. Think back to past years, and what types of illness you usually see in your home. I suggest:

Sinus relief
Expectorant
Cough drops (look for brands that contain a cough supressant like menthol as an active ingredient)
Daytime cold/flu symptom relief (ie DayQuil)
Basic pain reliever (ibuprofen, acetominaphen)

Between these, you can treat most symptoms without over-medicating. Always read the labels carefully, and don't mix medications without fully understanding what they contain and how they may interact. Talk to your doctor whenever starting a prescription to make sure you know what is and isn't OK to take.

#3 - Clean and Prevent
Finally, once you've recovered, it's time to clean house and cycle back to #1, Prevention.

A disinfectant spray can help quickly clean commonly touched surfaces like doorknobs, sink faucets, remote controls. Spray anything that you were using while sick to avoid re-contaminating yourself.

Wash sheets and other bedding in hot water.