Is An Antibiotic Needed To Treat Cough, Sore Throat And Fatigue?

Posted on Wed, 3 Jan 2018

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Wed, 3 Jan 2018 Answered on

Wed, 6 Jun 2018 Last reviewed on

Question : Good morning,
These are my symptoms:
Hacking cough, stuffed head and nose, achy from head to toe, sore throat and very fatigued. I am treating myself with Musinex, Advil and afrine. Drinking a lot of hot liquids. This came on Dec 31st.
Should I be doing something else or could I possibly need an antibiotic?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Michelle Gibson (50 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
need to add an oral decongesant , cough suppressant

Detailed Answer:
HI, thanks for using healthcare magic

Afrin is a topical decongestant, it can be used for 3 to 5 days but no longer because it cause rebound congestion if it is used for long period of time.

Mucinex has in medication to help break up mucus and bring it out.

You may want to consider adding an oral decongestant to this eg phenyephrine or pseudoephedrine.
Sudafed is a decongestant, it has different products , sudafed pressure pain cold has in a decongestant, cough suppressant, mucolytic (same as mucinex), acetaminophen/paracetamol

Robitussin severe multisymptom cough and cold has - decongestant, cough suppressant, mucolytic to break up the mucus and acetaminophen/paracetamol

You can try using one of these combination meds to see if it helps, would need to discontinue the mucinex since both of them have in the product in mucinex.

If there is no improvement then you can see your doctor for assessment

I hope this helps, feel free to ask any other questions

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar