Medication: cold meds: to take or not to take?

Self-tutoring about life in cold season: the tutor shares an age-old question (for some).

Some people believe that, when you have cold symptoms, of course you take cold medication (as directed). Yet, is there another way to see it?

I seldom take meds of any kind. A few days in the past few years I’ve taken cold meds when I didn’t want my symptoms to manifest. The cold meds work, but sometimes they make me feel a bit off, just because of the medication in my body that it’s not used to.

Facing such a situation, I will bring the cold medication to work – usually just a single pill – which I decide to take or not after arriving but before starting. I revisit the decision at coffee break. If by lunch I still haven’t taken it, I doubtfully will that day.