← Chapter 12
Pharmacology · Chapter 12

Cough, Cold & Allergy Drugs

A cold or allergy hits the upper airway in three ways — histamine makes it sneeze, itch, and run; swollen vessels make it congested; and an irritated reflex makes it cough. Each shelf of medicine fixes just one. Tap a drug class to see which symptom it targets and what a nurse watches for.

The upper-airway symptom map

Tap a drug class → its target symptom lights up.
Histamine (sneeze/itch/run) Congestion Cough reflex
Three symptoms, three fixestap a drug class to begin
Antitussive vs expectorant: an antitussive (e.g. dextromethorphan) silences a cough; an expectorant (guaifenesin) loosens mucus so you can cough it up. Suppress a dry cough; thin a wet one — never suppress a productive cough.