Laid low with a cold? Dr Adam Frosh, an ear nose and throat consultant at the Lister Hospital, Stevenage, chooses five of the best decongestants.
NEILMED SINUS RINSE
£12.81, 50 sachets, from Amazon and Lloyds Pharmacy
This comes with sachets of a salt and sodium bicarbonate solution, and a little squirter bottle to administer it.
You squeeze some of the solution up one nostril and it drizzles out the other.
This is a drug-free option that helps you physically clear the mucus.
It will also clear out the viruses and bacteria up there and allows the little hairs cells that line the nasal passage to work better at pushing any mucus along the nose.
The salt solution also helps to reduce swelling in the nasal passage. Nasal irrigation has a lot of good evidence and is the new hot thing in terms of decongestants.
OTRIVINE ADULT NASAL SPRAY
£4.19 for 10ml, from chemists
This contains xylometazoline hydrochloride, a decongestant, that helps shrink the blood vessels in the lining of the nose and so improves the air flow.
Most decongestants work this way but the advantage of a spray is that the effects are felt quicker than with a pill as the ingredients don’t need to go through the body.
This one is said to provide relief within ten minutes.
Decongestant sprays shouldn’t be used for more than two weeks as they can have a rebound effect, meaning that with repeated use, as the effects of the drug wear off, the blood vessels in the nose swell, causing the problem you want to treat.
But short term, using this spray three times a day will be fine.
SUDAFED CONGESTION AND HEADACHE RELIEF
£4.36 for 16 tablets
The benefit of this is that as well as containing a decongestant, phenylephrine, to help shrink the blood vessels in the nose, it has caffeine, which also shrinks the blood vessels.
Caffeine may also give you a bit of a pick you up if you have lack of energy brought on by a cold. This formula contains paracetamol to help ease aches and pains too.
SAINSBURYS VAPOUR RUB
£1.10 for 50g
This is an old-fashioned, but still very effective, way to help your nose feel less congested (rub it into your chest).
The key ingredient is menthol, which provides a cooling sensation in the nasal passages.
It gives the perception that it is helping, when it is actually not doing anything to physically clear the nose.
However this can be a pleasing sensation and it can be used on children from two years.
Using menthol-based oils in the water and inhaling the steam will have a similar effect.
ACTIFED MULTI ACTION TABLETS
£2.99 for 12 tablets
THIS contains the decongestant pseudoephedrine hydrochloride to shrink the blood vessels and triprolidine hydrochloride, an antihistamine, which will reduce runny nose, sneezing and watery eyes caused by a cold even though it’s not an allergic reaction — it triggers the same mechanism.
The antihistamine will also make you drowsy so is a good one to take at night if you’re not sleeping.