Eli5 Why can’t over-the-counter cold medications completely STOP coughs and runny noses and sore throats for at least a little while?
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Because people are different. The dose is calibrated to work with most adults of a given basic size. You might be able to take two doses at once and make everything turn off symptom-wise, but it might also give a lot of people massive side effects.
Coughs and runny noses are not the illness – they are your immune system’s response to the illness. Medication is there to make these things a bit more bearable but ultimately their presence is required.
Because the body triggers those symptoms to fight off the bacteria/virus that’s attacking you, without the symptoms you can’t get better. Thus the drugs and doses are calibrated to make the symptoms bearable but not completely eliminate them and hinder your immune systems natural response to infection
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