With the North American influenza A outbreak in many countries around the world, it is important for people to maintain good hygiene habits and take adequate precautions, and many people also have enough over-the-counter cold medication at home. Taking cold medicine is by no means a means of prevention, but rather a measure to treat symptoms during a cold, and there are three key points that must be grasped when using it, namely identifying the ingredients, judging the symptoms and prescribing the right medicine. Colds are caused by viruses, and regardless of the type of cold, the symptoms are nothing but fever, runny nose, cough, nasal congestion and headache. Commonly used drugs for cold symptoms include: 1. Anti-allergic drugs – can relieve the symptoms of sneezing, nasal congestion, runny nose, while having a slight sedative effect, such as chlorpheniramine (paracetamol) and benadryl, etc. 2, reduce nasal mucous membrane congestion drugs – can selectively contract the blood vessels of the nasal mucosa, reduce nasal congestion symptoms, so that the nasal discharge is reduced, such as phenylpropanolamine, pseudoephedrine, etc. 3, antipyretic and analgesic drugs – can reduce fever, relieve headache, joint and body muscle pain and other symptoms, such as aspirin, acetaminophen, diclofenac, etc. Most of the compound cold medicines on the market now contain the above ingredients, which can reduce the symptoms of cold. In our country, the approved cold medicines are proven to be safe and effective after years of clinical testing, such as white plus black, etc. People with obvious cold symptoms can use them without worry. Secondly, when choosing between different cold medications, you have to choose the right medication, and you can consult with pharmacists in pharmacies; once again, you should read the instructions carefully, especially to understand the people for whom the medication is not suitable and the possible adverse reactions, so that you can stop taking it blindly when you feel sick; finally, children, pregnant women and the elderly may have special physical conditions. Finally, children, pregnant women and the elderly may need to consult with their physicians or pharmacists when choosing over-the-counter cold medicines because of their special health conditions. As long as it is a medicine, it may produce different degrees of adverse reactions to the human body, and different people have different adverse reactions to drugs. The dizziness, nausea, discomfort and other symptoms of patients after taking them are mild adverse reactions, and are also relatively common adverse reactions. Shanghai Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Center has been strictly monitoring adverse reactions to cold medicines, from the collection of adverse reaction reports, cold medicine cases of serious adverse reactions often exist in the wrong use of drugs, repeated use and overdose use and other irrational use of drugs. The monitoring and reporting of adverse drug reactions is a systematic and long-term work, which requires the correct guidance of government departments, the hard work of medical units, and also requires the cooperation of major pharmaceutical companies to actively report the adverse drug reactions monitored by each company to improve the drug supervision and management system in China.