# What is the duration of the common cold?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-duration-of-the-common-cold/285057>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 16, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-duration-of-the-common-cold/285057 "2005-01-16T19:20:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-duration-of-the-common-cold/285057/1 "2005-01-16T19:20:37Z")

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I have a cold and have been taking zinc lozenges for it. The claim is that it reduces the duration of the common cold by 1.5 days. So far, I’ve had the cold for at least about 9 days and I’m not seeing any signs of it getting better. So I’m wondering, how long does it usually take to get rid of a cold?

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**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-duration-of-the-common-cold/285057/2 "2005-01-16T20:48:11Z")

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What I usually hear is 7 to 10 days, but it seems to vary for me. I usually try to hit the vitamin C and zinc right away, and sometimes it seems to head it off at the pass.

Last month I had a cold where the symptoms kept changing, and overall it lasted for 11 or 12 days, I think.

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**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2005, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-duration-of-the-common-cold/285057/3 "2005-01-16T22:10:24Z")

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A cold lasts about two weeks if you do nothing, and about 14 days if you take zinc lozenges or vitamin C. Echinacea? Don’t ask. Actually, I’m a fan of megadoses of vitamin C. However, once you get the cold, it will reduce the symptomatology but, unfortunately, does not do much to shorten the duration. Recent studies disclose that there has been shortening of the duration in some people.

Studies re zinc lozenges were first enthusiastic, but later studies dampened the enthusiasm. It appears that they help some but not others. The same with echinacea. Zinc and echinacea do not help me at all. YMMV. Do a google search for all sorts of studies.

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**Author:** ![SavageNarce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@SavageNarce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SavageNarce)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-duration-of-the-common-cold/285057/4 "2005-01-17T01:38:31Z")

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My Mother used to say “5 days coming, 5 days hers, 5 days going” - so say about 2 weeks.

Of course my Mother also used to say that if I stared at the girls in the magazine ads, my eyes would fall out - so what did she know? :dubious:

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**Author:** ![SavageNarce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@SavageNarce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SavageNarce)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-duration-of-the-common-cold/285057/5 "2005-01-17T01:39:35Z")

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Sorry, the middle part should be “5 days here”

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-duration-of-the-common-cold/285057/6 "2005-01-17T17:20:45Z")

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> [@SavageNarce](#):
>
> Sorry, the middle part should be “5 days here”

That’s what you get from staring at those girls. 😉