Cold: Zicam! Early and often! And treat the symptoms as needed.
Flu: If you are early your doc can give you Tamiflu. Otherwise it is treat the symptoms, stay home and wait it out. Cod wil lat least give you Rx cough meds with codine in it. That stuff knocks me out. Rather be asleep than awake with the flu.
Also, you can rotate Tylenol and Ibuprofen every two hours. Like at 1200 take Tylenol. At 2 take Ibuprofen. At 4 take Tylenol again. At 6 take Ibuprofen again.