Brief Answer:
No need to worry if you are a strong, healthy person in general

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thank you for posting your question to HCM.

I understand very well your concern. A common cold generally starts with fever (3-5 days) and in a day patients will start with the symptoms of runny nose, sore throat, headache. Cough starts in between the first and third day, and lasts for 1-3 weeks.
All these symptoms will go away by itself, because antibiotics wont work in a viral infection such flu and common colds. Meanwhile to help feel better its recommended to use medicines for the symptoms. Alka-seltzer, nyquil, and Ibuprofen you have used are good medicines to use for this purpose. Use them 4-6 hours, as needed, for the 3-5 days.
The sound you hear when you breath is from the secretions that the lungs produces when its damaged by the viruses. Cough help them clear from the airways, and those are not a bad sign.

As I mentioned before all this symptoms should last XXXXXXX 2-3 weeks (mostly the cough). If you continue with fever more then 5 days, shortness of breath, chest pain and discomfort...all this are symptoms that may indicate for a complication with a bacterial infection. In this case your local doctor will need to listen to your lungs, perform maybe an Chest X-ray, and give antibiotics according to the results.
Flu is nothing else but one of these viral infections that circulate around, only then it had been proven to cause the complication mentioned above in a higher rate.
If you are a healthy person and have no chronic diseases, and have not more then 5 days with this condition, then you should not worry about, because the complications happen mostly to people with other underlying disease and those with age >60 or children.

Hope I answered your question.
If you have any other question, I would be happy to answer.

Take care.
Dr. Papaqako.

---