How to distinguish a cold from an allergy?

April 08, 2016, 09:00

It is easy to catch a cold in the spring, but its symp­toms can be con­fused with the onset of an aller­gy. Many aller­gy suf­fer­ers start tak­ing anti­his­t­a­mines even before flow­er­ing begins. But at risk are those who have not encoun­tered sea­son­al aller­gies, although no one is immune from it.

pho­to­lia

To begin with, there are com­mon symp­toms for aller­gies and colds. These include: sneez­ing, stuffy nose, run­ny nose, eye irri­ta­tion, and nasal dis­charge.

READ MORE: Aller­gy: how to pro­tect your­self

Cold or not?

In the case of aller­gic reac­tions, nasal dis­charge is thin and clear. They are accom­pa­nied by severe itch­ing in the nasophar­ynx, which is dif­fi­cult to get rid of. You can often feel the urge to rub your nose. With a cold, the dis­charge, as a rule, has a col­or and more often: green­ish-yel­low. With aller­gies, you real­ly want to sneeze and this hap­pens often, but super­fi­cial­ly. And in case of ill­ness — rarely, but loud­ly and strong­ly.

clear look

Dur­ing a cold, the eyes may turn red and watery only at first, then peri­od­i­cal­ly. If you expe­ri­ence itch­ing in the eyes and watery eyes almost con­stant­ly, this is one of the char­ac­ter­is­tic signs of an aller­gy. Anoth­er fact that indi­cates aller­gies is dark cir­cles under the eyes.

bur­da media

Temperature and sore throat

It is impor­tant to know that both colds and aller­gies can raise the tem­per­a­ture. A high tem­per­a­ture may indi­cate a viral infec­tion, but it can also rise with oth­er aller­gic man­i­fes­ta­tions — hives, aller­gic der­mato­sis, etc. Sore throat and oth­er painful man­i­fes­ta­tions are signs of a cold.

pho­to­lia

An aller­gy is accom­pa­nied by a sore throat, but not pain. The dura­tion of the dis­ease also char­ac­ter­izes its nature. A cold usu­al­ly lasts one week, if com­pli­ca­tions are observed, then two weeks. In turn, the aller­gy dis­ap­pears after the dis­ap­pear­ance of the aller­gen and occurs upon con­tact with it.

READ MORE:

Beware of spring aller­gies!

Aller­gy to dust: herbs will help

Relat­ed Arti­cles

The opin­ion of the edi­tors may not coin­cide with the opin­ion of the author of the arti­cle.